I can agree with a few things he says but most of it is is ill-informed opinion. QW now has quite a track record of publishing hinge cutting articles by people who have no idea what they are talking about. Especially troubling is his superior, virtue signalling, condescending attitude towards his readers.
He says: "I am not a psychologist..." then goes on to psychoanalyze thousands of people around the country who practice hinge cutting. Maybe he should stick to whatever he is and not pretend to know how people he does not know think or what their psychology is.
He calls hinge cutting an "obsession". Really? Who is obsessed with hinge cutting? It is one of dozens of management tools we use and is widely discussed because it is so very effective when done properly.
He has a list of things that he tossed and turned over in his sleep trying to understand the faulty thinking of his fellow hunter. "After countless nights of tossing and turning , kneading out all the possibilities to why landowners are infatuated with hinge cuts, I have arrived at some combination of the following reasons". REALLY? YOU HAVE SPENT COUNTLESS NIGHTS TOSSING AND TURNING AND KNEADING TO TRY TO UNDERSTAND THE FLAWED THINKING OF YOUR FELLOW HUNTERS? REALLY? And then you come up with a list of things, only one of which makes sense to me and that is that "It is fun to push trees over". Well, he is certainly right about that.
If he wants to know why hinge cutting is so popular he should try talking to some of us that have been doing it and promoting it for many years. IT WORKS! That is why we do it. It is the most effective means I know of to manage woodlots for deer bedding, transition zones, visual screens, travel barriers, and production of woody browse.
He then titles the next section "'UNDERSTANDING A HINGE CUT" and then goes on to say: "A hinge cut is designed to get the tree canopy to the forest floor without killing the tree. After cutting 1/2 to 3/4 of the way through the trunk, you push it over..." NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!
Stopping the cut half way through the tree is one of the most dangerous things you can do and will lead to a barber chair. OSHA has documented the death of a logger who ran out of gas half way through a tree and died from the resulting barber chair. ALWAYS CUT THROUGH THE CENTER AS FAST AS YOU CAN AND DON'T STOP UNTIL YOU ARE 70% OF THE WAY THROUGH THE TREE PAST THE SOFT CENTER.
He goes on to discuss drawbacks of hinge cutting, some of which are valid but none of which are reliably a problem. Then he comes to his biggest issue "invasive species". I consider any discussion we see regarding invasive species to be as bizarre as any "woke" discussion on social issues and he does not disappoint.
He says: "...the biggest mistake I see is invasive species taking over the project site." I guess, somewhere in his confused (superior, smug, condescending) brain he thinks that hinge cutting will produce invasive species whereas other means of letting light in like select cutting or clear cutting will not produce invasive species. It is complete nonsense to suggest that somehow hinge cutting preferably results in invasive species growing. invasive species will respond to sunlight no matter how you get it to the ground. They do not know you did it by hinge cutting. This is an example of someone just rummaging around in his brain to find something controversial to assign to hinge cutting as a negative. Shame on this guy and shame on the QW Editors--I mean you Lindsay Thomas-- for letting him get away with this and the dangerous description of a hinge cut comprising a half cut. THAT IS REALLY BAD ADVICE, (even regarding small trees--which kill more loggers from baseball bat like whiplash than any other means).