Longleaf Pines

This picture was taken in 2008 of the two year old longleaf pines on our McCollum Tract at the first burn.  

Some people say they don't want to plant longleaf pines because they grow too slow, I differ with their thinking.  Yes, the longleaf pines we now see in the National Forest are very old but at one time the Native Americans here in our part of the state burned the forest quite often to open it up for hunting.  These trees co-existed with fire and fire was what made them thrive.  

This year we burned this tract for the third time since planting and the picture below is of this same tree above six years older and now they have been growing for eight.  Some of these trees are now 20 feet tall.  Loblolly pines at eight years of age would be no taller than these.  Now, I am not saying every stand needs longleaf pines planted on it but where their native habitat is and if it is a place you can use fire, I would say plant longleafs. These trees as a stand will be more valuable in the life of the trees because a majority of this stand will be poles because of their straight growth, bringing more money.  

The real value comes in the aesthetics, the beauty of these mountain longleaf pines growing, and the benefits to wildlife.  It becomes a deer, turkey, quail, and rabbit home.  

It takes more management but for us the benefits far out weigh cost.

This picture was made on a different tract this year but it shows what three year old longleaf pines look like after a fire has gone through them.

Mystery Animal

This video was taken in the snow at the end of January this year.  The animal walked close to the camera and was half way by when it was activated.  

Everyone says it looks like a bear to them but we can't say for sure because we can't see the head.  It looks black and the hair looks long but just not a definite thing.  About three miles to the north of here a bear was photographed last year in the National Forest.

We are having more and more sightings of bears in Clay and Cleburne County.  There were several pictures this year of bears in food plots in Cleburne County.  I hope our numbers will continue to build because the black bear once call this place home and I would love to see them come back.  It could be like Cades Cove right here at home.  

OH! by the way they are no threat to humans, we are a threat to them.

Arbor Day Tree Give-Away

Last Friday the Clay County Forestry Planning  Committee held its annual Tree Give-Away program in conjunction with Arbor Day.  Each year we give away several hundred trees to the public.  This year we held the give-away in Lineville at the local Piggly Wiggly grocery store.

Doe Had Close Call

I have told several people about the doe at our house that had a close call.  I have posted pictures under the "Miscellaneous" tab for you to see.  What do you think did this to her?  I wish I knew but I might be afraid to go our side with out my gun.

Prescribed Burn of Two Year Old Longleaf Pines

The best tool for managing longleaf pines, fire.

This is a picture of the two year old longleaf pines before the burn. In the next few days I am going to add pictures and videos of the burn of our eight year old stand.

Picture taken after the burn.  The competition is eliminated, Brown Spot disease is controlled and the longleaf pines will thrive this year.  This will become a haven for deer next year because of the increase in the amount of food available.  Wild turkeys are already using this area because it is open and predators can be easily seen.  

The start of the burn.  

The day we burned we had a northwest wind and the ground was frozen, what we called spewed up.

It was wet so the roots stayed cool.  It was a perfect day for burning longleaf pines.

No, it will not kill them, just make them grow better!

It looks bad now (not really) but these trees will double in size this year.

Winter of 2013-14

I have added some pictures of the winter snow on Dewberry Lands from January 2014.  I hope you enjoy!

A hemlock tree we planted down at our park area with a light dusting of snow.

This is the old railroad bed covered with snow.  The snow really made it where you could see for a long distance.

This stream and the mountain laurel covered with snow made for a peaceful setting at the park on our property.

At the park, the bridge across another stream where the railroad once crossed.

Abby and Nathan were waiting for me to make this picture so we could get started tracking deer in the snow.  We saw several the two days we hunted in the snow but we didn't see any we wanted to harvested. It was a beautiful time to be in the woods and a great time to get an estimate on the number of deer we have on the property.

This Is "Multiple Use"

We have just cut these 40" long sweetgum bolts off of our property for the purpose of growing Shiitake Mushrooms. We made several trips to get enough sticks to grow the mushrooms.  This is a project we just started.  We inoculated the logs this past weekend with the spores and hope to be harvesting mushrooms in six to nine months.  

Harvesting these sweetgum trees in a loblolly pine stand is just another way of "cutting down" on the competition in the loblolly stands, IPM "integrated pest management".