Buckfever, the rut is not quite full swing here in NC but the cooler weather in the last few days has helped. You should see signs soon. As far as the land goes, if the thick areas a large enough, you can clear a pathway large enough for small equipment or atv to get through. Go to about the center area and clear a larger area for food plot. I clear cut some timber due to age and a storm we had. There was an 80acre,40 acre and a 60 acre cut. I pushed a path deep into each one and then cleared out larger areas inside the cutovers. I plant spring and fall plots in the middle of these thick cutovers which I had re-seeded with pinetrees. Makes great bedding and good food source with cover all around. Deer feel comfortable moving in and out at all times of the day. Hunt pathway and plots during gun season because trees are not large enough for stands yet and find travel routes on edges where they enter/exit and hunt there with bow. Deer love traveling the edges of cutoverswhere it joinsstanding timber. Just my $.02 's worth.