Guerilla forestry and rewilding for improved biodiversity and to attract more deer

[euge]

Hello all,

I have hunting access for some land in MA, it is a lovely tract of about 50 wooded acres with relatively mature oak (mostly) and pine (spread out, sometimes young patches that I think the deer use sometimes for bedding) basically as the main two tree species on the whole swath of land. The land sits mostly around a big hill (talking about 200ft elevation over 700yds), and the land used to be a big quarry, and so it seems like maybe 50-100yrs ago they stripped the trees off the landscape, mined for granite, then let the oaks and pines grow.

There is very little biodiversity in the understory, the rare young beech tree every few hundred feet, almost no shrubs or other soft mast throughout the whole 50acres due to the heavy canopy cover with all the oaks. The deer seem to use this land as more of a highway between bedding and other feed sites, I don't really see them on my cams hanging out in the scrapes or other well-used game trails, especially during the rut now. Seems like there isn't enough attracting them to this land, other than perhaps bedding with the young pines like i mentioned above.

I have long-term hunting rights and a good relationship with land owner. I am thinking about girdling a few dozen mature oaks in strategic clumps/clusters to open up the canopy from basically 100% cover to maybe 50-75% cover for an area of a few hundred circular yards, and opening up a few clusters like this in the late winter/early spring, so that the canopy opens for the the 2025 grow cycle.

Reason I am posting is this: Does anyone else have experience opening up a relatively mature secondary growth forest in the northeast? Any recommendations on native plants to the 6a/6b USDA zone that would be good for attracting both deer, turkey, and other birds and pollinators? I have a couple native plant nurseries in the area and can put some elbow grease by putting in some seedlings in the spring. Looking to have stuff that will be good for both spring/summer as well as something to pull them to the areas during the rut in late october and early november.

 

[krub6b]

The only thing I would suggest is talking to a forester in your area, there may be some value for the landowner in select cutting the oak and the forester should be able to give you some good options to improve diversity while maintaining future value to the landowner. If you are the catalyst to cash flow, then the landowner is likely to see long-term value to you have access also

 

[euge]

The only thing I would suggest is talking to a forester in your area, there may be some value for the landowner in select cutting the oak and the forester should be able to give you some good options to improve diversity while maintaining future value to the landowner. If you are the catalyst to cash flow, then the landowner is likely to see long-term value to you have access also

Good advice, and good perspective for buy-in, thanks! I'll take a look at foresters in the area

 

[dalton916]

Before you do anything to this property you need to e scout it first as if you had never been there before using ONLY topography, do not look at an aerial photo or use the knowledge you already have of what grows where. Identify the topography that you would expect deer to relate to and THEN make your changes to accentuate those areas.

 

[euge]

Before you do anything to this property you need to e scout it first as if you had never been there before using ONLY topography, do not look at an aerial photo or use the knowledge you already have of what grows where. Identify the topography that you would expect deer to relate to and THEN make your changes to accentuate those areas.

Thanks for this. Now that you mention it, the areas I was thinking about thinning don't have much water on a consistent basis, but there is an area on the other side of the hill that has a number of streams and springs which would very easily open up and grow stuff if the canopy opened even a bit. thanks for the food for thought

 

[BTaylor]

My response would be exactly what @krub6b and @dalton916 posted. It's what we have been working on at a buddy's farm. The only other thing I would add to the equation is a having a prescribed fire plan for every 3-5 years. You can talk with the forester about the regen cycle following fire in the area to know for sure what frequency you need to be planning for.

 

[Weldabeast]

Are u allowed to controlled burn?

 

[NMSbowhunter]

I know you said you have long term hunting rights to the property and a good relationship with the landowner, but if it were me, I would make sure that the landowner and I were 100% on the same page before I went and killed several mature hardwoods on the property. People can be really touchy about that sort of thing.

I was talking to a friend of mine and he told me about a half dozen game wardens who were leasing a big block of land from a guy and they got kicked off the land because they went in and cut out a bunch of young planted pines to make a camp area. When the owner showed up, they did not know who he was, having always dealt with a land manager. He asked them who cut the pines and said they did, but that they got permission from the manager, and that he (the owner) had to leave. He didn't make a fuss or tell them who he was. He came back the next day with the manager in tow and asked them again. They fessed up to doing it without permission when the manager was standing there in front of them. The owner told them they had 24 hours to get their stuff off his land. They had to leave a bunch of ladder stands behind, they just didn't have time to get much out. This was a month before season.

 

[elk yinzer]

This is kinda a wild and imaginative thread title for something not too complicated haha. But yeah, you 100% need the landowner on board, preferably in writing, especially before you go murdering valuable hardwoods. I do this kinda work btw, but you may also consider checking with local extension foresters and even conservation nfps, there is a lot of free help out there if you want to DIY the labor, even some good grants out there to help share costs. Planting is not cheap.

First I would ask, if there are big oaks, why aren't there little oaks? Soil testing, looking at individual tree health, etc.

Girdling sounds pretty suspect to me, it doesn't seem like light is your biggest problem, but not seeing the site, obviously not much more I can do. The answer there is likely bad soil, too many deer, or both. When you figure that out then you can start charting a path toward timber harvest or culling out some light hogs.

I would try to figure out "what is this supposed to look like." Obviously the highly altered nature of stripped land, you probably will get your answers there. That might narrow down your options a bit for native replantings, but see what that looks like and go from there. Then, you plant.

