MATT ESSER, DNR DEER BIOLOGIST: Hi everyone.
So as you can see over my shoulder here, are some young aspen trees
on the edge of a field on the property that I am able to hunt.
This corner is kind of a nuisance for the farmer so he's asked me to clear
out some of these trees, which is a perfect opportunity for me to fell
these trees on the edge of the field.
And then I'll come back in here in the spring and cut them up
for for the rest of the firewood.
One reason that I was excited to do this project was this property is new and
before we have a timber sale, there really is no, no woody browse available really.
It's more open oak woods and maple woods and the last timber
sale was about 15, 20 years ago.
So we're in that period in between where there's not a lot available woody browse.
That's a simple technique that you can do is go along your edges of your
fields or even in your woods and create small openings and fell some trees.
As you can see we're in the middle of winter and you'd be
amazed at the deer tracks that are going to be around these trees.
I'm actually going to hang a trail camera.
And there'll be pictures that'll be accompanying this video that
you'll be able to see deer on the night that I cut these trees and
hang this, hang the trail camera up.
And you'll be able to see how these deer come in and they'll
start munching on these nice young tops, these young aspen trees.
I like to focus on young aspen, birch and red maple trees or silver maples trees
that you have growing in your woods.
They have the nice tender shoots at the top and that's what the deer are
going to be after for the woody browse.
So this is the view you'll get from the trail camera.
You know, one important thing to touch on while we're sitting here
talking about creating woody browse for the deer on our property.
It's the middle of winter and it's Wisconsin.
And our deer are made for this.
A lot of people will start to think about baiting and feeding.
And you know, you don't really need to.
One of the things that you can do is exactly what we're doing right now.
Go out and create some habitat, cut down some woody browse and
make it available for the deer that are frequenting your property.
And that's going to do more good for them than putting out straight corn.
The enzymes and microorganisms and everything inside of their four
chambered stomach, it changes for the course of the winter time.
And it's meant to break down woody browse, such as, you know, this stuff right here.
And when you get a belly...
that's, when you hear where people will find deer with a
belly full of corn and dead.
So this is what you're trying to create.
And you can do this through a timber sale.
Like I stated earlier, prior to this, there hasn't been a timber sale on this
property for approximately 15, 20 years.
So we have to get creative and create available woody browse for the deer
on the property I'm able to hunt.
So just a little...
Just one simple technique that you can do...
doesn't take very long and it's very beneficial to the wildlife, instead of
going to the co-op, local feed mill and buying a couple of hundred pounds of
corn, fire up your chain saw, go out and cut some firewood and leave the tops
for the deer and you'd be amazed at the benefits it's gonna gonna help you with.
Well, here we are back at my office and I'm going to take a look
at the trail camera pictures...
pulled the card from the camera, took the camera down and wanted to share what we
found with you guys after cutting down that aspen tree on the edge of the woods.
Let's see what kind of deer activity we had on that.
I'm guessing that we had quite a bit of activity that night.
So let's take a look and see what we see.
Well, as you can see from the date on the trail camera picture,
this is the 18th of January.
The day that I cut it down, it's 3:13 in the afternoon.
So let's take a peek and see what we got as, as the time goes here.
So here's the first picture.
As you can see by the tag on the bottom 1:06 a.m.
So it's just a few hours after I cut the tree down and it's that early morning.
So 1:06 is the first deer that comes by.
You can see here's a few more deer...coming.
As you can see that deer is munching on some of the browse.
1:12...
same night.
Here's some more deer coming in, checking out the tree, getting
some, getting some woody browse.
There's some more deer feeding on, feeding on the tops of
the tree that I cut down.
You know, this is very palatable stuff.
It's the top growth of the tree.
It's this year's growth.
We're really looking for stuff, you know, the size of a pencil or less.
It's really going to be palatable for the deer.
And they really looking at those young shoots and buds from this year's
growth that they're not going to be able to get from the top of the tree
obviously, when the tree is standing.
So. There's some more deer.
So you can see they're spending quite a bit of time in here, munching on the top.
Such a simple little technique that you can do too.
And you can see in less than a day, it's already part of the attraction of,
of doing this type of habitat project.
Its a simple little thing that you can do and it pays off dividends right away.
Offers woody browse when there might not have been any.
Still looking.
Quite a few pictures.
So they're spending a lot of time at this top...
eating.
So that morning, the deer comes back...
a couple deer.
So, as you can see by the trail camera pictures the use
of the deer on this aspen top.
Something that you can do very simply.
Just because it's the dead of winter doesn't mean that the habitat
management will stop, can stop.
There's always things that you can do to better your habitat for wildlife
and for the deer on your property.
Just a little simple technique that you can use.
And I hope you go out and use this technique on your
property this winter also.
Thanks for watching.
ON-SCREEN- DMAP - Brought to you by the Deer Management Assistance Program