Walked my property this afternoon and made a list of to-dos.
-Add some more hinge cuts to a bedding area I worked on last winter
-Trim out a skinny lane adjacent to the my neighbor to the south,
-Use a combination of cut stump treatments and girdling on some honey locust trees in a few key areas
-Repair and restake 97 (yes I counted lol) tree tube shelters that have either broken or blown over.
-Place some large logs in a bedding area (high ground) within my east wetland… Deer often times choose bedding with a “backer” of sorts against a downed tree/log.
It was an encouraging walk around the property, which is now entering its 4th full growing season. There are quite a few newly established deer trails that formed this past season and . I believe it’s important to do everything possible to promote habituation and imprinting on a recently created or restored property, particularly on the younger (up and coming) deer. My observations from today are showing exactly that, much more even than the season prior.