Best Tree For Deer Hunting
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- Опубліковано 29 січ 2020
- The best tree to plant for deer may surprise because it isn't a glamorous hard or soft mast tree. Instead, the best tree may have zero timber or mast value. Hardwood regeneration and woody browse will provide the necessary base of daytime food that deer require all Fall and Winter long. Any other deer tree that provides mast or shelter, only provides deer value for short lengths of time compared to browse. Here is not only how long your favorite tree may provide browse, but what trees will give you the best bet to provide deer habitat value all hunting season long.
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Single best thing Jeff has taught me over the years?? That there is a big difference between managing land for timber value, and managing land for deer.
Another great video. Can't wait to get out to our hunting property this year and start making improvements. Thanks for all the info!
Another great video Jeff. Looking forward to seeing how this fall goes with all the improvements made on my 50 acres. Added white pine, cut 8 acres of red maple, created hinge cuts, and building food plots for the fall. Eventually I will ad some soft mass trees.
-Adam Fox
Thanks for another great video Jeff! Getting ready for some frost seeding of switch Grass soon. Our weather has been a rollercoaster ride lately.
Real good vid once again Jeff! Populs sure do grow back fast weve got a few patches of it and usually cut 4-5 facecord a year just to mix it in with better firewood,and its suprising how quik its popul trees again.
Yeah makes perfect sense brother yeah we had the ash deal hit here awhile back little piles of sawdust looks like piled up on the tree pine beetles hit here several years ago and wiped out a lot of big pine tracts for miles in places great video as always brother be safe out there and GOD BLESS you and your family and crew brother Amen 🙏
Thanks Jeff!! My property is old growth pines and oak. The pines here in East Tennessee look like telephone poles with the canopy starting at about 40-50 feet. Hardly any undergrowth. Time to let in a little sunlight😎
Right then your woods will grow very thick
Just bought property and have found a gold mine of persimmon trees, over 100 or so, in patches and individuals. Been cleaning vines and competition around the trees and hoping that will help produce more fruits. One quick tid bit of info, not all persimmon trees fruit, just females. Thanks Jeff for awesome info, as always applying to property
Thanks Travis...man sounds perfect, that is a good mine!!
I have a 10 acre area on my family farm that was almost entirely white Ash that the emerald ash borers wiped out. It's now mostly ash regeneration and box elders that have moved in and has made the best habitat on the property.
Hey, you must have read my research on emerald ash borer... good stuff, Jeff.
We have alot of hemlock groves- we also have alot of mature oaks and hickory, birch and beach- most high stem cover habitat is on the neighbors property but they do not allow hunting - I have never seen nuts on the beach trees though. All of our ash seem to dying from that beatle
The conservancy property I hunt has acres of beach regrowth-4-8 feet high about as thick as your finger-
Crab apples seem to be the best for early and mid archery hunting. I hurt apples up to mid archery here in pa. And i see deer every day on public land. Sometimes i have 20 to 30 deer in the area. But soon as all the apples drop. The deer vanish. So the last of archery and into rifle hunting. I hit the oak trees hard. And i don't see as many deer. But there are alot of oak trees in the area. So they have alot choices. After Christmas and all the acorns have dropped. I find the greenbrier patches to be the best locations to find some deer.
Great video Jeff, what type of cutting would you recommend for bush honeysuckle being the understory and hardwoods over top of them.
Nice topic! We have aspen/poplar regenerating out into an open field adjacent to our food plot... mature enough now that it is not browse and we will be cutting it down, just like you described. What would you do with the brush? Piles, burn it? Any value to drag it into the adjacent hardwood? Thanks!
I see them really hitting honey suckle December through January and it makes good cover how do you feel about starting it around food plot or hinge cut areas
Here in west tenn no more food plots im geting to old to plant good trees take to long so i focas on re genaration and beding so i just hunt escape routs and presurd deer from nabers bin on a roll last two years check out my little. Vid deer hunting west tenn grate advice as allways out a here
Just ordered my trees today. I’m planting Dunstan Chestnuts, American Persimmon, Southern Crabapple, Mulberry, Wildlife Pear and Sawtooth Oak. Expanding my food plots this season and want to compliment them with these trees. Thanks for the advise.
How long does it take for chestnuts to produce mass? Will they grow in Vermont
William, I follow a UA-cam channel called Lake Erie Chestnuts. He seems to be the subject matter expert at my location. He has plenty of videos on UA-cam and also a Facebook page.
I don't have hardwoods to regenerate, most of it's black locust which deer seem to nibble thornless summer tips only. So I actually have ordered more raspberries to compliment the black raspberries in the bedding area. Hopefully they'll survive. They relish my garden ones!
