Hinge cutting

[YFKI1983]

Has anyone tried this to create bedding areas? I have watched a few videos and I'm curious because they emphasize leaving enough on the tree to keep it alive for a longer time. Is that important for the bedding area? Or are they just talking about preserving trees here.

[thphm]

Yep, I did some this fall , not for a bedding area but to give the deer more of a food source. this past winter and they were hitting them when ever they were around.

I did this to trees I intended cutting up for fire wood this spring and opening up some areas.

[growalot]

Yes, but not all trees are equal when hinging...IE, trying to hinge a Poplar, they tend to snap off, But will reprout many times from roots....some of the best trees to hinge( because you want them to stay alive) are iron wood(eastern hophorn), red maple(not the ones with red leafs)silver maples,bass wood,sugar maples,beech trees( they root sprout like mad)...I hinge them 3-5 foot up depending and try to get a good overlapping ...needless to say...hing the bigger trees first. This creates bedding nests, of a sorts. I also try to have them so I'm blocking the prevailing winds, in bedding they are looking for cover from weather and predators.

Now some times, just dropping a big old tree like a big poplar and letting the logs lay where they fell is good enough..bucks like to bed up next to a log or even a large live tree trunk.

Most of my best bedding areas are in and around pine trees, dogwood brush...the sides of our hills just below a ridge and at the bottom of an incline near downed logs.

Edited May 22, 2015 by growalot

[NYBuckHunter27]

Yes i jsut did some in early spring, you want the tree to continue to grow so that is why you leave enough bark system attached so the tree will continue to produce leaves which creates cover and the tree will grow obviously at a slow rate and produces some winter browse. I didn't do mine necessarily to create bedding but to up open and dry out a swamp area while also providing "false" cover, which just means the area looks like heavy cover.

[G-Man]

It's done to keep trees alive and growing ,providing cover for several years by keeping the understood from growing, deer will bed under them using them like roofs. Extra benifit is browse and eventual firewood in a few years.

[sampotter]

Don't try to hinge cut mature trees unless you want to experience a classic "barber chair". Also- trees would be more likely to survive hinge-cutting if you did it when they are dormant. I have a ton of buckthorn in my area and it doesn't seem to matter when you cut it, it never seems to die, but native trees may not be as resilient.

[gjs4]

Location and height of the cut have a lot to do with it. A push/pull stick is key or you cut the trees farther than needed. It needs to be part of a plan not just saw-cut- violia;deer

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[dbHunterNY]

try to leave at least a 1/4 of the tree diameter.  hinge cutting is better done on smaller stuff where you can use a hand saw like several inches in diameter or less.  the idea is to keep it alive yea.  it'll provide browse and cover.  think about setting them up though.  don't make it so open they can spot you coming from far off.  also they like it cleared under them of forest floor debris except for soft stuff maybe.  also favor deer favor them with the trees felled into the wind so they can watch down wind and smell upwind where they can't see.  most common mistakes are not cutting high enough.  the deer have to be able to stand and leap out from under them or they won't be used.  cut them like 5' high.  make the bed larger for doe family groups and make a separate one 10-20 yards away that's smaller and up wind for a buck.  like gjs4 said a push/pull stick helps a lot as spots will be heavy with small trees that will get hung up on others as they fall.  it's just a sturdy pole with a sturdy wide gap hook or angle to pull and push with.