Swamp improvement

I have some dogwood on my place and it is really good cover. The partridge get right after the berries along with lots of other birds. Once it gets started you can't see a d**n thing thru it. Without shooting lanes you can't see 50 feet back here. Add in a good crop of golden rod and the deer disappear.

 

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I've been hunting grouse and deer in a certain state park that is birch pine mix with an understory of dog wood, and another understory of juniper in many places. To say its the thickest and most difficult place I've hunted is an understatement. Grouse eat the berries pretty much as soon as any promise of ripening happens. Deer can live on that and cedar without issue.

 

I have an old single barrel 16 that Dad cut the choke off from about 60 years ago just for hunting in that stuff. Wide open pattern works great but doesn't have much range

 

I'm attempting to improve a few acres of swampy lowland on my property as well. Currently a pretty heavy monoculture of RCG, which becomes useless after it lodges in the fall. Seasonal standing water too. This past spring I planted 25 willows and 25 red osier dogwood, and the first season has been a success. Ordered from coldstream, all shrubs staked and tubed. Also sprayed a large circle around each one 2 different times to eliminate direct competition.
From 2 to 3 foot shrubs...


To most having doubled in size in the first growing season (this one is over 6 feet tall.)


If you're willing to put in the time and effort, it can be done. Good luck!

 

in your situation, an atv with a sprayer filled with clethodim a few times in the spring may help your situation also. It’s not a one year journey, but it can be turned around.

 

Unfortunately, it's just too darn mucky down there to drive an atv or in my case, my tractor. Would bury it for sure. Even when the water recedes below ground level it's very wet. But, if I add more deciduous shrubs every spring and give them the opportunity to thrive I believe I can greatly improve the situation.

 

That sounds like the back end of my place. This was a cedar swamp at one time and the back corner has springs just below the surface. It never dries up in the summer and never freezes in the winter. It has lots of fire wood but I can't get it out.

 

Sugar Maples can take quite a bit of water. They can take standing water early in the year.

 

at that case, a back pack sprayer and miles a foot will be your friend. If you can keep that grass at bay, you’d be amazed what is already in the seed bank that you don’t have to plant. Your additional plantings will help immensely, but knocking back that grass will help more. Good luck, it’s not an easy chore.

 

curious to see your plans and what you decide. I have almost this same exact set up. Swamp holds mostly maple on the bogs and a few oaks. i thought about hinge cutting the smaller maples and opening it up for the oaks and then trying to get some sort of conifer to grow.