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Post by benmnwi on Nov 2, 2023 11:04:40 GMT -6
If you were starting over from scratch on your property, what would you do differently or what did you do that worked out great? What would you start doing on day one? Hind sight is always 20/20, so I'm curious to see what others have learned from buying their property and improving it over time.
The reason I'm asking this is because we are in the process of buying a new property in SE MN and it is pretty much a blank slate. It has a good mix of woods, tillable and some grassy creek bottom. I'm starting to pull together a plan in my head, but I'd like to hear what others have done that has worked and not worked.
I've learned over time that apple tree rows are easiest to maintain if you plant in a perfectly straight row. Most of my tree plantings in full sun did well, but those in the woods struggle. My kids and I really enjoy cutting and burning brush, but if you want to get something done quickly, heavy equipment is the way to go.
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Post by smsmith on Nov 2, 2023 11:23:50 GMT -6
If you were starting over from scratch on your property, what would you do differently or what did you do that worked out great? What would you start doing on day one? Hind sight is always 20/20, so I'm curious to see what others have learned from buying their property and improving it over time. The reason I'm asking this is because we are in the process of buying a new property in SE MN and it is pretty much a blank slate. It has a good mix of woods, tillable and some grassy creek bottom. I'm starting to pull together a plan in my head, but I'd like to hear what others have done that has worked and not worked. I've learned over time that apple tree rows are easiest to maintain if you plant in a perfectly straight row. Most of my tree plantings in full sun did well, but those in the woods struggle. My kids and I really enjoy cutting and burning brush, but if you want to get something done quickly, heavy equipment is the way to go.Congrats on the new property. First off...an absolute "yes" to your statement in bold. I used to wish I had hired some work done here. Now that I've got done what I wanted done, I'm happy with it...but it certainly would have been quicker to hire it done. I suppose the one thing about that is that I can honestly say that every bit of habitat work that has been done here has been done my me with a chainsaw, atv, sprayer, and various other hand tools. If having nice, clean, rock free food plots that can be worked with a tractor was one of my goals (it was/is not) I would certainly have hired a dozer with a rake. One thing I would have done differently is hinge cutting. I don't regret doing what I did, but I would have cut more ironwoods at ground level instead of hinging all of them. I have since gone into some areas that I hinged heavily and cut the stumps at the base. Those areas have great re-gen now and no longer need the horizontal cover the hinges created. I would have planted more fruit trees right away instead of planting some each year for a decade. I'm still waiting on a great number of my trees to begin producing fruit. I would have started aggressively dealing with buckthorn from day one. I would have planted 1000s of evergreen plugs every year early on instead of hundreds. My plantings are coming along, but I'll be an old man by the time some of the evergreens are anywhere near being "trees". Things here grow much more slowly than at my old place. I'd imagine that won't be as much of an issue in SE MN though. That's what comes to mind right now... Good luck with the purchase and have fun with the process.
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Post by nhmountains on Nov 2, 2023 12:40:29 GMT -6
This thing will be removing the 30" dbh pine stumps in the new plots on my new land.
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Post by Sandbur on Nov 2, 2023 13:23:31 GMT -6
1. Work on a plan before starting 2. Dig waterholes and clear plots 3. Plant evergreens if you don’t have them. Two rows of spruce at a wetland edge( I would call it a swamp) with brush on either side of it does wonders. 4. Think long term if you are going to hold the property. You will continually need cover and feed in the 2 to ten foot height area.
You need to work this into a plan and think more than 5-10 years down the line. Logging on a 5 - 8 year cycle of different patches, or even cutting firewood out of different areas can do this. Hinge cutting could do it.
If you plant spruce or pines, those trees do eventually lose their lower limbs. Leave some open land for future conifer plantings. I like two rows of spruce near swamp edge with willows. Let them grow 5-8 years. Leave a gap to fill in with willows or shrubs and then plant another two rows of conifers.
5. I know you will work the fruit trees into the plan.
6. Don’t forget ‘dead areas’ for stand access. Perhaps one should hunt a property for a year or two to determine deer flow and wind direction. If you plan depends on features on adjoining property for deer flow, remember that can all change quickly. Fencelines get taken out. Crop rotations change or housing moves in. Try to be prepared for it.
