Like a lot of people, I've got a lease from a large timber company. I've talked to local guy in charge of it about trying to improve food, habitat, etc. They are considering letting me pay to have it burned, but seems unlikely.

he suggested spraying or discing all the rows in the thinned timber. However, most of those are all grown up in briars. I supposed I could figure out a way to get my tractor in there and tear out or cut the briars and then disc.

Has anyone ever tried this? Is it worth it? You could make some great shooting/feeding lanes if any of the stuff came up in forbs or if you got it decent enough to plant clover.

I guess I could use the tractor bucket to knock the stuff down, then come back in and lightly disc so that I don't kill my disc on the old stumps.

Please let me know if you or someone you know has tried some of this stuff with or without success. Thanks.

It's a bitch, but I've run over briars with a 4-wheeler down thinned rows. More for shooting lanes than improved habitat, though.

If a company agrees to let you burn, someone is assuming a lot of liability. Not saying you were going to burn it yourself, but hiring an outside contractor to burn it.

Light discing in woods is beneficial for stimulating forbs and creating shooting lanes. I broke a light disc running over stumps and hanging blades on trees. Traded up for one that will pull the tree over. Discing is useless you have a thinned canopy that allows sunlight to reach the soil

Useless if stand is closed canopy

We have used a tractor with a bucket and a bushgog before. Knock it down with the bucket and keep the bushhog high enough it won't get on the stumps. That was before we got access to a skid steer with a mulcher, that's the way to go if your not planning on doing a lot of acres.
If it's a good many acres it would probably be cheaper to just have it burned if the company approves it, or have it skidder sprayed.

Did y’all think it was worth it to disc or mulch? Did it create more food?

I think every tract would be different. Types of soil, has the timber been thinned/second thinned. What kinds of natural deer feed is in there, is there a lot of briars, beautyberry, a lot of honeysuckle, etc. I doubt any timber company would allow you to burn. If the timber is very old you might spend a lot of money only to have the place clear cut. On the edges I would consider putting a few short pieces of fencing up and plant some honeysuckle, deer love it.

Sandy loam soil mostly. Some hardwood bottom, but not where i am talking about. Timber has been second thinned. Not a lot of natural deer feed except in nearby clearcuts. Tons of briars. Not that much beauty berry. Not a ton of honey suckle. That may be the route to go. Thanks.

We just did it for visual purposes, opened it up for shooting lanes and areas for turkeys. If you want more food burning would be the way to go, there is always a lot of new foliage growth after a good burn. It depends on what company you lease from as to where they will let you burn or not. I've got a guy that leases from a certain company and he has been trying for a couple of years to get them to let me burn some of their land at his expense but they just won't give into it. On the other hand I've got a friend that's working on getting approval right now from the timber company he leases from for me to burn a couple of hundred acres of their land at his expense. There are certain requirements I'll have to meet but from the way it sounds as long as I do that they have no problem with him having it burned.

Just a side note and only my opinion but a group that is willing to burn and pay the cost is the lessors that I would want leasing my land. They come across as more long term type people. Ones who would take better care of the land. Willing to do more than just deciding to pull the trigger or not. They probably work year around improving game and habitat. Someone caught dumping trash on this property they would handle and not so nicely. Just make sure everything is approved by me along with times, dates, and projected goals.

No kidding. I'd be all for folks doing that if I was leasing out land. If they did it the right way.

Yeah both of the guys I've spoken with about doing a burn on their leases have had their leases for years and as long as they are able to hunt I don't see them giving the leases up, especially since it joins their private land.

I have a large amount of acreage that is 5-10 ft pines that’s thicker than hell. Next weekend I am going to run a small bus hog between the rows, if I don’t do it now I will never be able to. The problem is the rows are barely 4ft so you have to use a DR or Billy Goat Mower to avoid damaging the young pines. This is not going to be fun but it will significantly increase the huntability of the land.

If they are planted that thick it would probably help them is they were the victim of a bushhog every now and then, thick isn't necessarily a good thing.

I've never seen any variety of pine planted on 4' rows. If that is the actual spacing, I would mow every other row down unless there's some special reason for planting them that close.

Wish I knew how to post pics to this forum. DNRC is having a field day at Riverwood on March 10th that specifically addresses how to manage for deer & turkeys in an Industrial Pine Plantation lease. Think it’s limited to 35 attendees. Maybe Jeremy or Matt will post. Several wildlife biologists will be there to answer these questions

Interested in the highlights of that field day

If anyone is going to this, I'd love to hear about it. here are the details. http://www.outdooralabama.com/wildlife-management-workshop-cullman-co

Yep, going to be some good information. We still have 8 spots available I believe.

I need 2 spots but I didn't see where to register on the link

Kyle- I’ll sign you up. Your dad coming with you?

Nevermind, just one. Dad can't make it

Alright, guys.....how did it go?

VERY interested in this subject and hoping to attend one of these events in the future!

Thanks to RiverWood, Jeremy, and Matt for a great day!

Field day went well. Got property tour in before rain. Matt, Jeremy & crew put on a good workshop. Thin, spray, burn. Repeat

I enjoyed it a lot. Had some good discussions and fantastic facilities and demos.

Matt did a great job explaining how to age deer. Him and Jeremy both gave some real good tips on food plots. It is always nice when you can go to a workshop like today when you can actually see the things they talk about being practiced for yourself.

Awesome!!

I hate that I missed it.
Just a long drive from down here.

I sure hope that they are able to get something together to do something down here in our area.

Good work guys!
I hope the Dept realizes what you guys are doing and how good you both are for PR!

It was well worth the time spent. Thanks to all the guys that made it possible.