Typical of most weekends...my dad, Jason, and I put in another long day of TSI on Saturday. We probably got more done in that one day than we ever have. We were working in an area all day that was almost entirely pin oaks..and fairly big ones at that. We had a private land consultant from the MDC come through and mark which trees to drop to release the more healthy trees. It's amazing how much dropping one tree can open the canopy. We did have our first casualty of the project, when a large oak pummeled one of our chainsaws 18 inches into the muddy ground and broke the rear handle and throttle assembly. Fortunately, the main casing, engine, bar, and chain seem to be okay.
My dad and brother-in-law went down for another day of cutting on Sunday. After another day or two of running the saws, we should be wrapping up on our 26 acre TSI project...finally! There's a lot of clean-up left to do, but getting the canopy opened up and releasing the oaks was our priority. We'll get a bobcat and tractor equipped with a bucket and grapple claws in there to clean up most of the debris in the areas we'll be duck hunting in. The rest we'll probably leave as cover and browse for the deer.
I've said it before, and I'll probably keep saying it, but I can't wait reap the benefits of all our work come this fall...both for deer and ducks. I imagine we'll see more turkey activity this spring season as well once things start greening up, and may even have some turkeys nesting in that portion of the timber in what used to be nothing but a barren flat of leaves because of the thick canopy.
No time for pictures this time around, but I'll try to update our progress with pictures as we start the clean-up process...
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