Jeff, great info. Thanks for sharing. Question, what type of fruit trees due you recommend? Do you suggest semi dwarf or standard size apple trees and exactly what species?
thanks, Bob
PS...still seeing lots of bucks hitting the vines, not many antlers dropping yet.
Jeff can you do a video for if you think minerals is worth spending money on for small parcels in the spring and summer. If so what do you feel is really beneficial
Mr. Jeff could you do a video on how smaller weather patterns affect deer movements. For example heavy frost fog etc. I’ve heard some people say don’t hunt in the fog some people say deer are more comfortable in the fog because it’s like a natural cover I was curious of your opinion.
I like the ash borer idea. Does the main tree stem keep growing to the thick size for borers if its hinged?
There's an area in south NJ (pine barrens)and another in the southern counties of Maryland's eastern shore that look about 90% pine tree's- & some big bucks living in them as of lately. I wonder if it's from all the corn feeders, and the tons of corn most hunters use in those areas, almost everyone baits heavy. Perhaps combination of less guys hunting these days.
Hi Jeff,
I live in North Idaho and on my 20 acre parcel I have a lot of Western Red Cedar, Birch, Dog Wood, Douglas Fir, Grand Fir, Lodge Pole Pine, White Pine, Tamarack, blue Spruce, Englemann Spruce and Giant red woods (which were here when we bought our property in July of last year). Is this a good diversity for Whitetails?
We also have a creek running through our Cedar grove where the does love to bed on the bottom of the cedar grove and the bucks about 75-100 yards on top of the hill just above the cedars.
I have a small section of red pines on our property that has been slowly dying off. For the last few years now we are taking them down and replacing them with white pines. Since we have been opening up so much of the ground that weeds have been growing taller than our saplings. This has caused a few of them to die off and some haven't been growing good. What would be a good ground cover to plant that wont cover our saplings and allow them to grow without hurting their growth?
Thanks
when you speak of states for planting trees, glass etc could you use the zone designation instead so it would be applicable to a bigger audience ie; this tree will grow in zone 6... Thanks
Is there a conifer or switchgrass that you have seen to do well in mostly to full shade areas? Thank you for all the information that you provide. It is truly impressive sir!
QUICK question I am purchasing shrubs for spring Elderberry, Serviceberry, Red Osier Dogwood and the like would these be best placed in bedding, transition, or food plot edges? I’m thinking food plot edges for screening? Thanks for the videos👍
Thanks Jeff. What do you think about Jack Pine for the northern zones?
Jeff. We have couple dozen big willows. Should they stay or go?
We have a 100 acre parcel that we are setting up just for deer hunting. In Lenawee county Michigan.
Thanks Jeff
All your videos are full with great information !!!!
I’m goin to put out a few apple trees on my lease to this year
Hi Jeff, I have a 30 acre river bottom property where I lost about 30 percent of the woods to ash borer. Should I just remove all of the trees? I guess you could say they are in a staging area close to my neighbors crop fields. The weed growth was incredible this last year just from the sun light lol.
Have been reading all about how great chestnuts are. In particular Dunsten Chestnuts which I believe are grown in north Florida. Do you think this would work to plant these in Northern Illinois? Rock Island County along the Mississippi River.
There’s several persimmon trees there to that have plenty of persimmons on them each year one or two are big trees to
Hi Jeff
what would you do with elm trees in a bottom land
Crab Apples are incredible !
Amen to that! They sure are...
Deer love crunching on shagbark hickory nuts all fall in Western NY
I don't see deer touch Alders. But love soft maples. Do they ear the Alder seed cones
Hi Jeff.. This past season was my first time hunting and I was wondering if you’re content apply to southeast Georgia?
Love your videos. Have a question. Is it common for deer to eat berries, besides strawberries out of the garden. Lol. Two trees you didn't mention is mulberry or choke cherry. I know they are both plentiful in Wisconsin. Thank you for your time.
Hello brother I wish we’d get some snow here weather is changing it’s signs of the times
I know it is generally frowned upon but I like to transplant Autumn Olive to establish pockets of bedding around my switch grass plantings. Great video.
When you say you recommend 50-100 trees per acre: were you referring to conifers, mature hardwoods, or just total trees between all of it?
Any specific crabapple that you like? Or recommend to plant?
One thing I can say on my lease there’s plenty of white oaks and red oaks there’s a few black oaks to there was a lot of white oak acorns there this year
So many oaks the deer barely hit my food plots when the started falling crazy year!!
