More Trees and Bushes for Bowhunters and What to
Prune
Trees from the North
 Editor’s
Note: Mark Schichtel of Schichtel’s Nursery in
Springville, New York, has been planting, growing, and
shipping fruit and nut trees all over the nation since
the late 1960s. Schichtel’s Nursery plants 130,000
trees each year, and many of their trees are bought
by hunters to plant for wildlife. Today, Schichtel will
share his tips for pruning fruit trees to attract wildlife.
Until a few years ago, Schichtel hated deer. The area’s
deer loved the trees the nursery grew. To stop the deer
from eating their trees, the nursery built an 8-foot-high,
galvanized wire fence around the tree farm. In recent
years, Schichtel and other members of hi s
family have begun to hunt the deer on their property
outside their fence. As a nurseryman first and a deer
hunter second, he knows which trees and fruits deer
in northern climates like best. “Apple trees seem
to be the deer’s favorite fruit trees,”
Schichtel reports. “We plant a lot of crab apple
trees on our property where we can hunt the deer. The
Baccata crab apple, which is a Siberian crab apple that’s
cold-hardy, produces a yellowish fruit and often will
hold its fruit into February. The big advantage to this
crab apple tree is that when the snows come, the fruit
remains at a level where the deer still can eat it.
Deer begin feeding on these trees as early as October.
These trees begin producing fruit within the first two
years of planting, and continue producing fruit as they
grow bigger. The Harvest Gold apple tree is another
great pick for northern bowhunters. Like the Baccata
crab apple, the Harvest Gold tree holds its fruit up
out of the snow through February. Snowdrift crab apples
also are productive for bowhunters durin g
the winter months.”
Schichtel’s Nursery’s top-eight apple-tree
picks for northern hunters include:
*Zumi
*Snowdrift
*Indian Magic
*Brandywine
*Red Splendor
*Macintosh (early-season apples)
*Lodi (early-season apples)
*Cortland (early-season apples)
 Schichtel
reports that nut trees don’t produce as well in
the North as they do in the South, but he suggests planting
the red oak and the swamp white oak in the North. “These
trees tend to drop their nuts in October, so they are
ideal for the northern bowhunter. The English oak is
another variety that produces nuts for northern deer.
One important factor for fruit and nut trees survival
in the North is that you must build fences around the
trees to keep deer from destroying them. Remember, deer
can stand on their hind legs and eat tree limbs and
leaves up to 6- or 7-feet tall, especially in snow country.
Therefore, the fence you build to protect your trees
must keep the deer well away from them so the trees
can mature. If you buy trees to plant for deer food,
start off by buying the biggest trees you can afford.
The bigger the trees, the less likely the deer are to
destroy them.”
For more information on planting northern trees for
deer, call 716-592-9383, or write to Mark Schichtel
at Schichtel’s Nursery, 7420 Peters Road, Springville,
NY 14141
Check out this important information:
http://www.nighthawkpublications.com/freetips/charts/deerfeed.htm
http://www.nighthawkpublications.com/freetips/charts/zonemap.htm
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