My lease is a pine tree farm that includes 400 acres of pines and 200 acres of corn/soy bean crops. The 400 acres of pines are broken into plots up to 60 acres that are seperated by large drainage ditches. The pines have been timbered throughout the past 8 years. My hunting area includes 60 acres that was cut 3 years ago. The new pines range from 1-4 feet tall right now. The 8 year old pines in a different adjacent plot are 10+ feet tall.

Now the person who hunts in the 8 year old pines complained this year how they did not see any deer. They had a 15 foot tripod and cut 4 10' wide shooting lanes. Their deer sitings were limited to 30 seconds or so then the deer was gone.

I enjoy bowhunting and am trying to determine the best way to hunt my area in the coming years. This year deer have been moving sporadically throughout the cutoff, not really using any certain trail making it difficult to pattern them. Also there are not any large trees throughout the 60 acres, so I will be constructing ground blinds and am trying to come up with a way to get the deer within bow range.

I wanted to hear from other hunters who have hunted cut offs as they mature. If I cut trails will the deer use them or will they continue just walking all about? I don't have the option to plant food plots, I am really not even suppose to touch the pines so I can not clear a large area. The plot I will be hunting borders woods (not our property), an older cutoff seperated by a ditch, and the corn field.