How to hunt after logging

[Snowball271]

Don't ever post here as I don't do much habitat or land work but whenever I do I have looked up and found informative threads on here. My neighbor is currently logging around 100 acres next door to where I hunt. He has allowed me to hunt his land in past and don't see why it would be different next year. Not much of a deer herd here. Very few in fact. I own 50 acres that I hunt, mostly all wooded fairly thick cover. Should I think about hunting his land that he logged or would the few deer around be more likely to come to my land? Or is there anything I can do after the loggers are out of there(with his permission) to make his land better hunting?Thanks

 

[bueller]

If the loggers leave enough trees or tree tops to provide cover the deer will be in there. Either way a couple years out that logged area should be a magnet for deer.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Bueller & N.H. nailed it. Any logging I've ever seen ANYWHERE brought deer in - in good numbers. I've hunted deer in Maine over 5 seasons and the best deer numbers we saw were in logged areas. The big browse target was raspberry & blackberry canes where the new growth was at the tops of the canes. They were ALL nipped off!! It looked like hedge trimmers had gone thru.

If neighbor lets you plant anything - lime, then clover or grain rye like N.H. said. ^^^^ Alsike clover grows in poorer soils. If you see berry canes coming up, maybe throw some fertilizer around to get 'em going faster. Open sunlit areas are good to have.

 

[j-bird]

I will back up what the others have said. Logging will create a great hunting opportunity for you for several years to come. It may change their pattern so you will have to do your homework, but the natural food that will be available and the new cover should really attract deer. If you can plant the logging roads or landings in clovers and fall annuals and just enjoy. If it gets really thick, you may want to cut a few deer trails past some more advantageous locations for you.

 

[Greta&Gus]

Look at the transition areas between the logged and old growth timber. I have seen deer travel on the edges of the two.

 

[sandbur]

Look at the transition areas between the logged and old growth timber. I have seen deer travel on the edges of the two.

Do just what G and G says. Look for another feature to strengthen the travel lane such as a wetland, creek, or junction of conifers and hardwoods where they join the edge of the logging area.

 

[chummer]

I would say the only good hunting I have ever had at my camp was the two years after logging. They loved those tree tops and bedded in them for a couple years until they started breaking down.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Some of the best areas in Maine that I hunted were logged by paper companies and the edges of the chops where they met the un-cut sections was where the best sign was. Like Bur said, a confluence of conifers - hardwoods - chop - and stream or swamp = good spot. Some of the BEST buck sign I saw in Maine was in just such places. Heavy duty rubs & scrapes / droppings.

Like Chummer said ^^^-- we logged off a couple acres a year ago at my camp and the deer moved right in the same night we finished cutting and bedded in the tops and ate all the limb tops !! Look for some good hunting !!

 

[wiscwhip]

Look at the transition areas between the logged and old growth timber. I have seen deer travel on the edges of the two.

I shot my second largest buck ever in this exact scenario. They logged our county land to the north and he came right up the edge to escape hunters entering the woods from the snowmobile trail to the east.