Two new habitat projects for my zone 6 property

[Bucksnbows]

This winter I am having my logger clear cut our 4th cut and this one will be approx. 6 acres.  I have a boulder guy coming to grub boulders that he sells to landscapers (and to river restoration firms, lol) which will greatly help me to then prepare a food plot.  Having an interior forest food plot of clover and likely one or two other crops will or should be highly effective at pulling in deer from a wide area.  My property I manage is adjacent to Sparta Mt. WMA and it is (for NJ) a mountain of oak and hickory trees and little else.  You have to earn your deer and bear here even though the bears are everywhere.

 

Our second project is to add at least 3 hing cutting areas for deer bedding to hold those deer on the property better all day and all night.  For the last 8 years, we have been planting white spruce and some white pines, but this last spring we planted Norwegian spruce which have a much quicker growth rate.  We plant the spruce and pines in our clear cuts as well as using them to make irregular lines from one type of habitat to another.  Deer like to travel lines of dark timber, and that is what we are creating to help pattern them.  We can't bait for deer because of all the bears and we can't set up on "oak flats" because all the trees are either oaks or hickories meaning the deer are hard to pattern.  I have also done a lot of crown releases for my few white oaks, and those trees I have cut around are now showing much bigger crowns.  That means better future white oak acorn production.  But for the first few years, the white oaks spend all their energy growing their crowns and not producing acorns.  That should change within a year or two for us.

 

I love seeing Mother Nature respond to habitat enhancements!  Not only for deer and turkey, but I now fly woodcock in my thickly regrowing clear cuts, see all sorts of cool songbirds including a very rare warbler species, indigo buntings, scarlet tanagers, and even a ruffed grouse.  We find box turtles feeding in them in summer as well which is neat.  I'll post pix later this winter and into next year as we do more work.  Tcook inspired me to do the hinge cutting, and I have marked out 2 of my 3 areas, both of which see deer bedding in them now.  

 

Our clear cuts have created great areas for turkey to dust in as you see here:

 

Here is my oldest clear cut.  I was told by some "experts" (re: tree huggers) that due to deer, our oaks would never regenerate.  Guess who was wrong.  

 

This is the primary clear cut that won me the NJ Forestry Stewardship of the Year award for 2013.  It continues to be a teaching spot for foresters, students, and state lands management employees as well as golden wing and blue wing warbler habitat, two species of special concern.  

 

 

[BowhunterNJ]

Very cool, good luck with the projects!  Looking forward to the updates!

[Rusty]

That's great!!   

 

Now get them to do some cuts north of the power line on the WMA. 

[Bucksnbows]

That's great!!   

 

Now get them to do some cuts north of the power line on the WMA. 

 

I'll have to check with Don from NJ Audubon on future cuts up that way.  When Mim retired from the Division, it slowed efforts on logging those WMAs, but Susan seems to be a solid replacement for Mim, and I expect things to get back on track soon with more habitat logging.  We have all been working together (as you know, Rusty) and comparing notes and best practices.  My goals are a bit different than NJA's and the Division's, but in the end, all our logging is helping a wide variety of plants and animals rebound in what had become a purely old age forest.  

[Rusty]

I'll have to check with Don from NJ Audubon on future cuts up that way.  When Mim retired from the Division, it slowed efforts on logging those WMAs, but Susan seems to be a solid replacement for Mim, and I expect things to get back on track soon with more habitat logging.  We have all been working together (as you know, Rusty) and comparing notes and best practices.  My goals are a bit different than NJA's and the Division's, but in the end, all our logging is helping a wide variety of plants and animals rebound in what had become a purely old age forest.  

 

I was talking with Don last year about cuts further north.  They did another big project up there last winter for the redheaded woodpeckers that nest in the Edison Bog.   

[Matty]

That's awesome Brian!

I'm a little jealous, I wish I had property to do this type of improvement to. That stuff can be fun. I got to be a part of this type habitat improvement in Montague, but no longer get to hunt the property. It really did make for some prime habitat though.

 

Have you considered adding watering holes as well? 

 

Talk to Steve at HF about it, he'll sell you on it fast. Even in wet areas, it seems like a watering hole is a big draw for deer. In the mountainous terrain around Sparta Andover area though, it can really be a magnet.

 

 

Keep up the great work...and expect to see me as close to the border on the WMA as I can get. lol

[Bucksnbows]

I was talking with Don last year about cuts further north.  They did another big project up there last winter for the redheaded woodpeckers that nest in the Edison Bog.   

 

See my other post.  Funny that the Division just now put out their comment period for the forestry stewardship of the entire Sparta Mountain WMA after my earlier post.  I am writing a letter in support from Trout Unlimited.  Seems odd to some perhaps, but a healthy forest with diverse habitat means healthier drinking water supplies.  And healthy drinking water means more wild trout.  This WMA is the headwaters to several native brook trout streams....one of which TU will be restoring a section of in the Sparta Glen on town owned lands (Sparta Glen Brook, a Wallkill River tributary).

[Bucksnbows]

That's awesome Brian!

I'm a little jealous, I wish I had property to do this type of improvement to. That stuff can be fun. I got to be a part of this type habitat improvement in Montague, but no longer get to hunt the property. It really did make for some prime habitat though.

 

Have you considered adding watering holes as well? 

 

Talk to Steve at HF about it, he'll sell you on it fast. Even in wet areas, it seems like a watering hole is a big draw for deer. In the mountainous terrain around Sparta Andover area though, it can really be a magnet.

 

 

Keep up the great work...and expect to see me as close to the border on the WMA as I can get. lol

 

 

Matty, yes, and it was Steve that got me thinking about watering holes.  I had plans to add two this past summer, but my landowner's backhoe broke down initially, then got fixed but moved to one of his job sites.  It is now back on the property, so I may try some digging this winter.  One spot in my last clear cut is showing some wetland plant species, and that is one site to try.  The other site or sites I have in mind all are showing standing water after rains.  We do have the upper headwaters of Sparta Glen Brook which comes out of our dammed up 14 acre lake (Thomas Edison dammed it up way back in the day).  But deer prefer quiet water over rushing water when taking a drink as they can better hear predators approaching and we have plenty of those!  So much to do, so little time  

[TroutandBucks]

Cant wait to be part of these updates on the property. It will make for much better hunting.

 

[Bucksnbows]

Cant wait to be part of these updates on the property. It will make for much better hunting.

 

 

 

And I can't wait to use your strong back to help get it all done! 

[TroutandBucks]

I just want to use a chain saw LOL  

[Bucksnbows]

I just want to use a chain saw LOL  

 

Not to worry, I own three of them! 

[Haskell_Hunter]

Why no chestnut trees or some other hardwood like American hazelnut?

[Slayer1962]

very nice to see someone giving back to the land. It always amazes me when people think cutting some trees (when done properly) will hurt the balance of nature. Nothing could be further from the truth. awesome work keep it up!

[Cousin Brown]

Awesome