Big job ahead

[Sam McMichael]

I have just had timber cut on my property and man what a mess! Places that were rather thick are now quite open. Fortunately, it was not clear cut, so it is not all bad, but MUCH work lies ahead, so it is time to service the tractor.

I had wanted several access roads cut, and at least that has happened. However, one of those roads now goes right through where my favorite ground blind used to be. In fact, all my stands will need to be relocated.

It does give me several locations for food plots without having to clean out the area myself.  With all the work needed to clean up the place and other home chores, time will be limited to prepare fall food plots. Can somebody recommend any thing to plant that requires minimal ground prep? I was thinking of chicory. Any other suggestions would be appreciated.  It will be next spring before proper ground prep and soil testing can be done.

Hopefully, natural second growth vegetation will be plentiful.  It is now turkey season. Will they move into these opened areas or shun them?

Thanks for any suggestions.

[shag08]

I'm a logger myself. You did yourself (and your deer hunting) a huge favor by not clear cutting the property. I only do select cuts on hardwoods. We try our best to protect young growth timber as well. When timber is harvested properly it can be done every 15-25 years.

You also picked a great time of year to have it done. With the canopy opened up and spring on the way, the ground will come to life with all kinds of browse to hold deer all year.

What once was open woods and easily accessible for you will be a little more growed up in the coming years. But don't fret! Deer (especially the ones everybody is after) love the thick cover and the food it supplies.

I have cut the timber on every place I hunt except for one. And I can tell you from experience, the fall after the timber is cut I kill my biggest deer from the property.  

I can't offer any advice on food plots. I just let Mother Nature do her thing all summer and it's always awesome deer hunting.

You probably will have to move stand locations...but that's part of the fun of it to me...figuring out where they are and the best place to kill em.

Good luck and good hunting.

[Fastltz]

http://www.rolloutfoodplot.com/
ive heard this is good. Might give it a try myself as my hunting ground caught fire this weekend and now I have lots of clear area. Anyway good luck.

[Jon Stewart]

I did the same 3 years ago at my place.  Had 42 semi's of pine chips taken out which left me 42 semi's of stumps to move.  I bought a used John Deere backhoe and it took me and my son the better part of a summer to remove the stumps and burn them.

My property is a mixture of pines, poplar, maple and lots of cherry.

I made two long 3 acre food plots and a few smaller ones in the hard wood areas.  

I can only suggest that you go to your local co-op and ask them what to plant.  That is what I did and I just broadcast some oats, winter wheat, buckwheat and rape.  It all took off and the deer and turkeys hung around all fall.

As shag08 wrote.  The property just lit up with new growth since the cut.  I have a lot of cherry on my place and the cherry shoots just went nuts.  For some reason I have a ton of white oak, oak tree shoots popping up and they must have been growing for some time as some of the trees are in the 4 inch diameter.  I don't have a clue as to where they came from as I don't know where the nearest white oak tree is around my place.  I can only assume squirrels  and birds made the right deposit.

Good luck and now the fun begins.

[TRAP]

You'll likely experience the best hunting you'll ever see on that piece of property over the next 5-7 years.  

Deer love timber harvests. Natural browse is preferred over all other food sources while deer are on their feet during daylight hours and you're going to  have a bunch of it.

Enjoy!!!!!

DD

[shag08]

Take care of those white oak Jon. It probably won't be in our lifetime...but your great grand kids will be hunting under those saplings once they mature in a few decades. Kind of a bittersweet thought.

Here's another though to ponder that I saw on TV the other day. A wildlife biologist was talking about new growth in eastern hardwood timber.  He said that the overpopulation of whitetail deer were decimating the young growth oak trees. The deer love to eat the shoots of the trees when they sprout.  According to him, what once was a hill top dominated by oaks will, in the future, be covered by maples.

Everyone east of the Mississippi needs to kill more deer! With no oaks, there's no acorns. Then there's nothing to hunt in early season. No oaks is hard on everything in the ecosystem. Nothing eats maple whirly birds lol.  Hard maple does bring good money...but I hate topping the darn limby things.

[cahaba]

Turkeys will love it. Some of the brush piles will make good nesting so I wouldn't worry about cleaning it up to much.

[Izzy]

Its been done on both of the best properties I hunt and Ill tell you, as the first one was being done about 12 years ago I was nearly in tears. When it was all said and done I stopped hunting it for 2 years as I couldn't bear to see it.

     When I returned it was hardly noticeable and the deer movement was the same or better. Many more grouse and turkey sighting as well. The only bad deal was that they cut my favorite double white oak that I sat against for quite a few deer as well as my best buck from that property.

      My wifes family had theirs logged 1 year ago and I had a good idea what to expect. If I told you the increase in deer activity you wouldn't believe me. Its been incredible. I don't get to hunt it much as its a bit of a haul but when I do get out there Im seeing good deer numbers. Not to mention some of the stops and waste have created funnels as well as blinds. Im looking forward to this fall.

       I did a small wheat plot out there with only raking up leaves and it was eaten in a hurry.  Guess it was too small but like I said all I did was rake up the fallen leaves and hand cast the seed and it grew pretty fast.

[Stumpkiller]

Where I used to live one of the owners had his property logged and they butchered it.  Left skidder ruts five feet deep and tree tops (and trees) everywhere.  The erosion got worse and worse.  The deer didn't seem to care as it left plenty of cover and lots of young browse came to fill in where the new sunlight was available.

My two favorite stands are just 30 ft off old logging roads.  The deer use them and seem to like to parallel them  when they do stay in cover.

As far as seeding plain old orchardgrass and timothy would probably do as well as anything and keep the costs down (seed adds up).  Toss in some white clover.

Here is a good list.

 http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/wildlife/deer/foragespecies.pdf

And from my garden I'd say beets and parsnips bring them in as well.

[Robertfishes]

Like others have said the cutting allows more sunlight to reach the ground. natural browse will increase 10 fold. Deer are already there eating the new growth.. I haven't planted any food plots here in florida but I have applied lime and fertilizer to the natural plants already growing. I have a place to hunt in Ohio, corn and soybeans are all around and on the farm..I am wanting my friend to plant some "sainfoin" on a hill top we hunt around, lots of oaks and cedars there, he planted turnips,kale and clover last year. The deer browsed on it but the lack of acorns kept the deer in the fields last year. Our stands are in the oak tree areas