mcbuck58
8 pointer
Only 2 acres. If slope is not steep native grasses or a food plot
Habitat question: Mature Cedar Stand
- Thread starter kyduck1
- Start date
mcbuck58
8 pointer
See you have a food plot. It’s a small area not much to gain. Bulldoze out for native grasses. Or how about an orchard of deer fruits or chestnut trees. Or just cut cedars pile and burn let it grow into thicket then progress into timber
bird whisperer
12 pointer
I would ask how many acres you have total. You said the cedars cover about an acre. I would also ask what surrounds your farm is one side slicked off pasture? Reason I ask is wildlife not only needs low cover it also needs safe zones for wind breaks and sanctuary.
I had two neighbors on one corner take out mature cedar stands and it totally changed the deer and Turkey patterns. No longer do they ever come form that direction, this tells me they do not utilize those areas like they did before. If I was set on changing it I would consider selective removal over total removal.
I had two neighbors on one corner take out mature cedar stands and it totally changed the deer and Turkey patterns. No longer do they ever come form that direction, this tells me they do not utilize those areas like they did before. If I was set on changing it I would consider selective removal over total removal.
xbokilla
12 pointer
- Jun 28, 2012
- 16,235
Definitely a lot of bedding. Hunting it is a waiting game. They know the moment you enter so you’re gonna push them out and hope they come back. Now all of the piles they never burned have became good rabbit homes , but we haven’t rabbit hunted it yet. I like my wooded ridge, the next ridge over. The deer will bed on the logged ridge then head our way when it’s light. Maybe it helped, maybe it didn’t? When people talked money, I can tell ya, they took a heck of a lot of cedars out for only 30k. There’s still several piles of perfectly tied up and stacked fence posts that haven’t been touched since Summer ‘20.
Stone Branch
10 pointer
I cut and killed a lot of cedars in Iowa, I mostly thinned cedar thickets to facilitate movement and allowed sun in. A dense stand of cedar is about useless to deer. A thinned out stand of cedar on a south facing slope with sun and grass growing between cedars is a bedding thicket.
G
G
Big cedars can be your friend. I have woods with some cedars at the edges. Deer will come out and where the cedar limbs hang down head high they will make a scrape under the cedar. I have seen so many cedars that was rubbed by a buck and some of those same cedars have been hit for several years in a row.
The buck I shot this year came out held his head up high trying to tare cedar limbs up and more than likely leaving his scent on that tree.
I have seen this happen lots of times.
The buck I shot this year came out held his head up high trying to tare cedar limbs up and more than likely leaving his scent on that tree.
I have seen this happen lots of times.
Cornpile
12 pointer
Here is a suggestion
Leave the cedars for bedding and security zone ( green area)
Bulldoze three on four good paths back into the big cedars (gray roads)
Bush hog bushy old grown up area where paths from cedars enter for open shooting
set up feeder and mineral sites (brown area)
Box blind set up to see all paths coming out of cedars ( black box )
Get ready to kill big bucks......
Leave the cedars for bedding and security zone ( green area)
Bulldoze three on four good paths back into the big cedars (gray roads)
Bush hog bushy old grown up area where paths from cedars enter for open shooting
set up feeder and mineral sites (brown area)
Box blind set up to see all paths coming out of cedars ( black box )
Get ready to kill big bucks......
Stone Branch
10 pointer
I had a stand up in a tree looking for my target buck on a new ridge top brassica plot and he busted me trying to kill him shotgun season. So I scraped that stand and moved in closer in a cedar tree for late muzzleloader.
The deer passed by that stand eye level so close that we could here each other's heart beats.
My target buck never slipped up again that year on that plot.
I killed this one instead, a buck that I never considered a shooter but at 7 years of age he started looking more like a shooter. Point being I like cedar trees for hanging stands.
G
The deer passed by that stand eye level so close that we could here each other's heart beats.
My target buck never slipped up again that year on that plot.
I killed this one instead, a buck that I never considered a shooter but at 7 years of age he started looking more like a shooter. Point being I like cedar trees for hanging stands.
G
HeadedWest
10 pointer
- Nov 22, 2016
- 1,780
Love this one.
PUBLIC RAT
12 pointer
- Feb 18, 2014
- 2,086
Hinge cut some of them together would make great bedding areas. If they don't work to your satisfaction you still have the trees. Good food plot and mineral site nearby sounds like a winner to me.
xbokilla
12 pointer
- Jun 28, 2012
- 16,235
I don’t necessarily like to put my stand in a cedar but like them very close by. Good cover and help mask scent…at least in my mind and that’s what matters most. Ideally, I like to put the stand in a hardwood that has a large cedar growing really close to it. I’ll cut some limbs out of the middle to see a little better but leave it alone for the most part. Most of the rubs we find are on young cedars.
