SLIDESHOW in this post.
This weekend I decided to start clearing off a small patch of the forest floor for a food plot. I hiked up the hill with a rake, some drinking water, a machete, and a saw. When I got to my target area I picked out where I thought the borders should be. I took into consideration how much sunlight would make it through the trees so the grasses and other greens could grow as well as how rocky the soil was. I started to rake.
After 2 minutes of raking the forest floor, it was obvious this was either a bad idea or it would take forever and a day to complete. Since I plan to have seeds on the ground in late March, I don't have that long. So, I dig deep into my brain to sections I have not accessed since I was a forestry student at Colorado State University and think..."why not clear the organic material with a comtrolled burn." I look up at the tops of the trees and see no wind, this is good. I take the rake and scratch an 18 (or so) inch fireline down to mineral soil around my intended perimeter. I check the wind one more time and pull out a cigarette lighter from my pocket and light a leaf close to the north fireline. I choose the north border because if any wind did pick up, I expected it from the south. If the "fuel" on the north side of a fire was already burnt, then any potential wind would push the fire onto an area that was already burnt, therefore limiting any chance of the fire becoming uncontrolable.
The fire spread slowly throughout the entire area over the next 2 hours. It created a lot of smoke but was never in any danger of jumping the fireline and easily fit my definition of a low intensity fire. Just what I wanted. I couldn't have pulled it off better had I planned this control burn for months before hand. I decide to add another section to my food plot to make it bigger and scratch out another 900 or so square feet of forest floor and light it.
See the slideshow below for pictures as the fire progressed:
Once the fire was out, I had approximately 2800 square feet of forest floor with about 80% of the organic material removed. Next step is to pick up all of the sticks. Remove all trees and seedlings less than 8 inches DBH, and work the soil to prep it for the seeds in March. I have tree stand locations pread around this food plot and a well used deer trail makes up the west border so I know the deer will find it...if they haven't already. Another less used game trail goes out the north east corner. This food plot is actually sitting right on a game trail junction of sorts.