Lots of good ideas, I have 56 acres I bought 2 years ago, and have been doing different things to improve it to hold more bucks, hinge cutting feathering. And I had some selective logging done. The 23 season showed me that my efforts are paying off. Lots more to do. I’m lucky I do have a tractor and Ranger and saws, but still requires lots of back breaking effort to get things done, thinking on transplanting some small trees like you did . Labor of passion. Keep up the great content.
Appreciate the kind words! And yah, the big implements are nice but you're right, at the end of the day a lot of the game changing work is done by investing days of sweat equity into the property. It's tiring work but so rewarding!
Great stuff. Being patient is the key. It takes time for the new stuff to flourish, but within 5-7 years, you can see quite a transformation. I'm working on transplanting this spring. Deer are loving the fir trees that have exploded on my property, transforming open areas into bedding and staging areas.
Good vid. Thanks. Some sound advice here. You are trading time for money. With $, you can tranform land on a larger scale and get results in year 1. With no money and time, your best bet is timber cutting. Just like building your house for $0, Property transformation can costs absolutely $0. It may take you 80 years. It may take 10. You need to ask when do you want results. Deer density is critical. High deer density may never work. Low density works best. For you to get results with ANY strategy. But with these solid tips, it takes a lot longer - 5-10 years vs 1 to 3 depending on deer density. Having transformed over 5 props and 1,000 ac., here’s my 2 cents on these suggestions: 1….transplanting trees - yes. Do it every year for 5 years and you’ll have an awesome stand. Just need a source. 2. Cuttings - another awesome solution. Cuttings get hammered in high deer density. Also work best in low lands. 3. TSI, hinge cut bedding and flush cuts. Single best way to increase nutrition availability. Opening forest canopy results in amazing results. For hinge cutters, your success is dependent on a skill, tree choice, and luck. Many trees die. Great opp to plant cuttings In tree tops. 4. Fallow field to Forest. It can take 10+ years to get an ag field to convert back to forest. Seed needs to be in seed bed. Kill back grass - yes! Burn, till. That’s cheap. Broad cast seed collected from areas you like to hunt!!! Also, long term land value is contingent upon standing crop and practices. So make wise decision. 5. Direct tree seeding. Great. Can work. And can work great. Add fencing and use cut trees to make a deterrent (circle of trees a few acres in size that deer can’t penetrate).
I can honestly say I agree with every word you shared here. I very much appreciate the well thought out input! So much of this is contingent upon deer densities, tree composition, etc. Higher deer areas will require more input costs. Time for transformation will vary but whether 1 year or 20 the end goal is worth it!
New to your channel. Great information. Just curious what state are you in? I did see another habitat improvement in this video. At 7:27 there is a “mineral stump”. Great source of nutrition as the stored minerals in the root ball are going into the leaves of that stump. I cut my elm trees to make room for oaks. The deer will eat the buds of the downed tree and I use the rest for firewood. Eventually the stump dies as it can’t keep enough leaves. I apologize if you’ve covered this topic before.
Thanks for watching! Yah I'm definitely a broken record when it comes to mineral stumps. I loved MSU deer labs study on them. But still a very valid point to make. Best deer browse in the woods!
Boy I do many different types of cutting for many different reasons. If you go under my bedding area, edge-feathering, or TSI Playlists you'll get a great idea about how I manipulate our deer habitat with a chainsaw
What's your plan to deal with the Ironwood that's taken over your understory? Chainsaw segment shows thousands upon thousands of stems. Very little browse benefit and nearly as bad as Buckthorn in a woodlot.
Cover crops are planted after the main crop is harvested. There's a reason why they kill the competition for their main crop. Killing the shallow rooted non-native grass has helped my tree survival rate immensely. And it's always fun to see what else is in the seed bed that has been repressed by the cool season grass.
Central WI here. With the warm weather do you think we could plant cuttings now? Ground is not frozen. Is there an issue if it gets colder which would be normaI? I do plan to plant some pines with root balls this weekend.
I take the cuttings as soon as the ground thaws enough for me to plant them in the spring. I'll cut and plant the same day. I've tried this after bud break with little success, so getting them done before they break dormancy is essential.
Lots of oak trees .I got high school guys to work for good wages and they planted thousands after loggers cut about 400 oaks they were not supposed to cut .@@PFHabitat
We tried to fallow on our place and didn't work so well. Silver maples literally grew like hair so thick you couldn't see the deer didn't even try to use it. Not even a swamp rabbit could get through there. So this year we took skid steer and flail and ground it all down. Now I have to fight to keep em from growing back. What a headache
I think the squirrels cut the Burr oak acorns down and buried them so the deer never had a chance to eat them ! Bonus tip: Put all the picked up acorns in water, the floaters are trash, saves you time by not planting diseased/damaged . The animals can sniff the bad ones and avoid them so need to collect as they are falling, older ones left untouched by wildlife are almost all bad, Good Luck
I've only gotten hybrids to go from cuttings. I hear cottonwoods may but never tried them. I've tried bigtooth and quaking aspen with little to no success.