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EasyE
6 pointer
I cut 1(actually several)a couple years ago now it has honeysuckle growing all through it and there’s a hen sitting on her nest under the tree. Cutting cedars makes more deer food by allowing sunlight in. I also have small cedar thicket next to a pond in the woods, and another on top the hill above the pond. It gives them good shade and water close by during those dog days of summer/late summer. I’d cut a few each year and let’m lay. If your worried about the stumps just buy a fire ring and build a fire around the stump, drill a couple holes in it. Lots of options really mix it up deer need diversity. They aren’t cows. All that thick stuff is deer food and cover.
Blackdog85
6 pointer
- Oct 28, 2014
- 218
I had a similar situation. Big big mature cedars on a south facing point. Deer traveled thru there but it didn't offer anything for them to stay. No cover, no food. You could kill one at 200 yards with a rifle thru the cedars. It was wide open, nothing but big cedars and moss growing on the ground.
One of my neighbors owns a portable saw mill and does some wood working on the weekends. Arts and crafts type projects. I made a deal with him that he could have all the cedars but he had to cut them, drag them out and clean up the mess. He agreed and Started cutting winter before last. Took him several weekends to get them all cut and limbed and drug into piles. He used a tractor and front end loader and pushed limbs and tops into piles to burn. I left 3 medium size persimmon trees that were mixed in with the cedars but besides that, it was a complete clear cut.
Fast forward a few months and I had a solid acre clearing full of big cedar stumps. I weighed my options on what to do with the stumps and decided to rent a skid steer with a forestry mulcher and grind them down to the dirt. I didn't want to root ball them because it was enough of a slope that I thought I would have lost a lot of my top soil. The mulcher did an amazing job.
I sprayed it last summer, limed/fertilized and lightly disked it in September and planted clover with winter wheat. Once it finally got rain it came in beautifully. Amazing transformation on my small 31 acres. I wish I had took before and after pics. Killed several deer out of the plot last fall including one good buck. This spring it greened up quick with the first few warm days and you couldn't keep the turkeys out of it. Killed both my gobblers there this year.
Moral of the story is, big mature cedars like I had are worthless. It was a long process and a bunch of work but looking back now I wish I had done it sooner. Another side note, I didn't plan it this way, just luck, but instead of having one giant burn pile in the middle I had several smaller burn piles scattered throughout. Once I disked it, it did a good job of spreading all the ash out pretty evenly. Not sure if I would have had the same results without that. Might have been one big dead spot in the middle. Or maybe not, but either way it looks great now with good even growth throughout and with the stumps gone, I can easily mow, spray etc.
One of my neighbors owns a portable saw mill and does some wood working on the weekends. Arts and crafts type projects. I made a deal with him that he could have all the cedars but he had to cut them, drag them out and clean up the mess. He agreed and Started cutting winter before last. Took him several weekends to get them all cut and limbed and drug into piles. He used a tractor and front end loader and pushed limbs and tops into piles to burn. I left 3 medium size persimmon trees that were mixed in with the cedars but besides that, it was a complete clear cut.
Fast forward a few months and I had a solid acre clearing full of big cedar stumps. I weighed my options on what to do with the stumps and decided to rent a skid steer with a forestry mulcher and grind them down to the dirt. I didn't want to root ball them because it was enough of a slope that I thought I would have lost a lot of my top soil. The mulcher did an amazing job.
I sprayed it last summer, limed/fertilized and lightly disked it in September and planted clover with winter wheat. Once it finally got rain it came in beautifully. Amazing transformation on my small 31 acres. I wish I had took before and after pics. Killed several deer out of the plot last fall including one good buck. This spring it greened up quick with the first few warm days and you couldn't keep the turkeys out of it. Killed both my gobblers there this year.
Moral of the story is, big mature cedars like I had are worthless. It was a long process and a bunch of work but looking back now I wish I had done it sooner. Another side note, I didn't plan it this way, just luck, but instead of having one giant burn pile in the middle I had several smaller burn piles scattered throughout. Once I disked it, it did a good job of spreading all the ash out pretty evenly. Not sure if I would have had the same results without that. Might have been one big dead spot in the middle. Or maybe not, but either way it looks great now with good even growth throughout and with the stumps gone, I can easily mow, spray etc.
Carl
12 pointer
Yes.
cedar creek
12 pointer
- Sep 7, 2014
- 2,185
Deer love cedar thickets, they good cover year round and weather breaks in the winter, I grew up hunting cedar thickets pretty common in my area
