Sometimes Morning, Sometimes Night

In an effort to fool the deer and elk on the hillside, I know I know, my dear readers are probably rolling with laughter right now with the idea of actually confounding the savvy critters but we do try to make random runs up the hill to scatter any would-be browsers from our patches of cedar seedlings.  It is most likely futile to think that we could outsmart them in their own neighborhood.

We believe that if we save just a couple of trees from the nibbling that they will eventually get tall enough to be above the browse-line and can fend for themselves. It is a noble gesture.

I did not get enough time in yet to get all the caged seedlings wrapped with protective berry vines as talked about in the story, Weather To Wrap dated April 22. I started with the ones that had been messed with by the deer and elk. Each cage that had been disturbed got a berry vine wrapping in an effort to dissuade the critters. To date, I have only gotten about half of the disturbed caged seedlings vined since I seem to only find an hour here or there to get to it. I have found some of the ones that I wrapped have been tampered with again with the protective cages removed and seedlings chewed on. But all in all, the effort seems to be worth doing and that the disturbed tree rate is lower than it was. I just need to take a day or two before all the summer growth of weeds and brush get too thick, to concentrate on getting all the trees that have been messed with anchored with the vines.

So that the travels across the myriad of skid roads are not in vain, we are also watching areas that are needed to be tended to. I really enjoy a ride through the forest. We observe those areas that have been thinned and look for any missed damage. Make notes as to the next section that needs to be worked on. Scout for sick, damaged or dead trees and even haul the saw and cut up loads of dry 16″ pieces so they can be worked up with the splitter when we get to the bottom of the hill.