First off homogeneous timber and soft edges are not something one should want to seek out. THP or Dan probly isn’t going to hit a new state and start out scouting in such terrain.
However inevitably some of us may live in an area surrounded by this terrain.. maybe you drive hours to a deer camp that is located in such terrain..maybe you were driving through an area like that and seen a monster buck…
Maybe you just don’t like driving far to go hunt the stuff that lays out better.
My experience is in Flat Northern settings, mostly swamps.
1. Roads leading through these areas are absolutely an edge. Somewhat like a river. You will often find deer beds right along the road. Rivers and drainages should be scoped out always.
2. What looks the same in areal photos is not always so. It’s basic but when scouting these areas I pay very close attention to detail. Where I naturally end up walking is often where the deer also travel. Example a large very thick cedar swamp with a very soft transition within. One area the cedars and spruce are in a very slightly lower soil. They are slightly smaller and more light gets in to create a thick undergrowth. Also when 18” of snow falls it’s 18” deep on the ground there. The other side of the edge the cedars are on slightly elevated ground. So slightly you cannot tell when walking but the diameter of the trees is larger, more sunlight is blocked out, undergrowth is not nearly as thick and when you get 18” of snow one night it will seem more like 8” when walking this area. As much of the snow will be in the branches. This is wolf country and winter is a good 5 months. These deer will be on the easy path. And they will bed that soft edge quite often. I believe due to wolves, they want a downwind view from their bed. As I’ve described this it sounds very obvious but it’s not. It’s so slight, I walked through this area for 2 yrs before I realized it. The snow really helped me to see it all for what it was. It is a great spot.
3. Considering an area where there is no ag, there is no recent logging. I’m looking for openings created another way.
A. Emerald ash borer created pockets. White ash grew seemingly every where and especially I find it in slight rises in swamps. Nowadays the large trees are dead but young ash are at waste to head level, blackberrys and all types of weeds are growing. Almost always deer bedding in or around them or possibly staging in them.
B. Another natural opening I have found is created by spruce budworm. Once they take enough needles off an evergreen there’s no coming back from it and the trees die. Good undergrowth starts in these pockets much similar to the dead ash pockets..and it creates your edge..
C. Perhaps no logging has taken place in 30+ Yrs but you may find small sections of logging trail that remained..or log landing areas that remained. This can be good too.
Nothing groundbreaking here. That’s all I could think of for now. I just wanted to share a bit. I’ve spotted some large bucks crossing roads in this type of terrain. I have also killed some good bucks in this type of terrain. If I know there’s good bucks in it. I’ll hunt em
What’s your approach when hitting the large homogeneous terrain?
Tips for Homogeneous timber and Soft edge
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- oldrank
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Re: Tips for Homogeneous timber and Soft edge
Good post. I will read it through in the morning, but I like it.
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Re: Tips for Homogeneous timber and Soft edge
Good tips. I struggle in these areas. They are still new to me. One thing I have noticed is the concentration of deer feeding on road edges. Just like you said it creates a break and breaks create food and understory growth. In my mind I have been trying to break them down from one big piece to a bunch of smaller pieces. That always makes it easier for me to compartmentalize certain areas. It is funny because the stuff that would 100% be money in lower Michigan is sometimes devoid of sign in upper Michigan. It's definitely a different challenge. I deal with less people but in turn I also deal with less deer so it's a ying yang thing. Thanks for the post.
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Re: Tips for Homogeneous timber and Soft edge
Andrew, you are definitely going at things the right way in my opinion. Finding the unique features within all that sameness is the key. Your dead ash pocket observation is brilliant. Is there a way to identify these from aerials? Can you look at the ones you know of to see if there is a way to find others?
One other forest opening I can think of is recently defunct beaver ponds. There are more of them than ever now that wolves have killed enough beavers to cause some of the dams to deteriorate. Lots of great weed and browse growth there. Recent satellite views would show them.
One other forest opening I can think of is recently defunct beaver ponds. There are more of them than ever now that wolves have killed enough beavers to cause some of the dams to deteriorate. Lots of great weed and browse growth there. Recent satellite views would show them.
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Re: Tips for Homogeneous timber and Soft edge
oldrank wrote:Good tips. I struggle in these areas. They are still new to me. One thing I have noticed is the concentration of deer feeding on road edges. Just like you said it creates a break and breaks create food and understory growth. In my mind I have been trying to break them down from one big piece to a bunch of smaller pieces. That always makes it easier for me to compartmentalize certain areas. It is funny because the stuff that would 100% be money in lower Michigan is sometimes devoid of sign in upper Michigan. It's definitely a different challenge. I deal with less people but in turn I also deal with less deer so it's a ying yang thing. Thanks for the post.
Absolutely, glad to share it. Sounds like you’re well on the path to dialing it in up at your deer camp.
One other I forgot is on occasion I find areas where popple trees for some reason don’t grow so healthy and at a certain size range they all seem to break off the tops easily and it creates some pockets of new growth on the ground as well. It’s weird..I haven’t asked a forester about it but it seems these areas get a bit too wet from time to time and the trees don’t stay healthy. Kind of rot out.
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Re: Tips for Homogeneous timber and Soft edge
KLEMZ wrote:Andrew, you are definitely going at things the right way in my opinion. Finding the unique features within all that sameness is the key. Your dead ash pocket observation is brilliant. Is there a way to identify these from aerials? Can you look at the ones you know of to see if there is a way to find others?
One other forest opening I can think of is recently defunct beaver ponds. There are more of them than ever now that wolves have killed enough beavers to cause some of the dams to deteriorate. Lots of great weed and browse growth there. Recent satellite views would show them.
Well…I’m somewhat handicapped in the Ariel scouting game! Technology in general really. I’m hoping to get some time to utilize the features you highlighted on your recent podcast episode. I’m sure there is some type of obvious indicator. Just not on the maps I’m utilizing.
Now I just remembered. I discovered a layer on Onx that is called “young aspen forest” this is nothing crazy but I referenced some of the areas and it’s not super accurate but it’s fair. It can put you in the ballpark where some natural regeneration is occurring for whatever reason.
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Re: Tips for Homogeneous timber and Soft edge
This guy, knows what he is talking about. Great Post.
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Re: Tips for Homogeneous timber and Soft edge
I've recently been looking at the Lidar layers on caltopo and wonder if this would help identify those slight elevation changes. You can see little lumps in the terrain where from the ground looks all the same.
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Re: Tips for Homogeneous timber and Soft edge
There is always an edge. soil, elevation, groundwater levels change and so does the forest growth. Old logging trails, I forgot how many trophy bucks I have tracked that will hit an old logging road and walk it for a 1/4 mile. A few things you didn't mention are blowdowns from wind storms and openings created by fires. both are very high on my list of places to find a big buck. also, and this is almost impossible to find unless you track and learn a specific buck's pattern is the shortest distance between doe bedding areas. there will be no edge and it may all look exactly the same but a buck will cross from one doe area to another via the shortest path. whenever a buck just heads out across country with no edge i find it's because its the shortest path. I mention this because if you find one of these crossing spots and add one funnel feature then it becomes an excellent stand site.... and you'll probably never see another hunter there.
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