Setting up a TSI Program

KURTIS from Ontario, Canada asks,



Hi bill my father and I bought 160 acres in a dense forested area, we are working hard to improve the land with food plots now as food especially in the fall seems to be the biggest missing part. I would really love to do some TSI work as well to create bedding areas and brows on our property, as of now a lot of the deer bed in the thick cedars on the property to the west of ours. We know the locations where we would like these bedding areas as they set up to our food plots and our access to stands, but I'm confused on weather we should be hinge cutting, clear cutting, hack and squirt, select cut ? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.




Bill responds,


Topic: Setting up a TSI Program:

TSI Program

My preference has always been to cut the trees off and lay them on the ground and then kill the stump (on most species). I preferred this to hinge cutting and hack and squirt methods.

Kurtis,

If you have marketable timber you need to address that first.  Those trees should come out before you start dropping the selected junk trees.  Also, it is best to get a forester to help you as this is an important decision given the fact that it is impossible to put them back once you cut them down.  I started slow for the first three years until I got a feel for what the timber would look like after the TSI cutting and then I went faster after I got more comfortable with the process and the outcome. I think that is a good strategy.  

I always cut the trees down and then killed the stump (assuming it was a tree I didn’t want to resprout).  Sometimes I left the hickory stumps untreated so that they could grow back and the deer could browse the nutrient rich new growth that came from the stump.  However, you should kill those species that are undesirable.  Regarding hinge cutting. I understand why people do it – very fast cover at ground level.  But I was always looking for regeneration of either browse species or oak and that won’t happen if you are hinge cutting.

Plus, I just don’t like the look of a hinge-cut timber.  So I cut them to the ground. Also, regarding hack and squirt, we did some of that and I didn’t like that either. It is fast but you end up with tons of dead standing trees (if it works at all) and those are dangerous. I don’t want a timber full of trees just waiting to fall.  Those are the reasons I always cut my TSI removal trees to the ground and then usually killed the stump (Tordon or Garlon). 

You may have different goals, so my method may not work best for you, but at least you understand my reasoning.  Good luck.  (10/6/21)

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Comment (1)

  1. KURTIS S SUMMERS

    Bill

    That information helps a lot, I am planning to start the TSI work in a small 3-4 acre area this winter and will go from there.
    Good luck in your hunt for land near your parents. I would love to see some habitat work (TSI, pour man plots) like the old MWW videos.

    Thank you

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