deer activity after logging

What is the groups experience with this?

observations? Impact on sightings,etc?

I just had pine plantation thinned as well as several acres of bottomland hardwoods selectively thinned of elm,sweetgum,hackberry

bill

TreeDaddy said:

What is the groups experience with this?

observations? Impact on sightings,etc?

I just had pine plantation thinned as well as several acres of bottomland hardwoods selectively thinned of elm,sweetgum,hackberry

bill

Click to expand...

They will return fairly quickly in my experience ......

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i hope so

I have nightmares of driving them out of the county with the noise,"destruction',etc

bill

It will be awesome do not worry.

Loggers gone yet? If so, things are already starting to get back to normal. Within a matter of weeks if not days after the area quiets down the deer will be right back to their regular routines.

Do you have any cameras out? Did the deer actually leave? I know when I "thin" areas, the deer cant wait until I shut off the chain saw, they practically come running in. Usually within minutes of me leaving the woods, I get pictures of the deer checking out the freshly dropped trees.

Not sure about the pines but the hardwood area should be better than normal.
I had some hardwoods logged a few years ago and the minute the loggers left for the day the deer were right in there eating buds off the tops left behind.

I agree with what others have said, and the next few years as the new undergrowth comes up you should have more deer than before.

I don't have experience with the pines.....but with hardwoods the resident does will not go far. You may bump your bucks for a while, but again they will return as well......especially as the understory thickens up and improves. When my place was done you could see deer tracks in the tracks from skidders and the like the next morning. Does are pretty curious and will return quickly. Some may even come in to feed on the fresh leaves at ground level depending on food availability at that time.

I snow tracked a doe last Wisconsin rifle season that walked about 100 yards from a logging operation in progress. The equipment was out cranking away. Most likely the deer will wait for the guys to leave for the night and head in to eat the tree tops.

TreeDaddy said:

What is the groups experience with this?

observations? Impact on sightings,etc?

I just had pine plantation thinned as well as several acres of bottomland hardwoods selectively thinned of elm,sweetgum,hackberry

bill

Click to expand...

Depending on how much you had done, you can rethink all your stands. After putting in firebreaks, we had about half of our pines thinned and a couple small hardwood clearcuts made. We followed that up with herbicide spraying and a controlled burn. Al of the human activity pushed deer out for a short bit, but they recovered from that fairly quickly. While our terrain stays the same, the vegetation changes significantly. This changes deer movement patterns. It takes a while to re-analyze things. This is not a one shot deal. At first, the clear-cuts act as blocks as they are completely open. Over the next year or so they begin to thicken just a bit after the burn and become food sources with a lot of herbaceous native growth but not quite enough cover. Over the following year or two they thicken enough to be preferred bedding. Travel route through thinned pines change significantly as understory grows up. Where previously there was well defined travel corridors using edges along riparian buffers and such that got enough light to thicken, now deer have many more options to travel through thinned pines with good cover.

If you are hunting food sources like food plots, not too much changes, but if you are hunting travel corridors for mature bucks, you will find significant changes year to year for 5+ years after your major habitat changes.

I will say that we have rolling terrain here. Folks with flat terrain will likely experience even more impacts and those with more severe terrain will likely experience less as the terrain effects are greater.

Thanks,

Jack

My camp has done 2 timbering projects in the last 5 years. About 25 acres total. The deer were in the tops browsing on them and bedding in them the same night we started cutting !! We left piles & lines of tops scattered around the logged area for cover and free seedling protection. Deer moved right in and used the area. I found numerous beds in the piles of tops. The deer would stand up and start eating. Real convenient for them !

I wouldn't worry about logging activity at all.

Bowsnbucks said:

My camp has done 2 timbering projects in the last 5 years. About 25 acres total. The deer were in the tops browsing on them and bedding in them the same night we started cutting !! We left piles & lines of tops scattered around the logged area for cover and free seedling protection. Deer moved right and used the area. I found numerous beds in the piles of tops. The deer would stand up and start eating. Real convenient for them !

I wouldn't worry about logging activity at all.

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I had that happen on a project in the suburbs where the deer where highly overpopulated. When they would hear the heavy equipment, they would come and stage close by. As soon as the equipment stopped they would come in and it. It was a very unique situation with a clear 6' browse-line in hardwoods.

Thanks,

Jack

I had mine done two years ago. I would say the summer after the logging that I have never had so many deer on the land at that time of year. They were eating stump sprouts and new growth aspens like mad. On the downside it was one of my slowest hunting seasons. I had plenty of cover but it was a lot more open than the thick mess they were used too. This season the aspens are 10ft tall and thick, I think it will be better.

I am appreciative and encouraged by the response to this thread

thanks,

bill

I don't know what tree species you have there in Texas, but here in Pa., if logging is done and the tops are left lay for any length of time, deer will be in them for food and bedding. As ruskbuckss said in post #14, stump sprouts will be a big draw. Oak and maple sprouts are like candy here. Deer eat them so hard that I have to cage some stumps to get new growth established. We have no elm, sweetgum, or hackberry around my camp, so I'm not familiar with them as browse items. If deer eat those varieties in Texas, you should have interest from your deer.

j-bird said:

I don't have experience with the pines.....but with hardwoods the resident does will not go far. You may bump your bucks for a while, but again they will return as well......especially as the understory thickens up and improves. When my place was done you could see deer tracks in the tracks from skidders and the like the next morning. Does are pretty curious and will return quickly. Some may even come in to feed on the fresh leaves at ground level depending on food availability at that time.

Click to expand...

This was similar to our experience. Bucks were not as quick to return but the does had no issues.

We cut hardwoods and the first fall the deer were not there anymore. The second fall was good and now the third fall is full of deer of all ages both bucks and does. We had cut the timber extra hard and even with the tops left the cover was pretty thin that first fall. Luckily we had cut only 1/4 of the property each year so it was not a problem to have a quiet portion for a season or two.