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Post by smsmith on Apr 28, 2021 20:28:07 GMT -6
All I want to do is get some shade on the RCG to see if that will thin it out or kill it. I have been able to get some tamaracks established in the same area by laying a lumber tarp on different sections for a year. I move the tarp, plant tamaracks, and repeat the following year. I couldn't get any tamaracks from SWCD this year though. I've about given up on the pond idea here. Why give up? If I'm going to have a pond, I'm going to have a nice pond. A pond that can sustain nice fish year round. Dropping $20K+ on a pond like that just doesn't make sense to me. There are lakes all over around here...
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Post by Sandbur on Apr 29, 2021 4:57:07 GMT -6
If I'm going to have a pond, I'm going to have a nice pond. A pond that can sustain nice fish year round. Dropping $20K+ on a pond like that just doesn't make sense to me. There are lakes all over around here... That is the way I feel. I like to try different lakes and look the country over.
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Post by Sandbur on Apr 29, 2021 4:58:33 GMT -6
Got my silver maples planted, matted, and tubed. Near the crick/ditch I could shovel down about 15", then hit frost. About 75 yards from the crick/ditch I couldn't get the shovel down an inch...frozen solid. I ended up planting the maples closer to the crick than I had originally intended, but it should still work. One of the north neighbors stopped and shot the shit for a bit. Wanted to know what I was planting. Conversation turned to deer hunting as we hadn't seen each other since before muzzie season. He said they shot nothing...because none of the deer would come off my place until after legal shooting hours Can you identify changes in deer movement or bedding as a result of the conifers? If so, how many years to see these changes start?
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Post by smsmith on Apr 29, 2021 5:48:42 GMT -6
Got my silver maples planted, matted, and tubed. Near the crick/ditch I could shovel down about 15", then hit frost. About 75 yards from the crick/ditch I couldn't get the shovel down an inch...frozen solid. I ended up planting the maples closer to the crick than I had originally intended, but it should still work. One of the north neighbors stopped and shot the shit for a bit. Wanted to know what I was planting. Conversation turned to deer hunting as we hadn't seen each other since before muzzie season. He said they shot nothing...because none of the deer would come off my place until after legal shooting hours Can you identify changes in deer movement or bedding as a result of the conifers? If so, how many years to see these changes start? Nope. IMO, conifer plantings this far north take a long time to influence much of anything regarding deer and their daily movements. I'd say it'd be a minimum of an 8 year return, and that would be in an open area with full sun planted to 6x6' staggered rows. I suppose you might be able to cut that time by a few years by planting very large potted or b/b trees. Hinge cutting influenced deer travel and bedding in the time it took to complete the saw work.
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Post by Sandbur on Apr 29, 2021 5:54:11 GMT -6
Can you identify changes in deer movement or bedding as a result of the conifers? If so, how many years to see these changes start? Nope. IMO, conifer plantings this far north take a long time to influence much of anything regarding deer and their daily movements. I'd say it'd be a minimum of an 8 year return, and that would be in an open area with full sun planted to 6x6' staggered rows. I suppose you might be able to cut that time by a few years by planting very large potted or b/b trees. Hinge cutting influenced deer travel and bedding in the time it took to complete the saw work. I see some persons sell their land before tree planting or apple tree/ shrub planting has time to work. If their original intention was to make a profit, that is fine. If the original purpose was to manage, they need more time. Your hinge cutting or a harvest of part of the timber in the early years makes more sense.
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Post by smsmith on Apr 29, 2021 6:05:53 GMT -6
Nope. IMO, conifer plantings this far north take a long time to influence much of anything regarding deer and their daily movements. I'd say it'd be a minimum of an 8 year return, and that would be in an open area with full sun planted to 6x6' staggered rows. I suppose you might be able to cut that time by a few years by planting very large potted or b/b trees. Hinge cutting influenced deer travel and bedding in the time it took to complete the saw work. I see some persons sell their land before tree planting or apple tree/ shrub planting has time to work. If their original intention was to make a profit, that is fine. If the original purpose was to manage, they need more time. Your hinge cutting or a harvest of part of the timber in the early years makes more sense. If a person is starting from zero with no prior habitat improvements, I'd really say you should be looking at a decade to truly take advantage of the work you've done. I feel like I'm about "there" with what I wanted to accomplish. It will require ongoing maintenance to keep my hunting where it is, but that represents only a fraction of the work it took to get to this point. I feel like I'm about at the point where I was on my old place...I should have a legit chance at a P&Y or better buck every year. That's really about all I had wanted as far as deer hunting goes.
