Stone Branch, build it, they will come.

Buckly · May 16, 2021

I had a larger maple that I triple girdled and then doused with roundup. The first year it leafed out as if nothing happened. Stored energy I suppose. The second year it leafed out but, poorly. The third year it had very little foliage. Some trees seem easy to kill but, maples linger in my experience.

dogghr · May 16, 2021

Looks good G on your H&S. And your Bean /literally plot looks amazing!

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TheOldOak · May 16, 2021

Place is looking great. I suspect the local dogs haven't been back because the last time they merrily trotted down the lane, they ran into a tank and took some shrapnel. Didn't take them long to figure out there's a new sheriff in the hood.

I've had same experience with girdling maples, often takes three years before they give it up.

George · May 23, 2021

Buckly said:
I had a larger maple that I triple girdled and then doused with roundup. The first year it leafed out as if nothing happened. Stored energy I suppose. The second year it leafed out but, poorly. The third year it had very little foliage. Some trees seem easy to kill but, maples linger in my experience.

My first year using triclopyr hack and squirt going at it even during sap flow understanding that there would be some trial and error I'm now rounding the learning curve. Trees hacked during sap flow, some like the one below, still hold full canopies but the future doesn't look bright. The chemical apparently was drawn up into the tree instead of down into the roots where it kills the tree. I have gone back and added some new hacks lower to help them along.

Trees that have been hacked lower and after they had already started leafing out just a few weeks ago are drawing the chemical down into their roots and are showing obvious signs of death in the canopy.

G

George · May 23, 2021

dogghr said:
Looks good G on your H&S. And your Bean /literally plot looks amazing!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Ya, thanks buddy.

TheOldOak said:
Place is looking great. I suspect the local dogs haven't been back because the last time they merrily trotted down the lane, they ran into a tank and took some shrapnel. Didn't take them long to figure out there's a new sheriff in the hood.

I've had same experience with girdling maples, often takes three years before they give it up.

Thanks OldOak. I heard the beagle the first few days of turkey season, not on me, and haven't heard him or seen the wolf pack since.

I already said that the dominant girl is protective of her minerals she is also protecting her fawning area.

We are supposed to plug the lowest holes in our buckets, this summer's habitat season I will be trying to put a bottom in my bucket. One chore is pretty straight forward in the yellow area that is part of my failed bean experiment, I need to clean up sticks and make a food plot.

The purple area is the area that I worked over this winter/spring about 10 acres. Between the purple area and the orange X lies the the hinge cut area below. I was going to go back in with the saw but didn't make it this year. I'm pretty sure that this area is/has been instrumental in helping the dominant girl hide her fawns from dogs and coyotes.

The red X across the light blue line/property edge is where two mature regulars were killed last year. Bucks are coming off of food plots down in the ditch south of me, green arrow, and taking a right instead of taking a left to come back up to the top. The path to the right is sunnier and a more open path of least resistance with a two track. My other chore is to make my ditch the more desirable path between the orange X and the green arrow. Back up at the orange X across from the hinge cut this is what it is, another dark ugly patch over burdened with red maples which as of yesterday have all been hacked and special sauced.

As bad as it looks this area will soon be deer habitat. Just look at this beautiful white oak.

A velutina. There are also some nice chestnut oaks.

This little white is probably 40-50' tall holding a tiny piece of the canopy.

G

KSQ2 · May 23, 2021

LOVE seeing that doe chase the song dog!!

E_308 · May 24, 2021

George,

Did you basal spray much with triclopyr? My AO was looking pretty unhealthy last time I was up there but I lit most of my test subjects on fire. I am hoping the chemical did it's job before the fire and I get a total kill. Treated plants definitely burned better. I have a few test subjects I will be checking in on this weekend outside the burn. I haven't used it for H&S yet but your results look promising.

howboutthemdawgs · May 24, 2021

E_308 said:
George,

Did you basal spray much with triclopyr? My AO was looking pretty unhealthy last time I was up there but I lit most of my test subjects on fire. I am hoping the chemical did it's job before the fire and I get a total kill. Treated plants definitely burned better. I have a few test subjects I will be checking in on this weekend outside the burn. I haven't used it for H&S yet but your results look promising.

My AO treated with a mix of glyphosate and triclopyr came back this year. Talk about depressing. I foliar sprayed them last summer.

George · May 25, 2021

E_308 said:
George,

Did you basal spray much with triclopyr? My AO was looking pretty unhealthy last time I was up there but I lit most of my test subjects on fire. I am hoping the chemical did it's job before the fire and I get a total kill. Treated plants definitely burned better. I have a few test subjects I will be checking in on this weekend outside the burn. I haven't used it for H&S yet but your results look promising.

I have some basal bark experiments from last year but I have not checked them. The one from this year was that big bush honeysuckle and when I saw it with freshly grown new shoots I cut it off and treated the stump with 20% glysophate. I believe however that the triclopyr is the ticket for letting the sun shine. I think that your AO will be toast. I researched a bit and bush honeysuckle are a basal bark hard case.

howboutthemdawgs said:
My AO treated with a mix of glyphosate and triclopyr came back this year. Talk about depressing. I foliar sprayed them last summer.

