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Timber Management for wildlife

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    Timber Management for wildlife

    What are y’all doing to manage your stands of timber to benefit wildlife?

    Hinge cutting? Food plots when you can fit them in? Creating edge and screens?

    #2
    Timber stand improvement, which consists of cutting pine timber above a certain size diameter at breast height (DBH). This opens up the canopy and lets the sun hit the ground which in turn makes for lots of new growth, most of which a deer will browse on when it’s young and tender. I also plant sring/summer and fall/winter plots.

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      #3
      I can’t cut the pine. But I can hinge cut around the pine plantations. Have you tried that? I’d be hinge cutting sweet gum, beech, etc

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        #4
        I don’t hinge cut because it’s not necessary for me. I own the property that I was speaking of and can do what I want. I learned long ago that I’ll never have enough pine timber on 80 acres to make me rich and I don’t want to cut many hardwoods. Maybe when my gums and elm get a little bigger I’ll give that some thought. I know that it works, I’m just not sure I need it yet.

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          #5
          Thankfully the timber company did it for us at the beginning of 2020 on our lease and they're suppose to thin out 300 more acres this year. Only thing they did on half of it was spray it with a herbicide. It's grown back now but I wished they would have performed a control burn instead.

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            #6
            Sorry to necropost, but was walking around the 40 acres I'm in the process of buying and it is loaded with sweetgums. I saw in a much older thread on here there was debate about if they are good for deer or not. I will for sure be looking at hinge cutting some of them, but like I said, there are a TON.

            Wondering if anyone has some new thoughts on the subject.

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              #7
              Originally posted by TRH View Post
              Sorry to necropsy, but was walking around the 40 acres I'm in the process of buying and it is loaded with sweetgums. I saw in a much older thread on here there was debate about if they are good for deer or not. I will for sure be looking at hinge cutting some of them, but like I said, there are a TON.

              Wondering if anyone has some new thoughts on the subject.
              They are fairly worthless. I don’t buy much into hinge cutting either. I would remove sweetgum and allow desirable species to establish.

              http://environmentalsolutions.com

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                #8
                Originally posted by TRH View Post
                Sorry to necropost, but was walking around the 40 acres I'm in the process of buying and it is loaded with sweetgums. I saw in a much older thread on here there was debate about if they are good for deer or not. I will for sure be looking at hinge cutting some of them, but like I said, there are a TON.

                Wondering if anyone has some new thoughts on the subject.
                I have not seen the deer on my place utilize them ever...and I have plenty to go around. I treat them with a basal bark treatment and keep moving.

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                  #9
                  Originally posted by Preacher Man View Post
                  What are y’all doing to manage your stands of timber to benefit wildlife?

                  Hinge cutting? Food plots when you can fit them in? Creating edge and screens?
                  Since it doesn't sound like you own or can cut the timber, one thing to do that hasn't been mentioned is to promote the growth of beneficial forbs and other browse plants like greenbriar, etc. I try to do at least 2 fertilizer treatments per year to certain bunches of greenbriar, and it appears that the deer can tell a difference. I also fertilize the sides of roads/senderos through the timber in an attempt to "sweeten" that forage base.

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                    #10
                    Originally posted by EastTexun View Post
                    I have not seen the deer on my place utilize them ever...and I have plenty to go around. I treat them with a basal bark treatment and keep moving.
                    Good to know. Looking online it seems the basal bark is only going to work if you catch them early. Many of the ones I have are huge.

                    Is it worth girdling the big ones? Or just completely remove them?

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                      #11
                      Originally posted by TRH View Post
                      Good to know. Looking online it seems the basal bark is only going to work if you catch them early. Many of the ones I have are huge.

                      Is it worth girdling the big ones? Or just completely remove them?
                      I would definitely girdle them vs going through the PITA to remove them. While standing they will provide habitat for birds, etc. Or, you can drop them in ways to make funnels for the deer.

                      As for the size of the tree, I have successfully sprayed some that were ~6 inches in diameter, but it took a while. Anything under that is open season. I mix spray dye in my mix so that I know where I have sprayed or not too, so that helps me observe how fast or slow the kill is.

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                        #12
                        Thanks for the info! Looking forward to getting started. I keep torturing myself with all this research.

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                          #13
                          Originally posted by TRH View Post
                          Thanks for the info! Looking forward to getting started. I keep torturing myself with all this research.
                          One thing that I wish I did sooner was write down what I was testing, when I did it, and mark it clearly with a sign or something. I try lots of different options and techniques, and sometimes I forget to check on them for some time.

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