This Should Be Interesting

[Semisane]

A section of our hunting lease next to one of my plots was clear cut last spring. I can see a good bit of that area from the box stand on my plot.

Around the end of September the fresh growth on the clear cut area was sprayed with herbicide by helicopter. I just found out there was a controlled burn of the dead vegetation on that section last week.

I'm heading there tomorrow and will spread a sack or two of winter wheat seed in the ashes.

 

[yoderjac]

We just completed some similar habitat management on our land. It has really disrupted hunting in the short run. We clear-cut about 20 acres of low quality hardwoods (3 small sections totaling 20), commercially thinned older pines, sprayed herbicide in the clear-cuts, and control burned all these areas. At first, it is like a dessert. Our controlled burn completed last fall. By the end of summer there was all kind of herbaceous growth in both the clear-cuts and thinned pines. It was 3 to 6 feet tall with herbaceous cover.

The normal patterns of deer were quite disrupted. The habitat changes quickly at this stage and how deer relate to it is constantly changing. One thing I've noticed is deer are much more sensitive to hunting pressure. Once we started hunting, daytime use of food plots diminished much more than it used to. I think this is because deer now have food in cover where before with the closed canopy, they needed to use the plots more.

We are clearly improving the BCC of our land for deer, but making it harder to hunt in the short run. Hopefully things will stabilize soon.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[Bc4abc]

ive had the good fortune to have massive clear cuts next to some of the land i hunt in the past 30 years ....i say good fortune bc about 3 to 4 years after the cut if allowed to just go it will be the single best bedding possible for deer hunt in the hard woods right next to it and good things will happen , like Jack said in the short run not so much....but a couple years in it will get good ...really good!

 

[Bowsnbucks]

I've seen the good results clear cuts have done for deer with my own eyes. Thicker cover, browse at nose-level, bio-diversity, " edges " created .....all good for deer and deer hunting. LOVE 'EM.