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Post by sd51555 on Aug 14, 2018 17:39:02 GMT -6
I've hinge cut everything I've ever touched at some point in time. I've also cut the same stuff off at the ground too. Anyplace I've hinged stuff, I always end up with cover 6'+ in the air, and not on the ground where I'd like it. Last couple years I've just cut stuff off at the ground, and the cover and browse seems to be far better. What do you pro-hingers have to say for yourself?
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Post by batman on Aug 14, 2018 17:41:08 GMT -6
Heavy equipment wins the day.
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Post by smallchunk on Aug 14, 2018 17:55:03 GMT -6
I'm a fan for its ability to create cover when none is present. But I also like the shoots of cutting the flush with the ground too for prime regrowth/browse.
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Post by nhmountains on Aug 14, 2018 18:36:58 GMT -6
I've not really hinged but, I've a lot of trees clearing my orchards. I find trees will sprout better if you leave the trunks 1-2' high verses cutting flush to the ground. In most cases any growth will browsed. Are you looking for bedding or for feed? Both?
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Post by wklman on Aug 14, 2018 18:44:09 GMT -6
most of my hinge cut stuff has come in thick. Deer love it and I'll continue putting the undesirables on the ground.
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Post by Sandbur on Aug 14, 2018 19:01:05 GMT -6
I've hinge cut everything I've ever touched at some point in time. I've also cut the same stuff off at the ground too. Anyplace I've hinged stuff, I always end up with cover 6'+ in the air, and not on the ground where I'd like it. Last couple years I've just cut stuff off at the ground, and the cover and browse seems to be far better. What do you pro-hingers have to say for yourself? I think the answer varies with the type of tree. I think just dropping them might be the best option since few of my hinges show any growth.
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Post by Catscratch on Aug 14, 2018 19:20:19 GMT -6
I gave up on hinge cutting yrs ago. It's a mess to do and a mess in the woods. I've seen almost no change in deer use where I have done it and very little evidence that they target hinged trees for browse. Wasted time as far as I'm concerned. Cut a pocket of trees off at ground level in the woods, let some light in, and walk away. Makes great habitat here and deer swarm into these spots. Once the re-sprouts get over 10ft tall and low level browse is less abundant do it again. Bigger trees get cut 3ft off the ground and left as a mineral stump. The roots supply energy for yrs and the sprouts never get more than a foot long off the stump. I think minerals gained in vegetation is absorbed much more abundantly than from a mineral lick and it's a lot easier and cheaper to upkeep. I space these mineral stumps up and down the creek system so that deer are never more than a couple hundred yds from one. Nutrient rich milk, strong fawns, easy winters, mineral rich vegetation, big antlers. No offense to anyone who likes hinging... I firmly believe that my deer world is very different than most of your guys's deer world.
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Post by Catscratch on Aug 14, 2018 19:37:23 GMT -6
I just went back to your stabincabin thread and looked at some pics. You have cover galore! No wonder hinging doesn't work for ya, the deer don't need more places to hide... they need more easy places to walk!
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Post by MoBuckChaser on Aug 14, 2018 20:30:27 GMT -6
If you don't like to hinge cut, they cut them all down and leave them lay.
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Post by sd51555 on Aug 14, 2018 20:34:05 GMT -6
I just went back to your stabincabin thread and looked at some pics. You have cover galore! No wonder hinging doesn't work for ya, the deer don't need more places to hide... they need more easy places to walk! Wait till I get my winter exercise program going. I'm gonna start clearing that place piece by piece, protecting all the good stuff in the understory, and spreading a little lime and gypsum in it when I'm done. The rates won't be as high as a food plot, but if I can get that ground from a 5.6 to a 6.1 with a little S in the ground? Good things. Good things. Here's the before and after of that spot I've been talking about. This is in it's second growing season. That brush pile has been swallowed by the new vegetation. I wish I'd have taken the pic from the same vantage point. And this is what's going on inside there. Lots of balsam, black spruce, ash sprouts, hazel brush, flowers, grasses etc.
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Post by gsquared23 on Aug 14, 2018 21:11:26 GMT -6
Clear cutting areas has been more effective for me.
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Post by benmnwi on Aug 14, 2018 21:13:09 GMT -6
I like hinge cutting but I'm not sure if it makes a big difference. Elms seem to stay alive the best and provide good browse.
Hinge cut areas are also good for small game, but so are clean cut trees piled in a big brush pile.
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Post by Satchmo on Aug 14, 2018 21:26:41 GMT -6
I like hinging the black ash that grow along the edges of my swamps in the slough grass. There is very little underbrush. When I hinge them there, they survive well, sprout well, and really increase the cover and stem count. Unfortunately, the bear seem to like those areas too. I do very little hinging on my upland areas though.
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Post by nhmountains on Aug 14, 2018 22:20:25 GMT -6
SD, for what you want I'm leaning towards just cutting and placing tops in and around your spruce and fir seedlings to give them a few years of cover while they can get larger.
The hinge cutting I've seen people do is to create tunnels and covered areas 3-4' high that deer can use for safety and bedding. If you're looking for pockets of feed then I'd continue to locate and mark your keeper trees and clear as you've been doing except maybe make more lines of piles for directional guidance and sweeping cover.
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Post by nhmountains on Aug 14, 2018 22:26:49 GMT -6
Any blackberries in those openings yet? I could send you a couple piles of these for seed. They like lower ph though and would attract the black furry things.
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