Question for the Beasts...trimming trees while Spring scouti

[justdirtyfun]

A word of advice on trimming.
Mostly it is inevitable at some point, and most guys are beyond the 15 ft wide down to bare dirt extremes of newbies/slobs.


Be aware of the specific plants as best you can. Slashing down young oak saplings would be least acceptable and will never happen by me or anyone within eyesight. On the other hand invasive plants like bush honeysuckle are FREE GAME. They grow so fast that what should be open understory becomes impenetrable within 3 years. Northern guys have had phragmites to contend with and they are infiltrating central Illinois now. What a mess.

[Tufrthnails]

Talk to your wardens folks. It is also illegal here in Texas/Oklahoma - I talked with my wardens in both states about pruning small limbs and they both said the intent is to keep people from hacking off 4 inch branches and from cutting down saplings. They both told me they have no problem with me trimming shooting lanes as long as I am not jeopardizing the tree and only cutting small limbs/vines. If you did not trim trees here you would not find many you could hunt past 6 foot off the ground. We also have a large amount of poison oak on most all our trees and those vines can be 2-4 inches in diameter and 20-100 foot in length. I ALWAYS have a set of hand pruners on me.

I have been told the same by our officers when I asked about it. I also carry string with me and tie up limbs. I have a few places where the limbs I tied in the late season actually started growing where they were tied by the next season.

[DEERSLAYER]

It's illegal on public here so I don't trim. I want my deer 100% legal so I use twine sometimes and I will also bend limbs behind another limb to hold it out of my way. Not being able to trim can certainly add to the challenge of public land hunting.

[dan]

Talk to your wardens folks. It is also illegal here in Texas/Oklahoma - I talked with my wardens in both states about pruning small limbs and they both said the intent is to keep people from hacking off 4 inch branches and from cutting down saplings. They both told me they have no problem with me trimming shooting lanes as long as I am not jeopardizing the tree and only cutting small limbs/vines. If you did not trim trees here you would not find many you could hunt past 6 foot off the ground. We also have a large amount of poison oak on most all our trees and those vines can be 2-4 inches in diameter and 20-100 foot in length. I ALWAYS have a set of hand pruners on me.

I have been told the same by our officers when I asked about it. I also carry string with me and tie up limbs. I have a few places where the limbs I tied in the late season actually started growing where they were tied by the next season.

I have had Wisconsin wardens search my pack at the truck to see if I hAd a saw with me...

[DaveT1963]

Talk to your wardens folks. It is also illegal here in Texas/Oklahoma - I talked with my wardens in both states about pruning small limbs and they both said the intent is to keep people from hacking off 4 inch branches and from cutting down saplings. They both told me they have no problem with me trimming shooting lanes as long as I am not jeopardizing the tree and only cutting small limbs/vines. If you did not trim trees here you would not find many you could hunt past 6 foot off the ground. We also have a large amount of poison oak on most all our trees and those vines can be 2-4 inches in diameter and 20-100 foot in length. I ALWAYS have a set of hand pruners on me.

I have been told the same by our officers when I asked about it. I also carry string with me and tie up limbs. I have a few places where the limbs I tied in the late season actually started growing where they were tied by the next season.

I have had Wisconsin wardens search my pack at the truck to see if I hAd a saw with me...

wonder what he would have done had you had a saw? Seems to me like a saw could be used to split a pelvic bone, open a brisket, cut off legs, etc.... or is packing a saw on public ground illegal? I actually seldom carry a saw as I use pruners 95% of the time .

Glad our wardens down here are more open to intent - trimming yes, cutting large branches no.

[Dewey]

Believe it or not there are actually people out there on public land that actively search for trimmed out areas or stand marks left on tree bark. Seems they figure the hard work was done already so just set up and hunt......no scouting required.

This is why I do whatever it takes to leave zero trace I was there especially if it's a spot I plan on sitting again in the future.

[VA5326]

I do most of my trimming in January, February, and March. I don't come back to the tree until the conditions are right to hunt it in early Fall.

[dan]

Talk to your wardens folks. It is also illegal here in Texas/Oklahoma - I talked with my wardens in both states about pruning small limbs and they both said the intent is to keep people from hacking off 4 inch branches and from cutting down saplings. They both told me they have no problem with me trimming shooting lanes as long as I am not jeopardizing the tree and only cutting small limbs/vines. If you did not trim trees here you would not find many you could hunt past 6 foot off the ground. We also have a large amount of poison oak on most all our trees and those vines can be 2-4 inches in diameter and 20-100 foot in length. I ALWAYS have a set of hand pruners on me.

I have been told the same by our officers when I asked about it. I also carry string with me and tie up limbs. I have a few places where the limbs I tied in the late season actually started growing where they were tied by the next season.

I have had Wisconsin wardens search my pack at the truck to see if I hAd a saw with me...

wonder what he would have done had you had a saw? Seems to me like a saw could be used to split a pelvic bone, open a brisket, cut off legs, etc.... or is packing a saw on public ground illegal? I actually seldom carry a saw as I use pruners 95% of the time .

Glad our wardens down here are more open to intent - trimming yes, cutting large branches no.

