Stone Branch, build it, they will come.

[Mennoniteman]

What's all that low greenery in post #1817 pictures??

That's an excellent question! What you are looking at there is the result of some of the best deer management anywhere, thinning junk trees so quality fruiting and nut trees can grow faster, and new oak seedlings can get started, but even more importantly, allowing sunlight to hit the ground results in an explosion of undergrowth comprised of quality tree seedlings, native forbs, fungi, and plants of varied beneficial species, most of them being deer food to boot.
Also, the prescribed fire that George used in these areas does just as much as the sunlight to kickstart new growth like this. An area that looks like this is way more valuable than a cultivated food plot because it's also bedding area and fawning cover all in one, and less maintenance than an annual food plot. This growth also provides more winter food through quality browse than most food plots do.
So, to summarize, what we're looking at there in #1817 is truly the holy grail of habitat management. When G took on managing what was virtually a deer habitat desert I knew that it would take him a few years to produce visual results, but the imagined potential, in this area at least, has become fulfilled reality this spring. I should know, because I was there and observed that growth in person, and it's more impressive than the pics do justice.
I'll let George explain it better, but your question was so good I couldn't resist.

 

[George]

What's all that low greenery in post #1817 pictures??

That's an excellent question! What you are looking at there is the result of some of the best deer management anywhere, thinning junk trees so quality fruiting and nut trees can grow faster, and new oak seedlings can get started, but even more importantly, allowing sunlight to hit the ground results in an explosion of undergrowth comprised of quality tree seedlings, native forbs, fungi, and plants of varied beneficial species, most of them being deer food to boot.
Also, the prescribed fire that George used in these areas does just as much as the sunlight to kickstart new growth like this. An area that looks like this is way more valuable than a cultivated food plot because it's also bedding area and fawning cover all in one, and less maintenance than an annual food plot. This growth also provides more winter food through quality browse than most food plots do.
So, to summarize, what we're looking at there in #1817 is truly the holy grail of habitat management. When G took on managing what was virtually a deer habitat desert I knew that it would take him a few years to produce visual results, but the imagined potential, in this area at least, has become fulfilled reality this spring. I should know, because I was there and observed that growth in person, and it's more impressive than the pics do justice.
I'll let George explain it better, but your question was so good I couldn't resist.

Thanks Menman, I tried to answer that question last evening but failed to do so. There really isn't any one predominant species but rather, probably dozens of species of plants in those pictures.

G

 

[KSQ2]

Thanks Menman, I tried to answer that question last evening but failed to do so. There really isn't any one predominant species but rather, probably dozens of species of plants in those pictures.

G

We kind of began the opposite way on our property 10 years ago. Of the roughly 35 acres of creek bottom cover, 9 acres (in 3 sections) of it had been difficult to access crop ground, later turned into hay meadow. We planted a number of hybrid oaks, along with dco, and sawtoothes. But for the most part, we have just let it grow. I'm guessing in another 10 years, I'll begin thinning unwanted trees and allowing forbs, browse, to continue to flourish. It's a literal jungle, even with some undesirables like sericea and johnson grass, the deer love it. It was in the Northern end of the bigger meadow where I killed my buck this past fall.

 

[Mennoniteman]

The scientific phrase for picture #1817 is #Early Succesional Habitat", aka ESH.
Lesson number one in deer habitat management school: There is no better deer habitat than ESH.
Lesson number two in deer habitat management school: There is no other type of deer habitat THAT'S EVEN HALF AS GOOD as ESH.
An acre of ESH produces six times as much deer food in one year as a one acre food plot does.

 

[KSQ2]

The scientific phrase for picture #1817 is #Early Succesional Habitat", aka ESH.
Lesson number one in deer habitat management school: There is no better deer habitat than ESH.
Lesson number two in deer habitat management school: There is no other type of deer habitat THAT'S EVEN HALF AS GOOD as ESH.
An acre of ESH produces six times as much deer food in one year as a one acre food plot does.

VERY cool info. Bill Winke has been talking about this a lot with the work on his new farm.