If i were you i'd of planted Chestnut trees....They produce food....I just cleaned off a hillside of Red Cedar & tall poplars....no sunlight hit the ground so no food or cover there....
@stevegaines-vq3bd I'm too far north for chestnuts. The guys that try them around here either have them die or they never produce a nut. Cedars and poplar, more particularly aspen, are great up here. We need the conifers for winter Thermal Cover and cutting the aspen and letting it regenerate is great food and cover. Every region of the country is different. If you live in the midwest or the south I get why you're cutting cedars.
"Every one should have a chainsaw" careful with that you might fire someones new addiction called c.a.d, one saw turns into 3 turns into more and some saw building
Appreciate the advice!!!
We all want them big 🦌 🦌 🦌🦌🦌🦌🦌🦌
Definitely, thanks for watching!
Lots of good ideas, I have 56 acres I bought 2 years ago, and have been doing different things to improve it to hold more bucks, hinge cutting feathering. And I had some selective logging done. The 23 season showed me that my efforts are paying off. Lots more to do. I’m lucky I do have a tractor and Ranger and saws, but still requires lots of back breaking effort to get things done, thinking on transplanting some small trees like you did . Labor of passion. Keep up the great content.
Appreciate the kind words! And yah, the big implements are nice but you're right, at the end of the day a lot of the game changing work is done by investing days of sweat equity into the property. It's tiring work but so rewarding!
Great stuff. Being patient is the key. It takes time for the new stuff to flourish, but within 5-7 years, you can see quite a transformation. I'm working on transplanting this spring. Deer are loving the fir trees that have exploded on my property, transforming open areas into bedding and staging areas.
Patience really is so key. It takes time but the end result is worth the effort. Keep up the good work!
You sir have developed into the best teacher in the whitetail habitat world imho. Hope you keep making great content for us. Thanks !
Thanks a ton for the very kind words! I always have more to learn, but I sure do enjoy sharing what I'm learning along the way!
🎉 one of the best videos in LAND I've seen! Tyvm. Simple.
Thanks for the kind words!
Great info. Really pulling for you to see your channel take off!
That means a lot, appreciate it!
Great tips on the cuttings. That works really well with red ozier and gray dogwood too. Also elderberry. Right now is a great time to do cuttings.
@@RyanFerreri indeed it does!
Good vid. Thanks. Some sound advice here. You are trading time for money. With $, you can tranform land on a larger scale and get results in year 1. With no money and time, your best bet is timber cutting. Just like building your house for $0, Property transformation can costs absolutely $0. It may take you 80 years. It may take 10. You need to ask when do you want results. Deer density is critical. High deer density may never work. Low density works best. For you to get results with ANY strategy. But with these solid tips, it takes a lot longer - 5-10 years vs 1 to 3 depending on deer density.
Having transformed over 5 props and 1,000 ac., here’s my 2 cents on these suggestions:
1….transplanting trees - yes. Do it every year for 5 years and you’ll have an awesome stand. Just need a source.
2. Cuttings - another awesome solution. Cuttings get hammered in high deer density. Also work best in low lands.
3. TSI, hinge cut bedding and flush cuts. Single best way to increase nutrition availability. Opening forest canopy results in amazing results. For hinge cutters, your success is dependent on a skill, tree choice, and luck. Many trees die. Great opp to plant cuttings In tree tops.
4. Fallow field to Forest. It can take 10+ years to get an ag field to convert back to forest. Seed needs to be in seed bed. Kill back grass - yes! Burn, till. That’s cheap. Broad cast seed collected from areas you like to hunt!!! Also, long term land value is contingent upon standing crop and practices. So make wise decision.
5. Direct tree seeding. Great. Can work. And can work great. Add fencing and use cut trees to make a deterrent (circle of trees a few acres in size that deer can’t penetrate).
I can honestly say I agree with every word you shared here. I very much appreciate the well thought out input! So much of this is contingent upon deer densities, tree composition, etc. Higher deer areas will require more input costs. Time for transformation will vary but whether 1 year or 20 the end goal is worth it!
Just the ideas I was looking for....I'm all about inexpensive and native habitat you got a new subscriber! Hope to learn from your content! 👍
Appreciate that! Thanks for the sub!
Great video!
Love your low-cost tips.
Definitely will utilize some of your great ideas!
Thanks a lot for watching!
Well done again Sam. This stuff is life changing. So much to do and so much fun.
Thanks brother! I completely agree. So simple yet so rewarding!
New to your channel. Great information. Just curious what state are you in? I did see another habitat improvement in this video. At 7:27 there is a “mineral stump”. Great source of nutrition as the stored minerals in the root ball are going into the leaves of that stump. I cut my elm trees to make room for oaks. The deer will eat the buds of the downed tree and I use the rest for firewood. Eventually the stump dies as it can’t keep enough leaves. I apologize if you’ve covered this topic before.
Thanks for watching! Yah I'm definitely a broken record when it comes to mineral stumps. I loved MSU deer labs study on them. But still a very valid point to make. Best deer browse in the woods!