I tried some foliar in Iowa and only seemed to knock it back a bit. Stump treating with 20% gly was about 98% effective and retreating any regrowth made it about 100%

KSQ2 said:
LOVE seeing that doe chase the song dog!!

G

George · May 25, 2021

Some nice reds across from the current work area in blue.

A chestnut oak on the top edge of the work area was deemed unworthy of a saw log back in 96 and left.

It is a good acorn producer.

Not far from the chestnut is this nice white on the north end of the work area

and just back behind me a cluster of chestnuts.

As I proceed south through the work area I'm walking through a forest with an upper canopy of oaks spaced out about every 30-60'. These oaks are all about 5-6' in circumference, 16-20" diameter.

Looking back up the wheels are really turning now, this is probably the area that I have been looking for to create my oak savanna. The closed mid story is about 80% maple, 15% tulips, with some hickory and oak rounding it out. Little oak seedling on the ground but not many little oaks that I would feel bad about burning. Oaks are already dominating the upper canopy. Areas like this are what really make fixing habitat fun. Not many dead losers in the battle for sunshine.

Whites and blacks comingle on the south end of the work area.

The old logging road that I'll be working down splits the 2 whites. The blue area is about .6 acres with hundreds of trees to hack it will take a day or 2 or 3. A growing season burn is prescribed.

G

gut_pile · May 25, 2021

Looking forward to watching the progress of the Savanna

George · May 26, 2021

gut_pile said:
Looking forward to watching the progress of the Savanna

i found a bunch more young oaks and I'm not sure that I could bring myself to burning the area. My .6 acre work area turned into 1.5 acres. It took me 5 hours yesterday to slaughter trees.

The green area is a continuation of nice oaks nicely spaced.

One of my favorite trees on the property.

In this location I'm looking at a closed mid story of some maples with a lot of oaks and hickories. My plan for now is to hack any red maples and leave the oak and hickory FSI decisions for next winter. I'm waiting on a new jug of special sauce.

G

BenAllgood · May 26, 2021

That area is going to turn out great once you get done with it. Lots of good regen waiting to be released. What guides your decision on which stems to fell vs hack 'n squirt?

George · May 27, 2021

BenAllgood said:
That area is going to turn out great once you get done with it. Lots of good regen waiting to be released. What guides your decision on which stems to fell vs hack 'n squirt?

I'm kicking that can down the road Ben for my summer habitat season, I'm not felling anything and I'm only hacking maples and tulips.

I had 3/4 bottle of special sauce left so I was back up yesterday. My work area had enough red maples to kill in it to probably make a difference.

A tale of 2 aspects 25 years post logging.

Aspect #1, a most gorgeous oak forest.

Aspect #2, garbage.

This is the direction that I am heading with my hack hammer.

I'm getting into portrait photography with my new camera.

G

Mennoniteman · May 27, 2021

Those red maples are prime candidates for hinge cutting or stump sprouts for instant deep woods door food.
Allen

George · May 28, 2021

Mennoniteman said:
Those red maples are prime candidates for hinge cutting or stump sprouts for instant deep woods door food.
Allen

I have 4-5 acres of maple stump sprouts and 2 acres of maple hinge cut close by. This area is my next work area and is 2+ acres. It is ground roughed up from being logged and still cluttered with old logging debris. I am still looking for an area that I can manage with fire for herbaceous growth. There aren't many oaks here if any and this could end up being my deep woods herbaceous food plot. This area is a saddle and deer travel through it, a big change here could be a major key to pulling deer up in to my direction. This spot has been one of my most anticipated and also one of my most dreaded spots to finally get to. My eventual goal is to open the area up enough to have a hunting spot here. My new jug is scheduled to be delivered today.

G

TheOldOak · May 30, 2021

You have one bad-arse doe there, running the coyotes off day and night. You may want to tread lightly walking into the early morning stands this fall, she may decide no one is taking her new paradise back, haha.

I walked into my woods once early morning, scraped the leaves away from the tree where I was planning to hunt beside, next thing I knew a buck came busting through the woods breaking branches and stopped 15 feet behind me. It was pitch dark, so I couldn't see him, nor him me. After a few tense moments, he winded me and bolted in the other direction. Never got a view of him, but could hear him panting. I'm sure he thought I was another buck making a scrape, he came right at me after I moved those leaves. Crazy experience.

George · May 31, 2021

TheOldOak said:
You have one bad-arse doe there, running the coyotes off day and night. You may want to tread lightly walking into the early morning stands this fall, she may decide no one is taking her new paradise back, haha.

I walked into my woods once early morning, scraped the leaves away from the tree where I was planning to hunt beside, next thing I knew a buck came busting through the woods breaking branches and stopped 15 feet behind me. It was pitch dark, so I couldn't see him, nor him me. After a few tense moments, he winded me and bolted in the other direction. Never got a view of him, but could hear him panting. I'm sure he thought I was another buck making a scrape, he came right at me after I moved those leaves. Crazy experience.

I had that same experience one time in Michigan, the buck ran up behind me and stopped about 10 feet away panting and snorting before running off. I just stood there with one of my arrows in the right hand.

I had a doe and fawn cross my path down below yesterday midday. She was still carrying as of the 28th.

Me and the boys passed through there yesterday morning. Tank went after something and I had to yell at him. She didn't want a piece of us.

G