Woodland management

[low plains drifter 10,363]

Has anyone got any experience of managing, and working/ improving a small wood

I'm talking of a few acres of mainly Sitka spruce that is overcrowded

Hopefully if things go to plan the woods will be largely cleared and transformed into something more of a deciduous woodland with a good variety of native trees etc

Cheers

[low plains drifter 10,363]

[Born Hunter 17,751]

16 hours ago, low plains drifter said:

Has anyone got any experience of managing, and working/ improving a small wood

I'm talking of a few acres of mainly Sitka spruce that is overcrowded

Hopefully if things go to plan the woods will be largely cleared and transformed into something more of a deciduous woodland with a good variety of native trees etc

Cheers

That's brilliant. Maybe someone in the deerstalking section if not on this one. Regenerating native woodland and deer management often go hand in hand.

[Accip74 7,112]

7 hours ago, low plains drifter said:

Looks like a lovely bit of land

[low plains drifter 10,363]

1 hour ago, Born Hunter said:

That's brilliant. Maybe someone in the deerstalking section if not on this one. Regenerating native woodland and deer management often go hand in hand.

There's a good few high seats dotted about the place, and the remnants of pens, feeders etc, there's obviously been plenty happening there in the past

[low plains drifter 10,363]

1 hour ago, Accip74 said:

Looks like a lovely bit of land

It is mate, off the beaten track, and a massive variety of woodland birds/ wildlife 

[sussex 5,777]

A book by Richard Prior , Trees and Deer will tell you just about everything you could want to know on the subject mate ..from what to plant ,how to plant , how to protect what you plant ,  what attracts deer , management of deer and everything in between ....well worth a read or just as a reference point ..

 

[Born Hunter 17,751]

6 minutes ago, low plains drifter said:

There's a good few high seats dotted about the place, and the remnants of pens, feeders etc, there's obviously been plenty happening there in the past

Probably reasonable deer numbers about then? All I know is what I've been told on a place I shoot the deer on that is regenerating the native, and that's kill anything that's in season! LOL. I'll flatten anything in the woodland but I like to be much more sympathetic in the surrounding downland. Rightly or wrongly.

The foresters f***ing hate the deer and the squirrels.

 

[Born Hunter 17,751]

Anyway, I really admire your goal. I'd love to do the same.

[shaaark 10,709]

18 hours ago, low plains drifter said:

Has anyone got any experience of managing, and working/ improving a small wood

I'm talking of a few acres of mainly Sitka spruce that is overcrowded

Hopefully if things go to plan the woods will be largely cleared and transformed into something more of a deciduous woodland with a good variety of native trees etc

Cheers

You'll need to improve your soil, after the conifers have been cleared. A good, deep loam if you will lol . Preferably a good, deep layer of topsoil of deciduous leafmould worked into the ground

[sussex 5,777]

1 minute ago, Born Hunter said:

Probably reasonable deer numbers about then? All I know is what I've been told on a place I shoot the deer on that is regenerating the native, and that's kill anything that's in season! LOL. I'll flatten anything in the woodland but I like to be much more sympathetic in the surrounding downland. Rightly or wrongly.

The foresters f***ing hate the deer and the squirrels.

 

It’s about getting the right balance , you don’t want to many that they strip the undercover and loose bird and small mammal          habitat , which is what I have on my permissions , the roe have been driven out by the fallow after being left to breed unhindered , getting numbers down to sustainable numbers is difficult at best and nigh on impossible at times ..a lot will depend on your neighbours stance on deer control , one of our next door neighbours won’t cull at all and quite often during the day you can see upwards of three hundred fallow laying out in his 100odd acres , and then they spend all night eating on our farmers fields , they know where there safe and become totally nocturnal if we put them under to much pressure .....

Any new planting in our 150 acres of woodland has to be fenced to stop the exercise being a complete write of with the tops eaten of or frayed ...Priors Book gives some useful ideas about planting in circles and fencing ..

[Born Hunter 17,751]

1 minute ago, sussex said:

It’s about getting the right balance , you don’t want to many that they strip the undercover and loose bird and small mammal          habitat , which is what I have on my permissions , the roe have been driven out by the fallow after being left to breed unhindered , getting numbers down to sustainable numbers is difficult at best and nigh on impossible at times ..a lot will depend on your neighbours stance on deer control , one of our next door neighbours won’t cull at all and quite often during the day you can see upwards of three hundred fallow laying out in his 100odd acres , and then they spend all night eating on our farmers fields , they know where there safe and become totally nocturnal if we put them under to much pressure .....

Any new planting in our 150 acres of woodland has to be fenced to stop the exercise being a complete write of with the tops eaten of or frayed ...Priors Book gives some useful ideas about planting in circles and fencing ..

Absolutely. It's gonna differ place to place depending on the current situation. I expect the results of long term management will enable a much more sustainable and moderate approach.

It's almost all roe for me with fallow migrating in from next door. But I'm not particularly 'managing' deer or anything though. I just get down as often as possible and try to contribute to the estate by doing what I enjoy. They're the managers.

[low plains drifter 10,363]

One of the neighbours is going to be culling the deer, there's only roe here, he told me he'd found the skeletons of around fifty roe in his wood 

[Born Hunter 17,751]

1 minute ago, low plains drifter said:

One of the neighbours is going to be culling the deer, there's only roe here, he told me he'd found the skeletons of around fifty roe in his wood 

You've got a f***ing panther! 

[shaaark 10,709]

10 minutes ago, sussex said:

It’s about getting the right balance , you don’t want to many that they strip the undercover and loose bird and small mammal          habitat , which is what I have on my permissions , the roe have been driven out by the fallow after being left to breed unhindered , getting numbers down to sustainable numbers is difficult at best and nigh on impossible at times ..a lot will depend on your neighbours stance on deer control , one of our next door neighbours won’t cull at all and quite often during the day you can see upwards of three hundred fallow laying out in his 100odd acres , and then they spend all night eating on our farmers fields , they know where there safe and become totally nocturnal if we put them under to much pressure .....

Any new planting in our 150 acres of woodland has to be fenced to stop the exercise being a complete write of with the tops eaten of or frayed ...Priors Book gives some useful ideas about planting in circles and fencing ..

 

1 minute ago, Born Hunter said:

Absolutely. It's gonna differ place to place depending on the current situation. I expect the results of long term management will enable a much more sustainable and moderate approach.

It's almost all roe for me with fallow migrating in from next door. But I'm not particularly 'managing' deer or anything though. I just get down as often as possible and try to contribute to the estate by doing what I enjoy. They're the managers.

Was thinking along those lines fellas.

Sussex, can you not have a chat with your neighbours, and explain to them that managing the numbers of fallow will benefit the land, trees and wildlife on the land?