Do any of you southern US land/wildlife managers do much bush-hogging in late winter?

Been doing this for a few years and its much better than late summer-early fall mowing.

* much cooler weather.
* no spiders/wasps/stinging caterpillars dropping on you.
* can see stumps and holes beacuse no leaves on vegetation.
* easier on mower & tractor due to less vegetation.
* no fawns or turkey nests to run over.
* can see every deer trail from tractor seat.
* can look for shed antlers while mowing.
* easier to mow roads and access trails wider for upcoming spring gobbler hunting.
* great time of year to mow pine plantation middles for hunting access or firebreaks (will be disking some of the middles next).

Riding the tractor pushes my reset button. Very enjoyable!

I do some but stop April through July so I dont get fawns. I stagger my cutting never mowing a complete field so growth is in different stages and game always has some cover to pick from.

We mow about three times per year.

I don’t usually have anything to cut in the winter Mr. Swamp. All of my paths get cut before bow season and we stay mild enough to not have any real growth until Spring.

I mow all roads and trails in early September....a week or so b4 archery season opens, but sagebrush, grasses, etc jumps right back quickly.

Going to start my diesel therapy as soon as snow leaves.

Winter? You're in Georgia. You don't have winter!

I also enjoy my tractor therapy, however, this time of year, its moving snow around instead of brush hogging. Your situation makes complete sense to me, especially the part about avoiding stinging caterlillars...

Here a brush mow early in the summer and then close to the end of the growing season late August early September.

Does mowing my lawn count?

gonna be 85 here by Wednesday Swamper so probably will be snake time where you live also

No. I’m not an expert, but I’d think bush hogging when everything is green and before a frost, September/October time frame would help “kill off” unwanted vegetation when the frost finally hits. We mainly do it earlier to keep the quail out and in the “quail” woods and to keep the “wooded” unwanteds out during Spring regrowth. Still no nest or fawns to worry about. Guess it all depends on what you’re managing for. Also depends on how much money you got, can’t see mowing a firebreak when it’s going to be harrowed later.

Down here, mowing in September-October is sufficient for deer hunting access, but if a killin' frost doesn't hit us till December then there has been a month or two of re-growth on the roads and breaks. And the sage has slowly continued to grow thru winter.....reaching over knee high now.

No controlled fire for several years yet on my place as the entire property (other than the wetlands) is either 5 year old planted slash pine or 1 year old planted loblolly pine.

It's not quail I'm managing for with fresh openings & clean wide roads and breaks, it's these ol'boys that're on my mind....

Those slash look tall enough to burn. They dang sure grow quickly. We got some longleaf that’s a year old and you can’t really tell they’ve been planted, lol. Our 3yr old slash is about 5ft or so. We just planted another 30+ acres of slash and clear cutting our entire Southern border. That’s South of a creek and never hunted for quail or anything else due to access. I’ve been back there and it’s so thick your only shot from a tree would’ve been straight down. It’ll be planted next winter. Curious as to what that will do to the predators and wildlife that call that area home. It’s also gonna tick off a lot of folks that may “fudge” a little across the lines when hunting. Plans are to put in a bridge and add a hunting course back there over time.

Those are some variety of "improved" slash that the timber company is experimenting with on my lease. If the property was mine, I'd back a slow fire thru them now.

The company let's me burn, but I need perfect conditions and no guessing on whether or not the pines can handle it. In a couple more years I'm gonna be considering a cool burn in those....they make up about 75 acres of the 400.

The understory is thin and will be even thinner as the saplings get a couple years older.