Hey guys so I am setting up a plan with my forester to get 2 clear cuts somewhere on the property around 1-2 acres each. My goal is to get the hard woods back to oak which we have an crazy amount of maple. So the two clear cuts and thinning of the rest is the plan but I am not sure where to put the clear cuts. I supplied a picture of my lower part of my property where we are going to get this done. Just north of the pictures is marsh. A little back ground info on the property. This is our first year with a 1/2 acre perennial plot and a 1/4 acre of clover in the other. The woods are so open most deer only move through it at night and all move east to west , west to east. Property is facing north. Bedding is very scarce on both neighbors properties and for my 1/2 acre plot it is being hammered because there is not a lot of natural browse. Green is food plots right now. Red is Black locust that is going to be taken out and open a good chunk of property. orange is the property line. Basically where would you guys recommend placing these clear cuts? I can make any shape anywhere but I just want to do it right.
As for placement I'd have more questions, however I would ask to what degree are we talking clear cutting? Are we cutting and bulldozing stumps out? Personally that is removing a TON of food. I would personally buzz cut the maples and locusts about a foot above the ground, don't treat the stumps and let them become mineral stumps and HUGE food sources along with all the herbacious vegetation explosion which will occur around them.
Also consult the forester about any plans to plant, right tree right place is something to consider analyze the soil and plant accordingly.
They are leaving stumps and the tops. I know the tops wont be growing but it will be a mess and thick in there. Locust I do plan on treating though. I had a DNR forester come out to see what he recommended earlier this year and he said I had the nicest and largest black locust he has ever seen in the county. So they need to go.
What other questions were you having on this? i just want to try to get deer to move more up and down rather then left to right. I wont be holding deer with it being smaller parcel but I just want to have the best habitat I can. Along with adding more volume than having it wide open.
I'm not a fan of clear cuts. The areas I want to hunt I like to have many trees making a heavy canopy and clearing the brush out so I can see to shoot. then to the south side of that area select cutting most of the trees and allowing the underbrush to grow thick. This allows sunlight into the area I hunt, and provides deer cover as they come in. Deer to me always seem to jumpy if the area is cleared.
I would do more of a selective cut and some hinge cutting to get it thicker right away versus waiting 3-4 years for things to grow up. I would do something more in the center of the wooded plot and not near the property line. Reason being so the neighbors do not benefit from it. The key is getting the deer to bed on your property and not be by the neighbors. I would do around a 3-6 acre chunk in the upper left corner maybe depending on how other property bumps up to it. The deer will hopefully bed up there and then come down to your plots to feed. Heck you could hinge more like 10-12 acres and it would help a lot as it would alow some sunlight in but still keep the woods intact and making some places for deer to hide.
Thanks for the recommendation. The upper left just boarders a neighbors woods that is as open as mine along with marsh. I could do bedding next to the marsh at the north of these hard woods but big problem is neighbor to my right.
