The Farm - Madison County, GA

First one of these I've ever gotten on my food plot. Have seen a few hens. Opening up the think understory with burns is making a difference.

Gobbler and hens 6-17-19.JPG
 
That is a great deer in the making. Neighbors who don't see it definitely keep it from happening. Figure out a way to make it happen. Maybe make a pact to just let this one deer walk. It is only one but it is worth a swing.
 
Tommy - How old are the pines your burned? They look like they could use another thinning to open the canopy up a bit.
 
They are 22 years old. Will get thinned again in two to three years. My goal is to eventually get the stand to “quail plantation” standards.
 
THE LLC said:
They are 22 years old. Will get thinned again in two to three years. My goal is to eventually get the stand to “quail plantation” standards.
Click to expand...

Looking back at this, 3C, are you talking about the pines in the picture with the turkeys? If so, those are only 15 years old and are a natural-regeneration clearcut so there is a lot of other crap in there with them which is why I burned in late May---to defoliate and kill hardwoods. The pines in post #343 above are the 22-year-old ones.
 
I was talking about post 343. We burned in late March but didn't get the hardwood stem kill we had hoped for. The understory has already exploded with new growth, blackberry, honey suckle, etc. I've got 2 age classes - 19 and 29. 1st time we ever burned the 19 yr old stand and it was thinned for the 1st time in 2015/2016. The 29 yr old stand has been thinned 3 times and gets burned every 2 to 3 yrs. I'll prolly do one more thinning on the 29 yr old stand to get it to it's final "plantation" look. Not sure I'll ever do a final harvest cause I like the habitat created in plantation cut pines. The 19 yr old stand will canopy over in the next yr or so and I expect to thin again at about the age of your pines in post 343 to keep the canopy open and put sunlight on the floor. Starting to get an infestation of privet in parts of the younger pine. Fire only fuels the growth of that stuff.
 
Here's a pic from March 6th of the burn in the 29 yr old stand. We had 1000s of volunteer pines that sprouted over the past couple of years after thinning. Some so thick you could hardly walk thru them. Burn did it's job and eliminated those. This is now about 4 ft tall with blackberry, beauty berry and all manner of other forbs n grasses that create great browse and bedding. The young stand of pines needs several more burns in the coming years.
Pines burned.jpg
 
Privet sucks. I hand cut that (when it shows up) and paint the stumps with straight gly. It does make great honey though. On my burn, even though it was done in late April, there was enough dampness in the air that the fire didn't get hot enough to kill to tops of some sweetgums. Will have to deal with that one on a one-by-one basis.
 
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Needs another year. Problem is NO ONE in our neighborhood will pass this one up. It's a 10 so it has to die.

10 Point 7-1-19.JPG
 
Proof that a little hinging, cutting, and burning can make some good looking habitat. I've been steadily working this 5 or 6 acres for several years now. Got a few sweetgums I'd like to hack and squirt. See lots of rabbits in here and always jump a fawn or two. Been a good year fawn-wise this year so far.

Hinge cut burn 7-3-19.JPG
 
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