Having had a season to study our new property, I’m looking to make some improvements to a couple of sections. I appreciate the feedback about increasing the footprint of a plot in a recent clearcut area. I’m also wanting to make some changes in a low area of flat woods. This area is generally a bit swampy with a series of slightly(a foot or two of elevation) higher roads or trails cris-crossing the area. It is bounded to the north by a bit of higher(maybe 10 feet elevation change) ground which is rather thick but not difficult to walk through, a raised RR track and a shallow slough, then a deep creek, to the east, more of the exact same for a good long ways to the south and southwest, and even higher land with a gentle rise to the west and northwest. This area was logged out well before I joined the camp there 15 years ago, and I’m guessing the oldest growth is between 25-30 years old. It is almost entirely hardwood on the flat, with a mix of oaks and beech predominating. The higher ‘roads’ host sone grasses and maybe some forbs but not much. Mostly it’s canopy cover with the usual under canopy layers but very little vegetation near the ground. This makes it easy to see deer and hogs(of which there are plenty) at a few hundred yards but quite difficult to make a shot much past 80 in all but a couple of narrow corridors, from the ground, and less so from a raised stand.
I’m interested in using the hinge cut technique to achieve a few goals at once: open up more forest floor to get enough sunlight to encourage soft mast growth while providing added warm-season browse with the cut trees. Clearing some lanes for increased visibility and shooting opportunities for hunting without making the area too open(less attractive to cruising bucks).
Those who’ve done this, what are the better trees for hinging as browse? How do you plan out where to cut the trees and where not to and what percentage is appropriate? I know I can always cut a bit more later but I’d like to get a good show for the effort without creating a situation where I suddenly have too much low growth and the area is too thick to hunt.