Take a HIKE!

[FinsnFur]

I found out a couple weeks ago that one of the pieces of land I try to call coyotes off of, from the river...is now owned by the state.
That means we can play on it. 

It's a huge ridge/bluff that shores the river. Long way up, took me 45 minutes to get to the top of it. And I was soaked by the time I got up there.
I've never been up there and once I got to the top the view was absolutely awesome.

One thing I found that stumped me, was I seen several hundred trees that had a shallow ring cut around them. Not just in one area either, the whole time I walked that hill top I found trees with rings cut around them. Like someone intentionally wanted to kill them off. But why not just chop them down?

Found a couple Morels up there too. Were wayyyyyyyy to early yet for anything serious, but I found a couple nice spots I'm gonna hit next week. I figure I should catch my breath by then enough to climb it again and hopefully someone dont beat me to them.

[HaMeR]

That is a nice view. And a nice mess of mushrooms too. 

If those are in some sort of a line they could be property markers.

[FinsnFur]

They werent in a line, they were everywhere. 

[HaMeR]

Can't help you then. But they do look a little bit like those alien crop rings they used to show on TV. 

[Tikaani]

Don't know about the rings Jim but the view is nice and a little reward for all that climbing.

John

[Hawks Feather]

With cuts like that they definitely wanted them dead.  More mushroom pictures again. . . . . .

Jerry

[KySongDog]

It looks like the wildlife people were intentionally culling those trees.   

They leave them standing to make nesting sites for birds, squirrels, etc.   

[bambam]

seems kinda dangerous to me to ring them and leave them stand. Someday they'll come down, maybe on someone's head. 

[FinsnFur]

My brother, seems to think the same thing Semp. He told me they were trying to kill em all off and make a prairie up there cause once you make it to the top it does kind of level off.
It's actually pretty cool up there. It'd be a neat place for a cabin. 42 acres of hill top.

I did give one a little assistance BamBam    Just to see if it would. 

[HaMeR]

Oooh a cabin you say!! I know a,,,, aahhh never mind that one. 

[FinsnFur]

  Yeah anyway...how bout those Packers? 

[coyotehunter_1]

I do believe Semp is on target.

Like in your photos, in the south these open and grassy ridge line sections are often called balds or bald knobs. Some balds are natural while others have been helped along by man. We happen to have several natural balds located in the Great Smokey Mountains.


More:
Frilling or Girdling
Girdling and frilling are methods of killing standing trees that may be done with or without an herbicide.
Girdling involves cutting a groove or notch into the trunk of a tree to interrupt the flow of sap between the roots and crown of the tree (Figure 1). The groove must completely encircle the trunk and should penetrate into the wood to a depth of at least 1/2 inch on small trees, and 1 to 1-1/2 inches on larger trees. Girdling can be done with an ax, hatchet, or chain saw. When done with an ax or hatchet, the girdle is made by striking from above and below along a line around the trunk so that a notch of wood and bark is removed. The width of the notch varies with the size of the tree. Effective girdles may be as narrow as 1 or 2 inches on small-diameter trees, and as wide as 6 or 8 inches on very large-diameter trees. When a chain saw is used to girdle, two horizontal cuts between 2 and 4 vertical inches apart are usually made completely around the tree when no herbicide is used (Figure 2) and one horizontal cut is made completely around the tree when herbicide is used (Figure 4).
Frilling is a variation of girdling in which a series of downward angled cuts are made completely around the tree, leaving the partially severed bark and wood anchored at the bottom (Figure 3). Frilling is done with an ax or hatchet.
By themselves, girdling and frilling are physical methods to deaden trees that require very little equipment and may be done without herbicides. Both techniques require considerable time to carry out, particularly with an ax or hatchet. Girdling with a chain saw is much faster. The effectiveness of girdling and frilling depends on the tree species and on the size and completeness of the girdle or frill. To be effective, girdles and frills must completely encircle the tree. Because frills can heal-over more easily, girdling is usually more effective.
The effectiveness of both girdling and frilling can be increased by using herbicides (Table 1). With frilling and girdling, water soluble forms of herbicides are most commonly used to get maximum movement of herbicide within the plant. When using water-soluble herbicides, the herbicide/water mixture is commonly applied by squirting it on the girdle or frill until the cut surface is wet. Hand-held, pint or quart spray bottles, such as those available at local garden stores, are ideal for applying herbicide to the girdle (Figure 4). Again, note that a single, rather than double chain saw girdle is used when a water soluble herbicide is to be applied (Figure 4).

Exceptions to the above recommendation of using a water soluble herbicide for gridling and frillling are the commonly-used forestry herbicides that contain the ester formulation of 2,4-D + 2,4-DP, such as Patron 170 and Super Brush Killer. They are labeled for use with frilling in an oil carrier, and the recommendation is to fill the frill with the mixture. They are commonly applied with a backpack or hand-held, hand-pumped sprayer.

Link:
http://ohioline.osu.edu/for-fact/0045.html


Who are the Packers? 

[FinsnFur]

Thats beautiful Chet

[iahntr]

That is a nice view !   
Nice shrooms too. I haven't found any yet 

[msmith]

Also, when you gird a tree, they eventually fall over with the roots. This way they can be pushed into a pile with a dozer, or just cut up and don't leave a stump.