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Post by Bwoods11 on Apr 29, 2021 10:33:01 GMT -6
My observation on Spruce, Pine, and Cedar plantings. Deer will use it by year 5, but it won't help a lot until year 8-10 (like Stu mentions). At year 15 it can be a game changer. On my 148 with thousands of cedar and spruce planted... I had (4) 3.5 year old bucks either living on the land or close by...unfortunately the neighbors shot 3 of those during Slug. I should have one or two nice bucks on it this fall.
Pheasants were in the tree lines within 3-4 years. I have so many pheasants right now, it looks similar to SD at times. The theory that tall trees will hurt the pheasant population is not the case on my property. I have some avian predators and ground nest robbers, but the combo of shelterbelts, cattails, man made ponds, ditches, and native grasses with food plots is working so far. (The plum and chokecherry shrubs help)
I would imagine some of the pheasants are hatched on the neighboring CRP, but they seem to move toward my property in the fall.
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Post by Sandbur on Apr 29, 2021 10:50:25 GMT -6
Pheasants also move my way in the fall, but we are near the edge of the pheasant range.
I feel I am past peak attraction with most of the spruce and pine plantings on the land where I live. There are some small patches of younger conifers and I dropped some popple about 3 years back.
We see a decent buck or two during every rifle season, which didn’t happen years ago. Deer often move my way when pressured.
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Post by smsmith on Apr 29, 2021 10:52:12 GMT -6
This morning's 150 conifers went in pretty good. That's the end of conifers for this year I've still got 15 hybrid poplars to get planted/matted/tubed on some RCG ground. I swear on the bible...no more bareroot evergreens ever again.
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Post by badgerfowl on Apr 29, 2021 11:09:57 GMT -6
This morning's 150 conifers went in pretty good. That's the end of conifers for this year I've still got 15 hybrid poplars to get planted/matted/tubed on some RCG ground. I swear on the bible...no more bareroot evergreens ever again. Are you able to plant these with a dibble bar/one shovel-shove or are you having to actually dig a hole?
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Post by smsmith on Apr 29, 2021 11:11:36 GMT -6
This morning's 150 conifers went in pretty good. That's the end of conifers for this year I've still got 15 hybrid poplars to get planted/matted/tubed on some RCG ground. I swear on the bible...no more bareroot evergreens ever again. Are you able to plant these with a dibble bar/one shovel-shove or are you having to actually dig a hole? Most I can do with my homemade tree bar, some of the bigger ones require shovel work.
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Post by Bwoods11 on Apr 29, 2021 12:31:22 GMT -6
How much growth do you get on the hybrid poplar? I should look into those again.
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Post by badgerfowl on Apr 29, 2021 12:45:17 GMT -6
How much growth do you get on the hybrid poplar? I should look into those again. Mine grew 5’-6’ the first year from cuttings. This was back in 2012. They’re probably 35-40’ now but have been that way for awhile. 25’ after 4-5 years. I used black plastic. Had to fence end of first year because the deer liked them in august.
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Post by Bwoods11 on Apr 29, 2021 13:20:21 GMT -6
How much growth do you get on the hybrid poplar? I should look into those again. Mine grew 5’-6’ the first year from cuttings. This was back in 2012. They’re probably 35-40’ now but have been that way for awhile. 25’ after 4-5 years. I used black plastic. Had to fence end of first year because the deer liked them in august. How thick are they, I assume you could hang a stand in them now?
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Post by benmnwi on Apr 29, 2021 13:29:15 GMT -6
I planted a bunch of hybrid poplars and cottonwoods in 2007 and I hung my first stand in them last summer. These trees were just planted and then I walked away, so they probably could have grown faster with landscape fabric.
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