RE: Controlled burning vs clear cutting
 

Isn't that defeating the purpose of having thick cover for your deer? Where do you expect mr. big boy noctural to hide? Please tell me you didn't burn all of your property like that......

RE: Controlled burning vs clear cutting
 

No, I don't burn the entire place, though it would not be that detrimental if I did. The abundance of food sources that a burn creates, especially when compared to the barren leaf-covered floor of an unmanaged and canopied forest, is so overwhelming that the number of deer/acre that you will find on properties like this will make most hunters drool at the possibilities. Instead of 20-25 deer per thousand acres (heavily timbered North Georgia), we have in excess of 135 (South Georgia). Our four month deer season with double digit limits still does not reduce the herd in most places nearly enough, causing some areas to get permits to harvest deer almost indiscriminately during the summer at night. Believe me, a thick unmanaged forest doesn't hold a candle to a properly managed piece of property when it comes to holding and maintaining a large and healthy deer population.
For what it's worth, here's what my farm looks like in July after a burn. As you'll see, the food sources are everywhere. With all respect, you should see what our southern plantations are doing with game management before assuming that what we are doing is detrimental.

RE: Burning is our best mgt tool; burn days pics
 

In forestry school we learned all about this. Fires are very benficial for the woods and everything in it.

RE: Burning is our best mgt tool; burn days pics
 

I recall reading that the Indians used to do the burning bit 300-500 years ago. Ofttimes nature would take care of it with lightening .

RE: Burning is our best mgt tool; burn days pics
 

Fire is indeed a very natural occurrence, not to mention a tool used hundreds of years ago by Indians and such. Our ecosystem is designed to benefit from it. Only the excessive fire prevention mentality created by Smokey Bear is unnatural. Controlled burning is today's tool to get the benefit of burning while adhering to our modern world's need for the avoidance of destructive fires.

RE: Burning is our best mgt tool; burn days pics
 

Great set of pics!! Nice bucks in velvet I might add.

RE: Burning is our best mgt tool; burn days pics
 

Isn't "Smokey" the one who said, "Remember folks, fires prevent bears" ! :eek:

RE: Burning is our best mgt tool; burn days pics
 

cool pics

RE: Burning is our best mgt tool; burn days pics
 

Cool pics and I always wondered how you keep the big trees like the ones in the first couple of pics from catching fire? How do you control the burn?

RE: Burning is our best mgt tool; burn days pics
 

It's pretty easy to control the burn. First you burn in the winter or early spring. The summer is obviously hot with much more fuel in the forest. Next, you only burn on days with a very slight breeze. You can't get a burn permit from the state on days when there's much wind at all. When you do this, the fire will only burn the things like leaves, grass, pine straw, sticks, and such that are on the ground. It also helps to have burned a place periodically to keep the accumulated debris under control.
Larger trees are not bothered by fire when you burn this way. Generally speaking, hardwoods cannot handle fire as well and pines, so you don't burn areas full of hardwoods that often, unless it's your desire to reduce the number of these types of trees. Scrub oaks and such cannot handle fire well, which is one reason we DO burn in areas where an abundance of them is not desirable. For the most part, we burn areas that of predominantly pine trees. Pines handle fire very well.
Good firebreaks and a source of sprayable water to put out fires that jump roads when sparks sometimes fly are also important.
All in all, it’s actually a FUN day that I bet you'd enjoy! :D