i have the same sort of situation at the place i hunt in pa. i have found that these pine thickets hold deer big time. But mine is surrounded by hardwoods that lead to the cornfields. after a season of hunting it, it was easy to realize that the deer were either bedding in these lower pines and going to the corn fields to feed at night or they went straight through them over the top of the mountain and bedded in the pines on the other side of the mountain. The nine point i shot this year lived in one of these pine thickets. I could tell cause during rifle season i was walking through it and i found a rub on a tree with a distinct feature that my buck had. My 9 point was a main frame 8 with a 1.5 inch sticker point on his left antler. i could tell his rubs because the sticker would cut into the tree pretty deep as compared to the rest of the antlers. his face and antlers were pretty dark and you could tell that he had been living in these pines for a long time. i was lucky enough that i set-up my stand between the lower pines and the upper pines and caught him one morning checking the beds for hot does. Don't push the pines to hard cause it is quite possible its there bedding area. Good luck!