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Post by Sandbur on Nov 2, 2023 13:26:03 GMT -6
In my area, NWSG are pretty, but I am just not impressed with them on light soils and with months of deep snow. Your area is totally different.
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Post by Bwoods11 on Nov 2, 2023 14:55:15 GMT -6
I personally would do more fruit trees and at least 25-50 caged spruce, pine at a time. Mass plantings only work if you don’t have many deer !
Second, more TSI and leave a sanctuary. Get plenty of good stands in place early !!
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Post by nhmountains on Nov 2, 2023 17:22:02 GMT -6
Any oaks on the land Ben?
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Post by benmnwi on Nov 2, 2023 20:52:24 GMT -6
Any oaks on the land Ben? There are some white and red oaks, but fewer than average for this area. Some are really nice mast producing oaks on the woods edges, but there are very few high dollar oaks in the middle of the woods where they typically grow tall and straight. It looks like it was high grades logged of most good trees 30+ years ago and a lot of elms and Siberian elms took over sections. I’m hoping that the logger I used on my place will be interested in clearing out those junk trees in this new place. These areas with mature elms should be dead zones for deer though and from a hunting perspective that may not be too bad. I’ll post a bunch of pictures after we close at the end of the month. It is in a great deer county in a good neighborhood, so it should be good. And I think with work it could be very good, but time will tell. I appreciate the input as I’m trying to create a rough to-do list after it is officially ours.
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Post by MoBuckChaser on Nov 3, 2023 4:18:32 GMT -6
I had been buying, improving and selling hunting properties for years. One thing I have learned is you can do a lot of work improving a property, or doing what you think is improving a property and it may still not produce any good bucks if that is what you are after. If the right dirt isn't there it isn't there. But if you are improving it to be a recreational property for your family that is a whole different story. Have at it and have fun with it. But if you want a good hunting property do these two things. Tornado hinge cut down all the junk trees in specific areas to create bedding colony's for the deer and stay off the property 51 weeks a year.
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Post by Bwoods11 on Nov 3, 2023 6:27:40 GMT -6
I would consider planting a lot of oaks if you can. Bur, Swamp White, Hybrids, Red ! In your area they will grow fast and be producing acorns in 6-12 years !
Note .. if caged or tubed!
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Post by Tooln on Nov 3, 2023 6:44:56 GMT -6
This thing will be removing the 30" dbh pine stumps in the new plots on my new land. I hope he's putting a cutter head on and isn't going to be digging them out.
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Post by nhmountains on Nov 3, 2023 7:37:03 GMT -6
I would consider planting a lot of oaks if you can. Bur, Swamp White, Hybrids, Red ! In your area they will grow fast and be producing acorns in 6-12 years ! Note .. if caged or tubed! He will need to log it really hard if he wants oaks to grow depending on the soil. If he thins lightly the oaks won't out compete some trees like birch and red maples.
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Post by smsmith on Nov 3, 2023 8:18:19 GMT -6
I would consider planting a lot of oaks if you can. Bur, Swamp White, Hybrids, Red ! In your area they will grow fast and be producing acorns in 6-12 years ! Note .. if caged or tubed! He will need to log it really hard if he wants oaks to grow depending on the soil. If he thins lightly the oaks won't out compete some trees like birch and red maples. I don't think Ben will need to worry about birch, maybe red maples but I doubt it. He's down in the "damn near Iowa" part of MN.
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Post by smsmith on Nov 3, 2023 8:19:24 GMT -6
This thing will be removing the 30" dbh pine stumps in the new plots on my new land. I hope he's putting a cutter head on and isn't going to be digging them out. I'd be worried about losing top soil when using a backhoe for stump removal.
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Post by nhmountains on Nov 3, 2023 9:11:27 GMT -6
I hope he's putting a cutter head on and isn't going to be digging them out. I'd be worried about losing top soil when using a backhoe for stump removal. The stumps are going to be huge and will need to be removed. He's supposed to be shaking and dropping the stumps to get the soil off them. They have a dozer too. They'd probably never disappear in my lifetime. Maybe if I was 10 years younger. There's only 10-12 an acre because of their crown size. The soil that is left will still be way better than what I've been working on at my other land. All of the soil on the top of the mountain migrated down the hill to my land. It's deeper than I've seen anywhere around here in NH. The land above my land has poorer soils. The trees up there grow way slower.
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