Could also try just planting a variety of things in test plots and see what works and what doesn't.

Doesn't sound like you have a big invasive problem which is almost remarkable for stripped land, so count your blessings there. But you may cause that if you don't know what you're doing.

 

[LAKY]

Your state offers technical and financial assistance for landowners who want to improve the value of their property for wildlife. I'd go at it from that angle. You want to offer something that is beneficial to the landowner. Money talks, and having the expertise of a biologist guiding the process will get the landowner on board. Offer to do the work needed (prescribed by the biologist). That will put the landowner more at ease than you making the decisions yourself. Here's a link to get you started. https://www.mass.gov/info-details/h...nical-and-financial-assistance-for-landowners

 

[euge]

I know you said you have long term hunting rights to the property and a good relationship with the landowner, but if it were me, I would make sure that the landowner and I were 100% on the same page before I went and killed several mature hardwoods on the property. People can be really touchy about that sort of thing.

I was talking to a friend of mine and he told me about a half dozen game wardens who were leasing a big block of land from a guy and they got kicked off the land because they went in and cut out a bunch of young planted pines to make a camp area. When the owner showed up, they did not know who he was, having always dealt with a land manager. He asked them who cut the pines and said they did, but that they got permission from the manager, and that he (the owner) had to leave. He didn't make a fuss or tell them who he was. He came back the next day with the manager in tow and asked them again. They fessed up to doing it without permission when the manager was standing there in front of them. The owner told them they had 24 hours to get their stuff off his land. They had to leave a bunch of ladder stands behind, they just didn't have time to get much out. This was a month before season.

yikes! thanks for letting me know about this story, especially if you have a land manager v owner difference

 

[euge]

Are u allowed to controlled burn?

nope, i was thinking about using some good old fashioned labor to trim down the woody undergrowth instead of using a burn, which is why i was thinking about starting with only one or two clearings at first, more able to keep up with trimming every year or two

 

[euge]

My response would be exactly what @krub6b and @dalton916 posted. It's what we have been working on at a buddy's farm. The only other thing I would add to the equation is a having a prescribed fire plan for every 3-5 years. You can talk with the forester about the regen cycle following fire in the area to know for sure what frequency you need to be planning for.

how long have you been working on friends farm? would love to hear about how things have moved along over your stewardship, especially if you are able to do burns. i have a buddy in missouri who can do burns on his property and i've been going there annually for an october deer and dove hunt, and it has been really magical to see how fire transforms the landscape for years

 

[euge]

Your state offers technical and financial assistance for landowners who want to improve the value of their property for wildlife. I'd go at it from that angle. You want to offer something that is beneficial to the landowner. Money talks, and having the expertise of a biologist guiding the process will get the landowner on board. Offer to do the work needed (prescribed by the biologist). That will put the landowner more at ease than you making the decisions yourself. Here's a link to get you started. https://www.mass.gov/info-details/h...nical-and-financial-assistance-for-landowners

this is an incredible lead, thank you, will be looking into this!!!

 

[euge]

This is kinda a wild and imaginative thread title for something not too complicated haha. But yeah, you 100% need the landowner on board, preferably in writing, especially before you go murdering valuable hardwoods. I do this kinda work btw, but you may also consider checking with local extension foresters and even conservation nfps, there is a lot of free help out there if you want to DIY the labor, even some good grants out there to help share costs. Planting is not cheap.

First I would ask, if there are big oaks, why aren't there little oaks? Soil testing, looking at individual tree health, etc.

Girdling sounds pretty suspect to me, it doesn't seem like light is your biggest problem, but not seeing the site, obviously not much more I can do. The answer there is likely bad soil, too many deer, or both. When you figure that out then you can start charting a path toward timber harvest or culling out some light hogs.

I would try to figure out "what is this supposed to look like." Obviously the highly altered nature of stripped land, you probably will get your answers there. That might narrow down your options a bit for native replantings, but see what that looks like and go from there. Then, you plant.

Could also try just planting a variety of things in test plots and see what works and what doesn't.

Doesn't sound like you have a big invasive problem which is almost remarkable for stripped land, so count your blessings there. But you may cause that if you don't know what you're doing.

I think you are onto something with the bad soil. And you are right that there aren't too many invasive, i should be more curious about why not, same with the lack of little oaks. thanks for the input

 

[BTaylor]

how long have you been working on friends farm? would love to hear about how things have moved along over your stewardship, especially if you are able to do burns. i have a buddy in missouri who can do burns on his property and i've been going there annually for an october deer and dove hunt, and it has been really magical to see how fire transforms the landscape for years

We have been slowly chipping away at it over the last 8-10 years. We have gone from 3-4 acres of plots to 16 and timber cuts were planned out like @dalton916 mentioned. We broke the property down into sections and then laid out the cuts within each section so we can build in continual age class difference in cover. That's probably not needed for a small property from a cutting perspective but breaking up where and when you use fire on a small property will help keep some rotational structure to your habitat. If you plan well around terrain and access you can really dial in your hunting and significantly reduce the pressure by hunting the edges instead of diving into the property.

 

[Weldabeast]

nope, i was thinking about using some good old fashioned labor to trim down the woody undergrowth instead of using a burn, which is why i was thinking about starting with only one or two clearings at first, more able to keep up with trimming every year or two

A burn release nutrients back into the soil vs just trimming.... But if u not allowed than obviously doesn't matter much