Wondering how many of you utilize prescribed fire on your hunting properties and want to hear some stories on successes and failures. In particular, anyone implementing it in the Midwest.

I burned a 2 acre field this spring and the regrowth drew a lot of attention from turkeys and deer. Deer droppings all over a month later and must have provided easy access to bugs for the turkeys, while allowing them vision against predation.

Seems like mostly a positive land management tool but wanting to be thoughtful about my approach as I look to burn more and more every year.

I suspect it is a very valuable tool provided that the soil temperatures don't get too high.

The Aborigines have done controlled burns for centuries. The benefits are so many for them and the land, it has been a tradition for them .

The re growth in the mountains here , from the controlled burns a few years ago, is wonderful. Everything is flourishing, no floor fuel build up that buries everything , awaiting a mega fire. Even many of the trees are ok , with only the floor fuel burned out around the trunks. Not burning the branches.

Everything that flies and walks is using the new growth.

The fire teams all over , around the west very much support controlled burns.

Regular low intensity controlled burns, particularly growing season burns, keep the fuel loads that raise temps to a minimum.

Controlled burns are pretty much a regular land management tool in the southeast. And not just for coastal plain pine plantations either. It's showing much wider acceptance in the piedmont for oak/shortleaf savanna management. Usually done on a 3-5 year rotation. It's more often dormant season, but growing season has its place for better control of some hardwoods.

Lots of variables to consider in timing and season to achieve many possible goals.

RX burning is a wonderful tool in the right setting. I burn annually if conditions warrant it. It creates tender young browse and releases nutrients back into the soil. Some species such as Jack Pine are dependent on fire to open the cones. A low intensity fire does wonders for a White Pine stand as well and creates a great seed bed.

Mo conducts and I attended controlled burn classes for land owners/managers. There's a LOT of technical details to be aware of. Might check to see if your states DNR does the same, and has the wherewithall to assist with the tech data and manpower. Well worth the effort, as you can adjust the types of vegetation on the land to support whatever wildlife you wish to assist.

I wished that the greater minds in charge of our CRP programs would feel the same. Sadly they only allow cutting when someone somewhere has a dry year. Many of the CRP fields here that started out as wonderful native grass stands are nothing but a mostly useless stand of brome…. We “accidentally” had a fire get out of control a couple years ago and the areas affected are 100 times more utilized by animals that the conservation ground adjacent to it. Oh shucks.. when utilized properly it is an amazing transformation to the land.

Many plant seeds will lie dormant till fire lets them germinate, like most pine tree species.

I used to burn all of the time. The last few years (maybe longer) it has been so dry I have been cautious to do so. It is great for the land.

Was a burn boss for a state agency. Had to get all burn plans approved. Controlled burns are a great wildlife management method

We usually burn a couple thousand acres a year

Keeps temps to a minimum because of the green growth? I’d like to burn around some pine and hardwoods but am worried about resulting mortality and reduced stumpage value when we cut timber

I've only read about it

I burn my 2 small prairie areas (about 5 acres) and about 15-20 acres of hardwoods. I"d love to do it all every year but usually conditions/time don't allow.
In the hardwoods you see the most difference. Fires in the woods is usually low intensity. It creeps along slowly. You can walk around it and step over it.
Unless its really dry and there is alot of wind. Some wind helps in the woods usually tho.
In the woods the fire kills most Maple and Ironwood seedlings and some of the saplings.
It'll top kill most other trees/brush. They resprout after a fire. Some types will only last a few years of this then they die. White Oaks are famous for their ability to resprout year after year.

I prefer fall burns in the woods. Spring burns can hurt some spring ephemerals.
After the fall burns I seed areas that I cleared of small trees/brush and other undesirable stuff before the fire.
Areas of woods that have gotten this management are more open and the forest floor is covered with grasses and forbs that are about waist high.

Since I have done this I have been seeing Red headed woodpeckers. You don't see them in your typical forest around here.

I do this for the increased diversity of plants. This in turn brings lots of wildlife. its just a secondary benefit to me.
I am pushing my woods to a more Oak/Hickory woodland with a heavy ground layer of grasses/forbs.
Previously there were areas that had so much shade that nothing grew on the forest floor.

Burning alone helps but to really see change you need to thin Maples, Ironwood, beech and basswood heavily.

Burn season for us is March through the first week of April. We burn every year on a rotation. It the absolute best time to trap too, lol. Burns bring out EVERYTHING. Ground nesting birds pick seed and fried bugs. Predators are in there looking for crispy critters that didn’t make it. Even snakes will leave cover and head into a burn. Without burns we wouldn’t have quail. Manage for quail and everything prospers.

There was a very nice plantation here that was bought by an owner that didn’t want any burning done and they’re now having to put out birds to be able to hunt. In a short 5-7 years he destroyed one of the top plantations. Didn’t want any cutting of timber done either. He went through about a manager every year until he found one a couple of years ago that would agree with his “management practices”.

Do you run into issues with post-fire merchantability of the White Pine? I’m thinning some of our mature pine and want to underburn, but would hate to create fire scars and reduce future timber value.

Conversely, I’d be really excited to reduce that duff layer and see the hardwood understory response. My primary goal on the property is to increase winter browse for deer.

I’m wanting to increase browse on the property. Could the seeds lie dormant for decades? I’d love to see a response from a bunch of native forbs and grasses.

Yes some seeds can lie dormant for that long, but I doubt they’re sitting on top of the deck. A light disking will produce plants you’ve probably never seen. We disked some rows in an area they’d thinned some trees and had a bunch of browse come up that wasn’t there before.

I don't cut any White Pine on my little chunk of dirt. Between Blister Rust, Porcupines and rabbits on the young saplings WP has been declining here for years. I want every single tree for seed trees. Other species get logged but White Pine, White Cedar, Red Oak and Apples all get left untouched.
I have seen cat faces on large, mature WP from hot, long duration fires. If you burn when the soil is moist, you can eliminate the duff layer and set back brush encroachment. Even if the WP bole scorches, it would typically only be in the first 8 foot stick of the tree. In my former life when we did RX burns, the "acceptable" loss on mature pines was 10% or less. If you burn under the right conditions, 5% mortality is easy to achieve, especially if you reduce ladder fuels like Balsam. If you really wanted to over achieve, you could rake the pine straw away from the bases of your mature pines.