2018 Plans:
1) Cover. The 2-3 year old clear cuts produce large amounts of cover May-October but the entire property is very bare by mid November. Unfortunately this is when rifle season opens and my property just doesn't offer much as a sanctuary without quality late fall and winter cover.
A short term solution could be hinge cutting a few areas where I still have trees. I'd also like to plant some pine and fir trees this year. Fraser Fir trees are grown all over our area for Christmas trees. I'll likely plant some Fraser fir, white pine, and Norway Spruce.
2) Hard and soft mast. I've planted about 85 mast trees so far and will continue this year. Several hundred apple and crab apples already exist along a creek on my eastern border but all of them were bare in late December when I visited the property. I'm planning to add a few late dropping apple and crab apples to my 2018 tree order. They'll be planted further away from the road in hopes to keep the deer busy and away from road hunting poachers before dark.
3) Deer and predator inventory. I've had 7 trail cameras on the property since the first week of October. I have a pretty good idea whats using the property but will continue to monitor all year to get a better feel for age structure and ratio of the herd as well as predator density. I may or may not hunt this season. I'm not in a huge hurry to hunt the property prior to really knowing what's going on.
4) Erosion prevention. I need to get some type of reclamation seed mix on the logging roads. A few big rains this fall created some serious ruts.
