5 Winter Deer Habitat Projects You Can do Right Now to Hold More Deer on Your Land

[@danielandres6647]

Impressive all the work you've put into your place. Also amazing how many rubs you have in that bedding area! A lot of people curve ironwood, but the grouse sure like the catkins, and like you said, it's nice cover with the leaves being retained through winter.

[@PFHabitat]

@danielandres6647 thanks! Yah I've read a lot about the benefits of hophornbeam with grouse. I've certainly seen our grouse numbers increase with all the chainsaw work

[@keithbuesing6912]

Great info, I've been taking out honeysuckle all spring summer and fall up to deer season. That was pretty much my whole understory. Next will saw down the midstory where feasible and try to improve the oak and walnut stands. Elm ironwood bitternut hickory hackberry targeted for cutting, shagbark hickory walnut black white red and shingle oak, black cherry trees to save per Forrester. I'm liking the electric chainsaw for most of this work. Arthritis in the shoulder and I don't have to yank the rope.

[@JTWy37]

Would love your recommendation on an electric saw. Would like a light saw for the small work.

[@keithbuesing6912]

Been using the 14" Hart 40v for most. It's lasted through four chains and still going strong. Battery lasts a couple hours same as me. Wallyworld 178 beans now, extra battery 158 beans.

[@PFHabitat]

@keithbuesing6912 that all sounds like great work! We don't have hickory but they hinge awesome so you should be able to use them as nice bedding structure

[@stevedenoyer5956]

Great stuff Sam, surprised you don’t have much snow? We’re way under average in northern Mi too, love the chainsaw habitat work you gain so much benefit from it. Won’t be long for me, if the snow holds out.

[@PFHabitat]

@stevedenoyer5956 it's been another fantastic winter so no complaints here! On a normal year we'd be 2 to 3 feet deep by now. Two mild winters in a row

[@transamguy9073]

Alot of awsome info. I plan on doing this in feb right after our deer season ends. Im not gona get as carried away as what you did but i got alot of mid story trees to cut along with aspen and junk trees

[@PFHabitat]

@transamguy9073 any work is good work! Glad to hear you'll be getting at it

[@virgilholmes6688]

Another great video. You are taking some risk of losing trees during high winds when you eliminate the support they get from touching the canopies of other trees. This is especially true of trees that have grown tall and narrow and in close proximity to other trees. This happens a lot on new golf courses and other developments. I recommend leaving small groups of trees (3-5) and then create more space between those groups. Think about how much harder it is to push over three people with linked arms in a circle. This is not a concern if you are thinning trees that are protected from the wind.

[@PFHabitat]

@virgilholmes6688 great point and one I need to share more often in videos. I do share that with clients a lot. I see this a lot in aspen stands. That's why clear cutting aspen is always best.

[@jamesfarrow2130]

Good saw work!

[@PFHabitat]

@@jamesfarrow2130 thanks brother!

[@mikekarpiak5286]

I wish there was a before pic but nice work

[@bighilltom]

Thanks!

[@PFHabitat]

@@bighilltom thanks for watching!

[@Enom20]

You mentioned that you would go back, after sometime, to reset the growth again with your chainsaw. Would you ever use fire say after a couple years to do the reset rather than all the chainsaw work?

[@tedrize8419]

Great job, should I recut a maple stump that has new growth above the browse line.Somevgolks say to hinge cut them but they are 1to 2 inch diameter.

[@PFHabitat]

@tedrize8419 you can let them go a little while longer to eventually hinge if you need more bedding structure. But if browse is lacking you can go ahead and flush cut them and get the browse going again.

[@bvsproductions9021]

Love the videos! I was wondering if killing giant ragweed would be worth the effort to get sunlight to the ground in my muck woods. I know the ragweed has good protein and the deer eat it when it’s young. I feel it blocks all the sunlight so no woody browse will grow. Its muck dirt. It does make thick cover.

[@bucksutherland7807]

You need a couple hundred Meyers spruce in there. My deer do not browse them in north central MN. The needles are extremely stiff. Holds branches to the ground.

[@PFHabitat]

@bucksutherland7807 I've been adding in white spruce to my cuts. Great suggestion though. Those isolated conifers are a great compliment to the bedding cuts.

[@robertduguay689]

Great video. Do you use fire before cut ?

[@billwenzel2161]

Great information. If I can offer a suggestion for your videos... get a simple tripod and mount your camera to that (even if it's your phone). Way too much swinging of camera makes the videos difficult to watch and makes some people motion sick. Set the tripod, keep the camera stationary while you talk or slowly pan. It doesn't need to be a big bulky tripod. $30 light weight tri-pod and a $15 phone holder would improve the quality of your videos significant and help fuel continued growth of your channel. Again, you have great information - hopefully you can understand that my constructive criticism is intended to make things even better with your videos.

[@PFHabitat]

@billwenzel2161 yes thank you for this reminder. You aren't the first to say this. I plan on investing in some solid video equipment this year. But a lot of it is just me needing to slow down. I get excited as I walk around and kinda forget I'm even videoing

[@danwilkinson2489]

great video! im trying to identify a shrub on a new property in trempealeau co wi. its mainly in open grassy areas. the leaves look like willow or dogwood leaves and it has clusters of small cherry looking berries. it grows more up than out and is around 3-5 feet tall and is loaded with woody spikes coming off the stems. im fairly knowledgeable of trees and shrubs but cannot identify this shrub. the only thing i have found that looks fairly similar is a western sand cherry but i dont think thats it. any idea?

[@Coop779]

Sam, Do you ever do any kind of habitat work in a marsh area that contains mostly canary grass and some alder? We have a large area like that and are looking for suggestions on how to improve it.

[@StevenSmith-7t391]

Do the deer eat the ironwood or do they just get security from them? I’ve got tons of ironwood but the canopy is way above the deer.

[@daveguttormson6315]

Love your passion Sam! Glad your channel is growing. Great content. I'm about 75 miles northwest of you. Lots of big boxelder/ basswood. We also have ALOT OF buckthorn and prickly ash. One thing that I love to do is hingecut a big boxelder/ basswood right on top of a buckthorn/ prickly ash thicket. " soft landing". That can become a MAJOR bedding spot even though it will be a small area. Also, I've hinge cut 1000s of trees mostly Boxelder/ elm and basswood. I tend to cut them high( yep, dangerous ) . Keeping the tree alive is not a concern. I do it for horizontal cover. A living hinge cut tree can still shade out the ground. If you ever travel this way, give me a shout.