Nick87
Well-known member
Yup a fence line or tree line is a thing of the past here.
Sunday Pic of the Day
- Thread starter Gerald Martin
- Start date
Why do you think that is? Are they really gaining anything production wise? I grew up in North Central Indiana farm country. Wonder if it’s looking the same.
Nick87
Well-known member
One tree line probably not. Do that over a few thousand acres. Probably adds up.
Tree lines do make the adjacent field lose yield for maybe 25' along the trees from shade and roots but probably the biggest thing is maintenance from trees falling and limbs that takes time to clean up.
But it has destroyed the quail population here, every ditch is mowed now and sprayed so no cover for anything anymore. Farmers used to leave a buffer next to ditches to help prevent erosion and runoff. Not anymore and now they complain about the bridges washing out.
My dad said before they logged out the dismal swamp for that farmland in those picks that the rainfall was more predictive, and also cooler around here. Now there are more droughts here but the areas that still have swamps north and south get more consistent rain.
I've shot piles of pheasants and plenty of deer out of tree belts anywhere from 50' to 50 yards wide. 50' don't seem like much until you step back and look at the big picture and see 30+ of them in a township (36 sq miles) with them running 1/4, 1/2 or even a full mile long. That's a good bit of habitat in prime farm country. They serve as arteries of connectivity between sloughs and the few woodlots we have, especially after crops are out.
As valuable as it is as habitat, it's more valuable to the landowners for production, sadly.
It's a sad deal. Seems like a couple or three generations pass and you lose perspective on things.
Sometimes things need to get worse before they get better, I hope.
Nick87
Well-known member
Same type of country here. Same experiences as well.
Outlaw99
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- Joined
- Oct 9, 2019
- Messages
- 714
We never touch a fence line unless a tree falls down. My dad always said; “deer gotta eat too”. If there’s a big overhanging limb, I might take the payloader and pull down the limb out of the way, but that’s about the extent of tree removal I ever go to. I grew up killing a lot of good bucks out of fence lines during the peak of the rut. They love taking hot does to them to get away from all the action. Those old tree lines mean a lot to me
rookieforever33
Member
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- Apr 12, 2026
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- 16
More than one family farm in my area got sold to ag corporations after being in the family for generations. Nice tree lines at fences, grass waterways, slopes stepped with grass lines to slow water flow. The corps wipe out everything, farm it for 5 or 10 years, then sell it to the next up and coming farm family. Then the new buyer has to deal with the runoff and erosion. But the corp gets to list it as more tillable acres which bumps the price. History will repeat itself eventually.
Caseknife
Well-known member
What is the purpose of the notches on the top of the hammers?
Nick87
Well-known member
Best spot I ever hunted was an old tree line between an abandoned pasture and a thick block of timber. At my grandma's old farm. Tree line was probably 40' wide in itself. 169" 8 point was killed out of that tree. Of course, I picked a different stand that night. Its all houses now.
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