Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Thinning small thick Pines

I've got about 15 or so acres of 8-10 foot tall pines that are thick as hair. Should I talk to a forestry consultant? Or what is the best way to thin them to encourage tree growth and wildlife?

Sneaky chainsaw thread - I like it. I'm in.

Buy a Stihl......

You will Stihl be trying to get it started 😉 meanwhile husky is working.

Row planted or natural growth?

Three running Stihls currently in my shop, and a 288 that's needs, something, or other. I'll fix it one of these days, maybe.

Is it under a forestry plan? Selective cutting leaps to mind.

IME - a logger will have someone with forestry creds on staff to help make such a decision. BUT 15 acres might not be enough to entice a logger to come aboard.

Do you have a PBA, Prescribed Burn Association in your area?

They can help you get a plan in place and figure out how to make that plan work!

Dog hair thicket at that age, that small acreage, you probably don’t have much value in the timber at that age you might be lucky to get pulp wood.
Without seeing your stand, or k owing where you are and what your timber industry is like, I am still quite sure that whatever you end up doing it will cost you money.

Thick line stands are of little value to wildlife. If you thin for the sake of habitat, getting that BA down to 50-70 sq feet is a good practice. At this stage in your stand’s life, that might be row thinning. Or, if you have time and you’re motivated, you could start water it with a chain saw.

If you do desire timber value, you might keep that basal area a little higher while the stand is young, to promote the proper stem to canopy ratio.

Wildlife value, particularly deer, when it comes to pine forest, is all tied up in the understory plant community. You want as much diversity and growth in that ground to chin level as possible to feed deer and provide cover.

Hire a contractor with a masticator

And I have 4 working huskies in my truck. One being a late 80s 288. And 2 stihls torn apart in the shop.

Try a land clearing company, pricing depends on the size the trees and density of the growth. They may give you a deal for that amount of property.

To "encourage tree growth and wildlife" is a bit ambiguous. Try to get a bit more specific with your goals to include things like if you want to generate $$ and or the type of wildlife. This would help those here or a local professional tailor their advice or plan.

Forestry mulcher probably.

And yes... talk to your local State Forester... typically free.

I've done a bunch p-pine thinning on our property over the past 10 years. In some cases, I did it on my dollar and in others, I did a contract with the local NRCS and they help with costs. Either way, you can get a State or Dept of Lands forester to come out and give you free advice, no matter what route you choose. Check around, some agencies pay more than others.

Going the NRCS route requires a contract where you agree to thin, pile, and burn/chip a set amount of acreage each year until done. You aren't a guaranteed to get funding either, but the first step is applying and finding out the rules.

The forester, can help you know which trees to cut. In my case, trees were too thick and I left a 10-12 space between the save trees and the ones I cut. I was guilty of trying to leave too many, cut more, think less, is where I'm at now.

Start small to see how many acres you can do. Due to pine beetles, most of my thinning is in September so the window isn't that big for time.

It's a lot of work and the piling by hand is a killer. After a couple years a skid steer and brush rake was bought. You could hire that part done too.

Doesn't the noise bother you? Maybe you should go shut them off for awhile...

I'm sure not much of a fan of mulchers.

They are multi-problematic. Expensive, wear out your equipment twice as fast as not running a mulcher, leave stumps so that you can't use ground engaging implements, and with most woody type growth...it'll grow back thicker and harder to control. (Pines won't though... once you cut a pine, it's done.)

I'd rather use a puller. Pull the ones you want, and stack them to burn.