03/28/2022
TSI (Timber Stand Improvement)
Woody browse:
Believe it or not, this time of the year, early spring. Is a highly stressful time for all wildlife and particularly the whitetail deer. Yes the cold temperatures may be waning but it has been months since there has been abundant food on the landscape. Early emerging, native plants for food aren’t far off but they still aren’t here.
In this TSI project we where working on creating a bedding area by utilizing hinge cuts, stump cuts and girdling on sweet gum trees that where choking out red oaks.
In the pictures you can see that in just one top, out of almost 100 trees, 7 buds had been eaten by deer. We couldn’t have possibly taken enough pictures of all the browse that was present here. Even better, the trees where dropped around 3pm in the evening and these pictures where taken at 9 AM the next morning.
By doing this we create immediate horizontal cover for all wildlife, immediate food in the form of woody browse, sunlight to the forest floor for future plant growth and reduced competition for the oak trees that we want to grow. All while supplying food for deer in an extremely high stress period.
If you are wanting to engage in habitat management practices like this one or you are wanting to enhance the wildlife populations on your property or hunting ground, give us a call or message. We are ready to assist you in reaching your management goals.
-Egret Bend Wildlife Group-
