Originally Posted by
Tony_Loyd
Yes that sounds true.
Why worry about DD ,if the forest or land can't support them?
They will move on and not be there, if there is no food for them to be had.
If you quit thinning the heard,they will have to adapt and start eating the junk browse of maples now wouldn't they?
It seems like you are letting them eat all the oaks by thinning the heard out so the maples and junk trees as been said has a chance to overwelm the forest.
The deer are not touching the maples because they don't have to and are eating the hardwoods.
Sounds counter productive to me.
Pa will be all maples if you don't let the deer population grow to help thin the maples and junk trees.
You are actually doing more harm to hardwoods than you think by thinning the deer population.
They do not have to eat any other plants other than hardwoods because there is no competition for food with less deer and no reason for the deer to search out other foods as in maples.
You don't get it.Deer are picky eaters.They eat the more prefered species first and then they start eating the less preferred.Deer are called a keystone species because they can single handedly alter the composition of the forest.This is bad for the deer,other wildlife and us.
You have no idea what you're talking about.LETTING THE DEER HERD GROW WILL NOT INCREASE OAK PRODUCTION.Thinning the herd,along with sound silvaculture technigues such as shelter wood cuts,burns and herbicides is what get's oak regeneration.If you want oak regeneration,the deer will eat the oaks before they touch the maples.If you spend any time up this way,I can prove it to you very easily.I can also show you areas with oak regeneration so thick,you'll have a hard time walking through it.Why?Less deer.This isn't all about oak regeneration,as only about 40% of our forests are oak/hickory.It's about the habitat.Thousands of acres have little to no browse because we decades of too mnay deer.Deer need browse in the winter.If there's no prefered browse,why would you want to add more deer to that landscape?It makes no sense.
You guys simply don't get it.It takes very few deer to impact regeneration in areas with poor habitat.