Hi folks. Starting off with someone of a fresh slate. We had our property selectively logged last year, and I would like to revise what was once purely mature hardwood timber (large canopy, low stem count) with a more conducive habitat for mature buck. I’ll try to keep it brief. I recognize that what I have is an incredibly small amount of property to work with (40 acres total, 25 of which is wooded and the remainder is field/lawn/garden). I don’t have Jeff Sturgis money, so any feedback I can garnish on here is greatly appreciated!
Parcels 1, 2, and 3 are mine. Parcel 4 has about 5 acres of mature hardwood timber with a home shown in yellow. Parcel 5 is 20 acres and owned by someone who did a fairly heavy logging a few years back. Parcel 6 is roughly 400 acres with varying levels of people as it is a retreat center for people. Lots of mature hardwood timber with some ag fields just north of where the screenshot ends.
Homes are in yellow (mine with the blue dot inside and parcel 5 has a few dogs that roam the grassed area of their property), red is a fruit tree plot I started in the fall of last year, the white line is a logging road that was created by the loggers that we’re keeping open for access and run our side by side on, the blue lines are known deer trails, the green is potential areas for bedding and evergreens that’ll in planning on planting, and the two OnX markers are where I currently have tree stands (the white “X” one also has a stock tank of water that gets hammered by deer”).
While I’m happy it already has a ton of deer traffic, 99% of it is doe and young buck. Since we’ve logged and it’s been opened up a bit, I believe this has led mature buck to bypass this area as a travel corridor. My biggest questions are should I make any major habitat improvements now or alter my current plan or simply continue moving forward and see how the peppery matures as time goes on? I plan to continue planting various evergreens every year (spruce, pine, and hemlock) in the designated bedding areas while cutting down a handful of invasive birch that have taken over and eliminate sunlight from the forest floor. I would love to hear some thoughts on this. Thanks all.
Parcels 1, 2, and 3 are mine. Parcel 4 has about 5 acres of mature hardwood timber with a home shown in yellow. Parcel 5 is 20 acres and owned by someone who did a fairly heavy logging a few years back. Parcel 6 is roughly 400 acres with varying levels of people as it is a retreat center for people. Lots of mature hardwood timber with some ag fields just north of where the screenshot ends.
Homes are in yellow (mine with the blue dot inside and parcel 5 has a few dogs that roam the grassed area of their property), red is a fruit tree plot I started in the fall of last year, the white line is a logging road that was created by the loggers that we’re keeping open for access and run our side by side on, the blue lines are known deer trails, the green is potential areas for bedding and evergreens that’ll in planning on planting, and the two OnX markers are where I currently have tree stands (the white “X” one also has a stock tank of water that gets hammered by deer”).
While I’m happy it already has a ton of deer traffic, 99% of it is doe and young buck. Since we’ve logged and it’s been opened up a bit, I believe this has led mature buck to bypass this area as a travel corridor. My biggest questions are should I make any major habitat improvements now or alter my current plan or simply continue moving forward and see how the peppery matures as time goes on? I plan to continue planting various evergreens every year (spruce, pine, and hemlock) in the designated bedding areas while cutting down a handful of invasive birch that have taken over and eliminate sunlight from the forest floor. I would love to hear some thoughts on this. Thanks all.
