Woodland Management: Wildlfe and Succession Forests

 

 

Remember this: Plan to day. Benefit tomorrow.

 

Lately I have been doing some work on a pine plantation. Pine plantations are stands where the trees are planted in rows. This is beneficial because you can drive down the rows to mow any unwanted underbrush or weed. The purpose here is not to let the underbrush (understory) grow out of hand. The ultimate goal is not to allow it to form into an unkempt forest of succession even though if it is left unattended over the years this could happen. It is a strange comment but sometimes you have to landscape your forest garden for the benefit of the wildlife, bugs, plant flora and enrich the soil itself. It being a habitat in itself managing the pine plantation improved the overall health of the habitat and surrounding areas.

I took a break to sit on a camo five gallon bucket overlooking a soybean field that abutted a cemetary. I was laying in wait reading a book when I got to the section that stated second growth trees and shrubs can grow so tall that it is not feasible or possible for deer to browse on the foliage. The concept here was that these tracts would eventually turn into a climax forest that couldn't support larger herds.

A climax forest or forest succession is a tract of land or forest that develops over a period of time.  Wildlife come and go carrying transient seeds. These seeds start to grow and the variety of plant flora changes with its own set of life sustaining demands. The soil erodes and becomes altered. Weather and climate changes make or destroy life at any given time. There in the ground is the forum for a sort of plant competition where all things start out small but with each passing year the foliage gets taller, thicker, or densier. The reason for this is pioneering species of trees that live in the upperstory sprout understory offspring which eventually replace them or fill in the space until the older tree dies or falls. If this area is not managed to maintain a stead sense of equal balance it will overgrow itself. This will eventuate in large amounts of work to tame it back to a manageable space. You may have some wildlife but not the kind you would see meanadering about.

Even as a hunter or just someone taking a walk, you find times where you stop and look at the bushes and those things unseen and think, "I am not walking into that." No one likes a briar patch. The only creature that likes a briar patch is one that is running from a predator. Even then it depends on who is in hot pursuit. The species mix of trees is constant. Transient wildlife that does come and go will most likely not stay if the browse of their choice is not present. If there is no brush or understory trees for them to feed on they have no reason to be there. They certainly can't climb up a tree unless the animal is a coon or opossum.

The forest or tract of land goes through cycles of varying durations of different factors that affect it in negative and positive ways.

Animals live in these places with insects and pertinent fungus for the same reason humans live where they live. Its basic need. Food, shelter, a place to reproduce, security, a place to hide, and co-exist with other creatures that can add to their benefit or survival. 

People would argue that pine plantations are not that beneficial but it depends on where you put it and how it affects the area.

Does it improve the area or not?

This particular pine plantation was planted on non-abandoned agricultural land. It was a personal choice. Hardwoods were not replaced. When this is done the area usually is a wetland and removing the hardwoods to replace it with pine will dry the area up. At the time of planting there was no habitat or biodiversity loss. Now years before you might could argue that before it was turned to farmland but not now. That time is past.

Now the pine plantation I am working does exists as a wildlife corridor and acts as a buffer for the neighboring natural forest that is a hardwood forest only feet away. There is a healthy contained mix of varying tree species increasing the options for different wildlife that want to dwell in one but feed off the other.

Factoring in the  environmental and ecological impact you will create or affect with a pine plantation is how you manage it.

Management is key: what  you do on it, to it, or around it will affect the land parcel in some way.

Managing a pine stand also bring the beneficial option of not intruding on natural forests for commercial gain. Its the 'other option'. These pine plantations are highly productive and the requirement for a large space of land is low.

This also brings about the point of how you can use a small section of land for maximum production without depleting the ground itself by using what is growing on it to sustain nutrient cycling on a property.

As far as wildlife goes, creatures have enough cover to hide in but without movement being restricted in such a way to make them learn the lay of the land works more as a trap than an escape route.

As a hunter, land owner or coalition of people trying to make the world or your speck a better place, the following should be considered:

• Develop a management plan.
• Plant variety and maintenance
• Site preparation and management
• Mid rotation management
• Late rotation management
• Landscape considerations
• Harvest Techniques
• Edge maintenance and consideration
• Fertilizers and Herbacides

Creatures a pine plantation encourages in short:

• Cicadidas
• Rabbits
• Squirrel
• Deer
• Raptor birds
• Spiders
• Varying birds
• Raccoon
• Snakes
• Small animals
• Quail or small game birds 
• Bear
• Boar
• Fox

I was pondering the comments of people on the internet about how hunters do conservation today. How much money they put into the system on licenses and merchandise that feeds back into state governed and maintained public land. Great, I say but what about the little man you don't give credit to that lives across the street from you. You know, the one that disappears each morning, plugging away in his little neck of the woods for wildlife and plants that can't go out and buy things at the store to make their lives a luxury? That is the unsung hero you probably overlook or never know. I thought this was a nice statement but hunters are just as adapt at building and maintaining habitats for the game they pursue. Its nice to see people exchanging tirades but its the rare bird that will show you they are talking the talk and walking the walk. 

People have words but I have words and "actions".

 

As a tool for anyone that would like to get educated on this concept feel free to copy this link and go read something before reading is out of fashion.

 

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/forestry/pdf/WON/won38.pdf

 

Written by: W Harley Bloodworth

 



~Courtesy of the AOFH~
 

The Mystique of the Whitetail

Remember this: People see deer everywhere even in their dreams.

