[Mailman]

I've heard and read this term before here on MWT and was curious to exactly what it consists of. Do you just cut everything down along the edge of the timber and let it lay or are you to hinge cut the trees so they will still grow?

 

[pinwheel]

You're pretty well on the right track. 30' deep, everything over 10' gets cut & is allowed to lay where it falls. Hinge cutting is fine too.

 

[Mailman]

Think I might give this a try along my pipeline right of way. Maybe bring in some bunnies and quail to the area and later the critters that hunt them for target practice with the .17 HMR.

[file]90763[/file]

 

[pinwheel]

Good idea Bill. If you or someone you know, burns firewood, go ahead & take the big stuff & leave the tops. The big stuff has little value to small game. Do it in 100' x30 strips & you can have many years of successional growth in the same area.

 

[Mailman]

My place has never been logged and deeper in the timber not much undergrowth to speak of. I see very few rabbits and no quail and even my turkeys have gone elsewhere. Great for viewing deer at a distance but not so good for any other Gods creatures. I do have some of the best den trees for *****...maybe that is why I don't have many turkeys or quail...:thinking:

Might just end up calling in a logger even tho I was cussing them three years ago when they came in on my neighbors place. After the first year all kinds of wild life moved in....including bobcats.

 

[Brander]

I did some edge feathering last year and this year when the snow was on that is exactly where the quail were hiding, makes for some very good cover. Prolly do some more this year.

 

[rat]

Are you ok to chop-n-drop in that right of way?

 

[HabitatMD]

[rquote=1556456&tid=108260&author=rat]Are you ok to chop-n-drop in that right of way?[/rquote]

We did.

 

[HabitatMD]

[rquote=1556219&tid=108260&author=Mailman]I've heard and read this term before here on MWT and was curious to exactly what it consists of. Do you just cut everything down along the edge of the timber and let it lay or are you to hinge cut the trees so they will still grow?[/rquote]

When it is part of a plan from the MDC or NRCS, it always is a 30' minimum and you have to cut all the trees or have a good reason why you are not. It can be wider than 30', but I personally don't think you need to get too much wider than that. Now I think there is some good benefit to doing some TSI leading up to the edge feathered areas Basically, that will soften the transition even more.

If it weren't part of a plan, I'd leave good mast producers along the edge and not necessarily cut everything.

 

[henry]

We have a logger getting ready to do alittle work on our place. The whiteoak prices are not as bad as I had heard. It seems the red oak is what has taken the biggest hit on the falling prices. You might be surprised what you can make,, and how much improvement you might see in woldlife activity, if you just have a logger make a whiteoak cut on your timber. (.02)

:cheers::cheers:

 

[rat]

[rquote=1556556&tid=108260&author=HabitatMD][rquote=1556456&tid=108260&author=rat]Are you ok to chop-n-drop in that right of way?[/rquote]

We did.[/rquote]
Just wondering...
U all got a powerline or pipline ROW?

 

[HabitatMD]

Pipeline.

With that said, we tried to drop alot of it sideways or parallel to the pipeline rather than into it. They ended up chopping up some of the trees when they came through and "cleaned up" this past summer.

 

[Mailman]

On my pipeline when I first bought my place 15 years ago ever three years they would come through with brush hogs and chop up everything in sight. Kept it nice and pretty. Then the pipeline was sold to another company and their policy changed to do spraying brush killer. I had a few cedars growing in the pipeline that gave cover to a few bunnies and seen a covey of quail now and then until they killed everything cept the fescue. I tend to prefer the brush hogging instead of the brush killer. They left some God Awful ugly standing dead oak and cedar trees. They are still there from three years ago. I don't think they will say much if I drop a few smaller trees out a bit into the right of way. Sad thing is most of my trees are either white or red oak. Only 40 acres there but there are a few nice sized straight oaks that a logger would like. Just don't know if I want all that mess they leave behind and all the ruts they leave.

 

[jaytee]

If I remember correctly, Quail Unlimited and or Quail Forever were trying to get some cooperation with the various pipeline companies to be more quail friendly when it comes to maintaining the right of ways. If you stop and think about it, there are thousands of miles and thousands of acres as well that could play a vital role in the restoration of the bobwhite quail. Those right of ways are absolutely perfect areas for covey headquarters and would be unbelieveably beneficial towards all kinds of small game, not just quail. Not just the immediate habitat but the connectivity factor to other good habitat as well. Hopefully in the future they can work together and not just go through and kill everything in sight as they've tended to do in the past. Sure is a huge waste.