Awesome vid! Jeff, what would you recommend planting in a food plot where there’s lots of snow so the deer can feed later on in November and December
Brassicas
what the best time of year to cut aspen, ash, maple trees for regeneration
What could I add to a cattail swamp in SW Michigan for browse and treestand locations? Currently plenty of red osier dogwood for browse but no large enough trees that are alive for a stand.
Jeff really enjoy your stuff, I own 50 acres in middle Georgia. Question/ what’s your recommendation on creating more attractive bedding areas in planted pines? 10-15 year old pines. Thanks
Outlaws thanks for reply- they are not super thick and don’t have much browse of course. I thought about selectively cutting and doing something like that. Thanks
Jeff I live in Virginia, what conifers and woody shrubs should I plant? Thanks.
What are your thoughts on Hackberry and Osage Orange?
Really helpful once again. Thanks! Is there a better time to cut poplar so they regenerate from roots?
Winter is best
Jeff what was your comment on ash trees where emerald bore is present or coming soon? They only go after the bigger diameter trees? So if you have a stand of two to three inch diameter ash trees it would be a good idea to hinge cut those?
Definately Mark! They need that larger groove in the bark of an older tree to burrow in to.
What time of year would be best for hinging the ash and the poplars?
Is there a good field guide for identifying native plants.
I got 50 acre tagelder swamp little high ground for food plots the rest is wetlands any ideas?
When do typically hinge cut?
For late late season I’ll take honey locust. Have a couple in yard and the deer run for them in January. The pods must taste like candy to them
Amen to that Al! Great tree for sure...
What would be your course of action if all the trees in your words are hard wood species that are not good for browse? ie sugar maple, black cherry etc
Add some red osier dogwood or dappled willow in bedding areas and clearings to add browse!~ Big Rock Trees
What about willow trees do they provide that same woody brows? As box elder?
Dappled willow provide a great alternative to box elder for woody browse, also red osier dogwood in wet conditions! ~Big Rock Trees
Could you plant conifers and then hinge cut pine trees? Or is that pointless?
What does a guy do if he has a small parcel with little to no hardwood timber but littered with cedar trees with Prarie grass but the neighbors have just hardwoods
Would u suggest hing cutting box elder trees? Or completely cutting them down for better regeneration?
Those thing grow like the plague!! My deer don't touch them. They eat hemlock and maple. Pounding hemlock this winter
I agree with William. Best to take them down and with the root ball
@@brianjonker510 all my deer rub pine trees. And don't have anything to do with alders. Maybe they use alders for cover. I live in Vermont where they try to destroy deer population. Bad biologist running the program
will be planting spruce in may to block roadview of our fields.
I have same problem. Switch grass doesn't stand in Vermont. I might trying leaving up few rows of corn near road don't know might backfire for me
what about sasafrass? sumac?
I've heard about planting a variety of apple/crab apple trees to get soft mass for a longer duration of the season (mature at different times). You buy that, or would you pick one or two to plant? Favorite species?
Figured I'd chime in. Good question btw...coming from my Horticulture profession, remember a couple of things. Plant diversity is hugely important regarding plant disease. If you plant one or even two varieties you are really opening the door to disease. Always choose varieties based on their tolerance of fungal diseases such as apple scab or rusts. They will defoliate a tree and hinder the mast production. Secondly, be conscious of planting multiple species of crabapple/apple due to many varieties of these trees needing a pollinator plant. Good looking trees with no cross pollination equals limited mast.
@@jasoncurtis4938 Great input, thanks Jason. Disease was on my mind with the single species. Any favorites for apple/crab apple for upper midwest?
@@sambilhorn9282 I planted crab apple and pears. Did mix in whatever Lowes had on sale at the end of season to get variety of drop times. Crab apples are very hardy. You want a crab apple as big as a ping pong ball or bigger not ornamental/flowering type. And pears In general just seem hardier than domestic apple trees. Deer love them just the same as apples.
If you search for Hallman Farms - they have incredible pears for good pricing. They come 5-6’ or taller. Haven’t put fruit on for me but they’ve done better than my apples.
For apple varieties: initial (very early season) liberty (mid) enterprise (later) Goldrush (Nov or later) gives a good window with a few trees that all have good disease resistance. Mix in a couple Dolgo or Kerr crabs for pollination - as well as early, mid production of fruit - and you should be good. Definitely don’t use seedling trees or rootstock smaller than semi dwarf (prefer Bud118 for cold hardiness and are 80%+ size of standard but fruit years earlier than STD size rootstock). You can get lost with all the apple varieties out there (trust me, I wouldn’t want to add up all the hours I’ve put into just researching them). If you want fruit for yourself, you can look into the abyss but liberty, enterprise base is a great deer low-maintenance way to go.
