Timber
 

My acerage is all wooded with really good timber on it. I'm worried about timbering it because I am afraid it will be too thick to hunt for a period of years and the number of acorns that drop every year will be fewer. I know deer like the thick stuff but I'm afraid hunting will be a challenge. Anyone have any experiences with this? Good or bad? Thanks for your input!

You hire a forester to cruise your timber, you tell him what your expectations are and that you want to selectively cut your timber at a certain percentage a year. Do not go to the people who you want to timber your property, you want someone who is working for you and will work with you and give you a fair price to expect when the timber is sold. If you do it right you will be able to have an income from your trees for several years while you are improving habitat for wildlife. You didn't mention how much acreage you have in timber.

Thanks for the advice! I want to make sure I take care of things the right way.
150 acres total.

If your property is currently all mature timber, you might consider clear cutting a handful of small or smallish (.5 to 1.5 acre) spots that you can plant in food plots or cover plots. That'll give your property a greater habitat variety, and if done right, can pull in even more deer.

IF you end up getting everything clear cut, the best thing you can do is get your trails and openings cleared and cut the first year, then keep up with them every year. It's easy to go in and cut clearings and trails when it's all freshly cut. But if you wait, it will grow quickly and get out of hand quickly.

I had a neighbor clear cut about 120 acres, and he let me go in and make trails as soon as they were done. The deer use them now. At this point I just have to run a brush hog through them twice a year and trim any over hanging stuff.



-Jake

You need a forester, all trees are not timber and you have more options than just clearcutting...He can go through and mark what trees to cut and then have the logger come in and select cut for you, there won't be a cutover if this is done and if done properly you can open up an area or 3 for food plots...Hook up with someone that knows how to manage the land for wildlife...

X2

I'd like to add to my original comment. When my parents bought our farm, they had the 60 wooded acres selectively cut. With much of the canopy cleared and more sunlight reaching the ground, we had a lot more vegetation growing in the woods at ground level, which meant more cover for deer. I think that really helped us hold deer on our farm, especially since we're surrounded by row crop farms.

Don'for t know what your location looks like in re surrounding land, etc. but I had about 26 acres clear cut in 2014. It hadn't been cut for more than 100 years. I'm surrounded by state park, and large vacant tracts of forest. Deer, turkey and quail are now moving back in and living there because there is more cover vice a mature forest. In the short run, there will be a detrimental effect, but in the long run, game wise you'll be much happier. IMHO.

I have 40 acres here in ky logged it 25 yrs ago kept lot mature oaks made hunting great all that new growth deer love and the tops made good beds

Deer like cover more when pressure on other farms plus cover