Can some of you give me the pros and cons on these two. The land we just leased has been spraying after the pines are thinned. And it sounds like the deer population is lesser now. Just don't have any experience with spraying.

I've done both. Still use both. Simple answer. Burning promotes more desirable understory conditions with a huge diversity of herbaceous growth. Selective herbicides determine what grows and where.

Spray the undesirables. Fire is one of the best tools in the tool box. I will be burning some hardwoods, come the first of March. Should bring in the turkeys.

Burning makes me nervous so I don't go around when I have one going on by the forester. But IMO burning hands down over spraying for wildlife. But the only spraying I have had done nukes most everything.

Less liability spraying.

Burning will also reduce your fire load.

Matt,

Do you normally see a short term drop in your deer population after you spray? If so, how long before things return to normal?

Less liability and expense in the long run to spray.

Burn mine every year only way to go

What are they spraying? What does the understory look like?

They spray the pines after a thinning.

They spray Arsenal and other herbicides to kill the undesired competition of the pines. Just like a farmer doesn't want weeds in his peanuts and other crops.

Yes, and it's usually two growing seasons before things get back to "normal".

True, but AL state law says that if you take appropriate precautions AND have a registered forester on hand with burn permit, you're in the clear. Liability still scares me too but at least that law helps.

EXACTLY what I have seen. Same goes for a sprayed cutover.

I don't know what they treated 2C-2D areas with when they clearcut them Barry but I do know there has been no appreciable browse grow back in that 1,000 or so acres in 8 years, just broom sage and pine trees. Shame to because that was some of the best area we had, was where that 156" 10 point Dylan posted on here was killed. I believe in private property rights of course but this treating clearcuts and then spraying them again from what I have been observing is making a lot of property practically useless for wildlife. We had a tremendous deer population at Flatwood and the deer could never beat back the browse honsuckle and briars waist to head high, deer trails just ate thru it with piles of crap on top of piles of crap on top of piles of crap. once a buck got to 2 years old you could expect 160-180lbs, horns didn't match body weight till they got to 4 or 5 yrs old. For years we would kill 8 or 10 225-240lb bucks a year. Now after about 8-10 years of spraying an example I killed a 4year old 7 point the 31st of Dec. that weighed 166lbs. Used to it wasn't uncommon to see 12 to 20 dear a day now maybe 1-3 50% of the time none. Just not much reason for them to be there cover not as good and food scarce unless they like broom sage or pinestraw.

That's criminal, not civil. You can still be sued. Insurance covers civil, not criminal. Insured forester covers it all.

Wouldn't it depend on what the limit of the burn insurance would cover? If your fire gets on another property and burns down a house would it cover a $300,000 or so home? Are you completely protected if your fire smokes up a highway and results in an accident where there are fatalities? I'm not real familiar with the Alabama laws.

As a forester that does prescribed burning, I carry 1 million in liability insurance. There is a "Right to Burn" law in Alabama that provides some protection for Certified Prescribed Burn Managers if negligence is not proven on their behalf. If you have a bad day at black rock and your fire or your smoke causes major problems or a fatality you better get ready !Lawyers are on to such cases, and they are going to sue everybody involved. If your land is near several smoke sensitive areas, chemicals may be your best alternative. I wish that the company I lease from would do either, preferably burn. Once vegetation in a plantation gets above browse level it is useless for anything other than cover.

If I were a landowner looking to hire someone to do some burning; I would look into several things besides price to do the burn. Is the burn contractor certified, do they have liability insurance, and most importantly how much planning do they do prior to burning, such as smoke screening. It is all about covering your rear, and having it documented that you did so, if you expect to get whatever level of protection the Right To Burn Law provides.

I second mc grubber response. I hunt with him.