Sagittarius62

I wish I had some photos to show. Our woods looks a bit like yours except that there is little or no undergrowth. You can pretty much weave your way through the trees unimpeded. That may be due to the whitetails keeping it down as you say. The exclusion fence is a good idea. I will bring that up and see if we can get that done. There seems to be a stratified growth pattern, of a very few older maples, and beech(50+ feet tall), that were probably left as seed trees, mixed with 15 to twenty foot specimens of the same species. there are literally thousands of white and silver birch of about the same 15 to 20 foot size. We are going to try a few small food plots. I am going to do some more research, but from what I have been able to learn so far the coral honeysuckle is native to this area, and does grow wild in northern New York, though maybe not up where our camp is.

Talondale

Also, keep in mind that this forest is about the right age for thinning. It is likely that the company will be thinning it in the next few years and then you will have lots of briars, brush and undergrowth to hold plenty of deer. Then you'll be worrying about shooting lanes. Planting skid rows is the easiest quickest and cheapest option. Don't forget to have soil tested and lime/fertilize according to suggestions.

robin of the hood

could you tell me about these Forever Wild laws?

Sagittarius62

robin of the hood,

I don't understand the regulations fully, or frankly the entire history of the situation, but here is where the deal stands as of now. These lands were once mostly vast timber company holdings. This area is supposed to become roadless, and undeveloped. There is a temporary easment in place at this time that has forestalled that until 2013 I think. Now when these regulations go into effect, all buildings that are not standing on privately owned property, (ground leased from Diamond Paper for the most part), will be torn down. Any buildings like our camp that is on deeded land will be able to stay. We own only about 3 acres surrounding our camp, but the 300 bordering acres that we hunt are also privately owned(not paper company land), so that is safe as well. All paper company lands return to the state, and become roadless and undevelopable. Fortunately the road in is also on private property and will be maintained by the owner(another, very large hunting camp). So other that a couple of large holdings and us everyone else will be driven out. In fact one of the large camps leases a part of their ground from Diamond, and will lose that, as well as a number of their satellite camps. It is all mixed up with the Adirondack Park Agency, the NY State constitution, and the DEC. In fact one of our neighbors ran afoul of these folks a few years back and have basically abandoned their property(an old lodge once owned by a long dead captain of industry, and a local 2nd tier Ivy League school). You may have heard of them, Shania Twain, and Jeff "Mutt" Lange? I guess Switzerland is more hospitable.