Great video and great ideas!
Very much appreciated!
Lol I did some white pines like that. Worked like a charm. Most made it and are nearly 8 feet tall now.
Great to hear!
Thank you for your video.
No prob, thank you for watching!
Thank you lot of good ideas . Cutting trees for cover is there any different cutting flush at the ground or leaving a foot or two of stump ?
Boy I do many different types of cutting for many different reasons. If you go under my bedding area, edge-feathering, or TSI Playlists you'll get a great idea about how I manipulate our deer habitat with a chainsaw
I think you're my brother. Very informative, really good video.
Appreciate it!
Great video! Do you have a link to where you get your clethodim herbicide? Just wondering exactly what brand you believe works best. Thanks!
I ordered some of eBay
Keystone has the best price right now that I've found: www.keystonepestsolutions.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=28_31&products_id=506
What's your plan to deal with the Ironwood that's taken over your understory? Chainsaw segment shows thousands upon thousands of stems. Very little browse benefit and nearly as bad as Buckthorn in a woodlot.
Note...grasses don't sap the water from the soil. They hold it, just like covercrops.
No cover and everything Dryes out.
Cover crops are planted after the main crop is harvested. There's a reason why they kill the competition for their main crop. Killing the shallow rooted non-native grass has helped my tree survival rate immensely. And it's always fun to see what else is in the seed bed that has been repressed by the cool season grass.
My county soil conservation department has an annual tree with VERY low cost trees available for purchase.
I'd definitely be taking advantage of that!
Central WI here. With the warm weather do you think we could plant cuttings now? Ground is not frozen. Is there an issue if it gets colder which would be normaI? I do plan to plant some pines with root balls this weekend.
You should be okay..... The only issue would be if they break dormancy and than we get freezing temps again. In that scenario the cuttings may die
What is the best time of year to do red osier dogwood cuttings?
I take the cuttings as soon as the ground thaws enough for me to plant them in the spring. I'll cut and plant the same day. I've tried this after bud break with little success, so getting them done before they break dormancy is essential.
I have used a dibble bar to plant acorns
How were your results?
Lots of oak trees .I got high school guys to work for good wages and they planted thousands after loggers cut about 400 oaks they were not supposed to cut .@@PFHabitat
That's a very good idea and I'll definitely be stealing that one!
Buy some scions and graft some fruit trees good addition to the habit as well
Fantastic idea!
Thank you!
Thanks for watching!
Any trouble with the deer eating or rubbing your spruce trees?
Not too much. They definitely will hammer the white pine
We tried to fallow on our place and didn't work so well. Silver maples literally grew like hair so thick you couldn't see the deer didn't even try to use it. Not even a swamp rabbit could get through there. So this year we took skid steer and flail and ground it all down. Now I have to fight to keep em from growing back. What a headache
That's crazy! You never know what the seed bed may hold until you give it a chance.
Ash? How can you possibly have any ash growing? Ours been gone for years already.
Ash borer is about 60 miles from us so I'm sure it'll get here eventually
Forsyntias branch’s work we also
I'm a little too far north for those but definitely good to know if I'm working further south! Thanks for sharing
I think the squirrels cut the Burr oak acorns down and buried them so the deer never had a chance to eat them ! Bonus tip: Put all the picked up acorns in water, the floaters are trash, saves you time by not planting diseased/damaged . The animals can sniff the bad ones and avoid them so need to collect as they are falling, older ones left untouched by wildlife are almost all bad, Good Luck
Good addition, I have done the float test with acorns before. Crucial step when hand planting a bunch of single acorns. Thanks for sharing!
I'm wondering if any breed of poplars would make good cuttings?
I've only gotten hybrids to go from cuttings. I hear cottonwoods may but never tried them. I've tried bigtooth and quaking aspen with little to no success.
If i were you i'd of planted Chestnut trees....They produce food....I just cleaned off a hillside of Red Cedar & tall poplars....no sunlight hit the ground so no food or cover there....
@stevegaines-vq3bd I'm too far north for chestnuts. The guys that try them around here either have them die or they never produce a nut. Cedars and poplar, more particularly aspen, are great up here. We need the conifers for winter Thermal Cover and cutting the aspen and letting it regenerate is great food and cover. Every region of the country is different. If you live in the midwest or the south I get why you're cutting cedars.
99% of us have zero ability to change our hunting ground.
I'm rooting for you brother. I hope and pray some day you're able to buy your own piece of dirt
Where are you finding Clethodim for that price?
Keystone: www.keystonepestsolutions.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=28_31&products_id=506
"Every one should have a chainsaw" careful with that you might fire someones new addiction called c.a.d, one saw turns into 3 turns into more and some saw building
@@Sparaco487 lol fair point. I've just now realized I suffer from c.a.d. Thank you for opening my eyes to this addiction 😄
SQUIRRELS bury acorns nonstop in the fall
@@thssportingcenter1 good point. Now we just gotta make sure we bust the canopy open so those young oak seedlings have a chance at life