Since whitetail season has opened on Sept 1, I have thought alot about the mystique of the animal.  The deer can suit itself to the circumstances. Depending on the terrain, the whitetail seems to be able to blend in, being a russet, tawny, pied color markings for the brush areas. When the deer comes out of the hardwood forest, the coat can be beech tree gray. There are deer now showing the albino trait. It can look like a log when it is lying down, or be standing in broomstraw eyeballing you down. Most bucks learn to stay in the tree line while a doe or two makes themselves a very easy target. If you have one buck to eight doe, I guess this would make for a wonderful strategy. Make no mistake, deer especially in herds if they are truly wild have a strategy for giving the hunter a wide berth. Unless they are not paying attention.They have the inate ability to move through brush without making a sound. A hunter can't miss the twig with its snap that sounds like dynamite to your ears.Their legs can look like thin trees or saplings. Everything about the deer is visually deceptive.
Deer in different parts of the country vary in size and weight depending on the availability of nutrients. These nutrients can be wild grown but agriculture and food plot management by the discriminating hunter can supplement any shortage. They eat whatever is seasonal. If you go by weight a buck could be 135-165 lbs down South but up North the weight could be 300 lbs. Does are between 125-160 lbs. When you are hunting them, they don't make for very big targets especially running. If you hog dress one out, you find that you lose a percentage (25%) of what that weight would be in meat because so much goes to bone, entrails, skin, and antlers. Don't be surprised when you go to the wildgame processor and get back much less than what you thought you had: you are not eating the complete deer.

There are about thirty subspecies distributed from Canada to Central America. All of these can overlap and interbreed causing a mixture of varying physcial traits
Because of their adaptability, they can outsmart you unless you're using some high tech gadgetry but its not under heard of for someone to jump a buck. In this day and age, technology has taken all of the challenge out of the hunt.

At one point in their evolution, they were solely diurnal but when the concept of hunting was introduced they become more and more nocturnal in their browsing habits to avoid being killed. In the poor light of nightfall, you may see the ghostly shadow of movement as they weave in and out of the tree line. The deer will walk down the inside of canal ditches to avoid being seen on flat land, hide in briar balls, or sleep beside a barn where farm animals are kept. They will even fall in with a herd of farm animals just to seem like one of the crowd. The browse that they eat can consist of 600 or more different kinds of plant material.

Whitetail are masters of skulking only second to turkey. Bears and cougars are just silent and deadly.
Whitetail do not migrate, which benefits the hunter because the home range can be a square mile. Even if during the breeding season, a buck is looking for does but will add a couple of miles to his roaming area. A buck could have a base camp, if you will, where he will move out but then come back fairly quick. This is a survival mechanism. Go but don't stay gone to long. I have often wondered at this particular rigid philosophy. If the habitat changes then so when the creature.

With this said, looking for game trails is a good habit, especially heavily used game trails. Usually where they feed and where they bed is a short distance. They will take the same path you might cut through the woods but be weary. It can be abandoned just as fast as it is made.Usually you'll see lots of tracks, scat, or the smell of breeding season as homones and urine are cast about. Sometimes in the case of trampling, the current path you have found might change by a couple of hundred yards so walking about to assess the situation or rethink your strategy is a must.Sometimes they just find something a little better to enjoy.

When the breeding season comes you might get a chance because hormones are raging and stupidity or carelessness reigns supreme. While breeding the buck will show himself more out in the open. He'll seek out and clash with other bucks for mating rites. Bucks will walk themselves to death while in the rut. The mating season will see them eat and drink less which puts them in a poor state of health. This could also contribute to their 'slip of the mind' when trying to avoid being shot.
With this being said, a buck can hide right underneath you for the remainder of his days on a square mile of land. He will see you before you see him. He lives there and he knows where you are. I argue again, if you use cameras this will upend your hunting experience to some  degree. Everywhere I look there is a stand, a camera, and a photo. All you have to do is come back, sit and wait.

Whitetails are color-blind but they see motion really well. This probably contributed to the high sales of camo cover to help the hunter be undetectable. As a rule, a buck sometimes ignores a stationary object unless there is a sound or smell that tips him off. A deer can see you blink your eye from 60 yards away. I argue this point now because if you went by television the deer must be acclimated to a person in a tree with little forethought of danger. Being really still then waiting for them to turn their head is something you would really have to remember unconsicously when you are excited about one walking into your sights. Fast or sudden movements will not win you the day.

Their hearing is acute. They can hear your stomach growling, a twig snap, or a click of some metal bumping. Muffling stand parts is essential. You can fool them with rattling or grunt calls which mimic the different sexes or offspring. You would really need to know what that sounds like because you just can't blow your horn an expect them to accept you for another deer.

With these few tidbits being said it is not always an animal that is easy to hunt. I do experience internal conflict on this subject due to the relative ease to kill one now. Agriculture and human population growths have made the whitetail homeland smaller. Sightings are more frequent especially at night when they hang around highways eating the grass off the side of the road. 

Deer that have become less inclined to avoid humans are not much sport because they start to look and act like a tame goat or cow. This makes them lose their mystique. Even though mystique is an illusion it is one worth chasing blindly after.

Written by: W Harley Bloodworth

~Courtesy of the AOFH~