Oh and cage your fruit trees. I’ve lost years to tubing them. They were deformed and got nipped at the opening so wasted 2 yrs, ended up cutting them to a main whip, fertilized and caged.
Thanks Jeff, enjoy your education and experience. You may have spoke about this before but I can't remember, Red Osier dogwood. Good? Bad? What are your experiences with this plant? Thanks
I planted 50 red osier dogwoods two years ago on my place. They averaged about 3.5 feet in height. Deer ate every one of them to the ground. Next time, I'll have to cage them until they get large enough to handle the browse pressure. I'm in mid-Michigan.
@@jeffpangborn4943 So these dogwoods do have some merit if planted properly. Thanks
They love them here in MN too. We have them in our low meadow
@@rods-n-regscharters9099 I absolutely think they are a great browse if you can get then to live long enough. I'm trying to decide whether I should plant fewer and cage them, or plant 200 of them and hope some make it. I will plant more, either way though.
Jeff Pangborn
I’ve thought about planting some of these in bedding areas. Any idea if they can be easily transplanted or just buy bare roots? Also, I hear they like water. Can these handle sand or better off on water edges? Thanks for anyone’s help.
I was going to plant some cedars but I was told they have a negative effect on my apple trees is that true?
They can if close...
@@whitetailhabitatsolutions9751 A real issue especially with Eastern red cedar,witch is actually a Juniper.The two cannot coexist...
Eastern Red Cedar and apple trees together pass Cedar Apple Rust (CAR) disease back and forth. One without the other and the disease doesn't spread.
Prof.Kent thank you
How did you learn all of this
What about black cherry regen.? I have tons of young pole size black cherry trees on my land.
Black cherry is great...when Regen is at shoulder high or below for browse. For sure! After that point not worth much....
What u plant in a open swamp for tree
Red osier dogwood for browse, and for height hybrid willows love water and reach 45 feet in height! ~Big Rock Trees
I’m really confused by your reference to Chestnut. American chestnut is gone due to chestnut blight. Do you mean horeschestnut (buckeye), walnut, butternut? Can you be more specific, please?
You are very wrong about emerald ash borer. The beetle will not disappear. All the ash will die. Your correct that they will attack the older trees, but it’ll be a cycle. There will never be mature ash. So even with a hinge regeneration, they will die.
Lots of chestnut growing all over the lower to upper Midwest. Many forsters disagree with you...more if opinion since it hasn't happened yet 😉 was just at a chestnut farm in Ohio last week in the middle of 8 clients in 9 days. Doing great! He harvested 15 tons on his little farm just last year. Get back to me in 30 years about the emerald ash borer, when you actually know instead of just merely assume. Thanks!
Whitetail Habitat Solutions OK, I’ll admit you are right about chestnut still being around. I’m not from where they are native. My mistake. I did. It know they were still resprouting and providing some habitat value. So thank you for the correction.
But I do know about EAB. I’m not assuming. The beetle will not just move on and disappear so the ash trees can come back. That is a fact. We can discuss this further if you wish, because it is my expertise.
We don’t get enough snow here anymore to worry bout a snow break lolllllllll
Beech are money if you care about squirrels
Well, here in the deep south, it's pine or nothing. Our forests have been raped by greedy northern States because we are stupid and let them. Let the comments fly.
Personally I hate Spruce woods.
They just create biological desserts and offers little to the wildlife.
Young Spruce can be great cover for wildlife, but as soon as they start to get tall and wide, they are worthless in my opinion.
What you can do with young Spruce, is to cut them at the height you want them to be at.
You can't do it to early and young and just top cut them, as they just grow a new top or 3 then.
And you can't do it to late, leaving much air between the ground and the lowest branches.
If you do it at the right time, the spruce will continue to live, not making new tops to grow tall and it will widen out to create fantastic cover to the wildlife without shading out lots of sunlight around it.
There's no way you can plant an oak tree and expect it to help you in your lifetime. By the time you are old enough to buy land and then plant a tree, you'll be dead by the time it matures.
This is true, except don't disregard oak varieties such as Chinkapin or Sawtooth (depending on what zone you live in). They produce mast very young (5-10 yrs)
@@jasoncurtis4938 what about crabapple trees?
That's not accurate at all. I have hybrid oaks that produced nuts in first 10 years. Need to do your research, also Chinese chestnuts produce in 4-5 years, hazelnuts as well grown from seed.
Sweet Gum sucks
Yea, I have a bunch myself that needs to be cut. Wonder if I hinge cut em, would the deer browse on em.
I’ve got to do a lot of hack and squirt applications on my land
I've thought about that also.