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ORIGINAL: Vabowman
yeh Andy it is typical Va cut. The deer do seem to use certain areas more than others, but in the rut it can be a beast to hunt. it's about 3 yrs old now.
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So its just starting to get good and thick again. The cut that you saw back behind our club house in Sussex, if you can remember it is just about a year old now.... last year (and keep in mind it is a bit younger) I saw several deer out in that cut at all hours of the day. The place would have been great to hunt with a .300 short mag, but its VERY difficult to get close enough for a bow.
If its similar to ours, then there is probably still a lot of loose sticks and log jams that make walking through it downright dangerous, not to mention difficult. If there is any dog fennel growing up, it should get better than head high by the time the season rolls around, but the blackberrys probably haven't come back too thick just yet. Deer love dog fennel...lots of times the deer will litterally almost eat tunnels through the stuff and they feel extremely secure in it. If its dry this year like it was last year... all you need to do is find a big puddle along that creek with a worn trail leading to it and wait. Of course if its a big river creek you should just forget about it and hunt ducks there.
But seriously, I found that no matter when I saw deer in there, they tended to use the same general trails, and same general paths... as you mentioned... some get traveled more than others. In a place like that, you almost have to look for a path of least resistance.... but one thats going to offer decent cover at the same time. Conversely though, I have also seen deer use places that are just a little bit different..... lots of cutovers all look the same, butsometimes you can find a string of legumes or greenbriar that wind its way through the place... and the deer will meander around after the forage they want. Naturally too.. that small stand ofoaks would be agreat bet if there are any water oaks or pin or wax oaks that start dropping acorns around late September.
Also, the deerused the pond for water back behind the clubhosue, and thats where I found those two bucks locked up and dead. Running alongside the pond was a skidder road... and believe it or not the deer walked right down it in the middle the day like ***anese tourists in New York City. Frankly I didn't have thediscipline to sit there in the wide open and wait for one to come waltzing down the road... not to mention that its hard for a man towalk back there without the rabbit beagles going nuts and letting the deer know someone is coming. I acutally killed a deer down in the creek bottom out in front of the house in the wide open though... no beagles to deal with... just farm equipment going up and down the road.
If the deer are traveling from spot to spot across your cut Landon, then I'd stick by that creek like you did... it seems like a natural spot... and deer love to travel along water... sit about 20 yards off the downwind side during the rut.... look for those little small trails that intersect the main trails.... and let me know if you need a hand dragging him out. We'll go take a look at it after vacation and everything one weekend.... as of right now I have a Cuddeback sitting idle on my reloading/arrow building/knife sharping/work bench that could probably give us a few clues as to whats around down there.
too much cut timber/cut over??