I agree... A guy could cut dead branches, or be doing the things you mentioned... I assume if you had a saw he would question if you used it, and then when you denied it ask you to show him where you hunted... Its gotten a lot better under Walker. The old DNR used to really harass certain people.

[DEERSLAYER]

The DNR told me there was two primary reasons they didn't want people trimming. The first was they didn't want anyone cutting down saplings. The second was anytime you wound a tree you are opening the door for potential disease to get in. They actually seemed more concerned with disease. At least where I was hunting. I said "even twigs" and he said yes. They want to minimize the chances of disease setting up shop in the area. With all the damage done by tree stands you would think that a little trimming wouldn't be a big deal, but they disagreed on that.

[Bubbles]

With the amount of illegal tree forts I see with trees all nailed up, you'd think they have bigger concerns than a few twigs. Or maybe we should carry that tree wound sealer with us?

[ Post made via Android ]

[Mario]

Have adapted to find those tighter natural pockets. Also use stand height and placement to find shots in tight cover. I have folder back branches on other branches to get them out of the way in places where we cant trim trees.

[briar]

I do most of my trimming in January, February, and March. I don't come back to the tree until the conditions are right to hunt it in early Fall.

Me Too.........lots of times if I cannot saw off a branch, I just manage to break it off by accident to open up a lane

[Lockdown]

I break branches/twigs off almost more than I cut them. Rarely do I need to cut anything bigger than broom handle size. Often if it was private I would, but like I said in my other post I'm trying to remain incognito and legal as possible. Normally nipping/breaking the multiple small twigs is sufficient versus cutting the larger limb in it's entirety.

I think some people go overboard... They trim an AREA for a lane. I normally follow a trail an go through every scenario and make sure I have a small lane (often the diameter of a basketball or so) to shoot through. Rather than 4 or 5 great big lanes I might have 8-12 holes to shoot through. Some might be natural, some are made by me.

I do think breaking branches vs cutting them makes a big difference. There are naturally broken limbs, branches and trunks all over in the woods, and man made breaks can easily be overlooked by other hunters. Especially after a year the freshly broken limb gets dried out and gray. If you cut something with a saw, even 6 or 8 yrs down the road it's still obvious someone had a set there.

If I do cut a branch, it's right next to the limb it's growing off of. I don't leave 2" sticking out. I also pay a lot of attention to how the cut looks from the ground. If I can cut on the top side where it can't be seen from below, that helps hide the cut tremendously.

Another thing I do is take anything I've cut and hide the cut branch away from my stand. I shove the end in the dirt or down in the grass so it looks like it fell off a tree naturally. Some of my prepped trees will get noticed by others, but I'm confident a lot of people will walk right by a good share of them. Same thing with my ground blinds.

When I was scouting with a friend this spring I told him I had a prepped ground blind up ahead. "Let me know when you see it." I said. When we came up on it he looked at it for 5 seconds and goes "is it right there?". And it was, but he was impressed with how camouflaged it was. "Yeah man nobody is going to see this" he said while he sat in it and check out the 5 different shooting lanes I had made. It's a lot of extra effort to disguise them but it's worth it.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[briar]

I break branches/twigs off almost more than I cut them. Rarely do I need to cut anything bigger than broom handle size. Often if it was private I would, but like I said in my other post I'm trying to remain incognito and legal as possible. Normally nipping/breaking the multiple small twigs is sufficient versus cutting the larger limb in it's entirety.

I think some people go overboard... They trim an AREA for a lane. I normally follow a trail an go through every scenario and make sure I have a small lane (often the diameter of a basketball or so) to shoot through. Rather than 4 or 5 great big lanes I might have 8-12 holes to shoot through. Some might be natural, some are made by me.

I do think breaking branches vs cutting them makes a big difference. There are naturally broken limbs, branches and trunks all over in the woods, and man made breaks can easily be overlooked by other hunters. Especially after a year the freshly broken limb gets dried out and gray. If you cut something with a saw, even 6 or 8 yrs down the road it's still obvious someone had a set there.

If I do cut a branch, it's right next to the limb it's growing off of. I don't leave 2" sticking out. I also pay a lot of attention to how the cut looks from the ground. If I can cut on the top side where it can't be seen from below, that helps hide the cut tremendously.

Another thing I do is take anything I've cut and hide the cut branch away from my stand. I shove the end in the dirt or down in the grass so it looks like it fell off a tree naturally. Some of my prepped trees will get noticed by others, but I'm confident a lot of people will walk right by a good share of them. Same thing with my ground blinds.

When I was scouting with a friend this spring I told him I had a prepped ground blind up ahead. "Let me know when you see it." I said. When we came up on it he looked at it for 5 seconds and goes "is it right there?". And it was, but he was impressed with how camouflaged it was. "Yeah man nobody is going to see this" he said while he sat in it and check out the 5 different shooting lanes I had made. It's a lot of extra effort to disguise them but it's worth it.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

I bet if a camera followed me and your on our spring scouts It would look a lot the same. We think a lot alike.

[Gibby]

I like to do my trimming now if possible because I can open up Holes only as large as I need to, if you trim when the leaves are on there is a tendency to over trim and then when the foliage drops it can leave you too exposed