RE: How to Hunt a Pine Thicket
Farnsworth,
I have hunted pine thickets all my life. Luckily, I have always had some hardwoods mixed in. If there are any hardwoods at all, walk the edge where the pine thickets and the hardwoods meet. A lot of times, you will find a rub line just inside of the hardwoods.
One advantage you have in the pine thickets is the deer trails are very easy to spot. I would try to find were a heavy trail and a rub line meet.
There may be a pipeline, or a firelane cut through the thickets. These offer a brief opportunity (and I say brief) the first day or two of the season before the deer wise up to the idea that hunting season has started.
If the land offers different elevations, study the low points. If the land is flat, it is even harder.
It has already been stated that scent control and wind direction is a must, because shots are going to be close.
You will probably find that you will have to cut some of your own lanes. Especially if you find a hot place in the thick stuff. This is when you put the chainsaw to work. This type of work is best done right after the season ends. The heat is gone, and your cutting will be old news to the deer when next hunting season rolls around.
Thicket hunting is tuff. So tuff that it turns deer hunting into an all year sport. Some hunters like me kinda like that.
C. Davis