cartman308

Hey guys. Took a drive to camptoday and saw, first hand, what i knew was going to happen. A few weeks back I saw the tale tale paint markes on the trees of cut lines. I'm huning MEAD/Wesvaco land that i've hunted all our lives. About five years ago an outfit came in and leased the land from them for hunting rights....instead of the 7 dollar two year permit, we had to joind the "club" for 125 a year.As if that wasn't bad enough, Wesvaco decided to timber about 35-40% of it.....not select cutting........absoule CLEAR cut... and replaced them with pines.

The cut lines i saw a few weeks back are now literally cut lines........the skidders, dozers, hoists and trucks are all in place.......I never wanted to vandalize equipment so bad in my life.......

Do you guys know any strategies for hunting land that is being cut and after the cut? Last time they timbered our hunting buddy tagged a pope and young 8 pointer withing sight of falling trees...... i know deer are curious but dang!!!!

sorry just wanted to vent a little.........Logging trucks upset me more than coal trucks............they ruined the land last time and the look like they are going after the other 60-65% of the land.....

I was totally stooked about this season until about 5 hours ago.....i'm in the dumps now....

cartman308

RDHunter

Sounds like your *@%# unless you find another place.
Is there public or state land you can hunt nearby.

HuntingEd

Clear cutting land is a blessing man!!!! and you said only 35-40%? thats perfect! You'll probably see more deer than ever before, maybe not this year but definately next. They clear cut alot in the one area i hunt, our club has over 4000 acres and when part of it get cut the deer just pour into it. Tons of food and shelter for the deer grow up in a matter of weeks. Not to mention in a few years you'l know exactly where the bedding areas are....short lil pines.

So dont be so discouraged, i can understand your feeling, but my own experience tells me that you'll be suprised as to what happens. I was really disapointed when i first saw the clear cutting, but after i realized how many deer came to feed on the new browse and stayed in the shelter i wasnt so against clear cutting.

dgraham4

Too many people are misinformed about clear cutting, Clearcutting is a valuable silvicultural practice that i think is not utilized enough. It upsets me how everyone is always preaching select cutting. Define select cutting, because 90% of the time people's definition of selecte cutting is a diameter limit harvest which does 100% more damage to a forest ecosystem than does a clear cut. As far as it hurting your hunting it may for a little bit , but it should turn it into a deer paradise. Also i wouldn't advise vandalising any equipment those loggers need to make a living too.

nodog

HuntingEd. Ssshhhhh.

Anthony T.

They have also been clearing the woods behind my place where I hunt. They have for 3 yrs now. But it's such a big mountain you could still get lost. I killed a goood 7 point buck chasing a doe thru the middle of the clearing at like 1o pm. You'll make freinds with your clearcut man, I promise. I cant wait to hunt there this year.

BamaHuntin

The land I hunt also gets clear cutt in areas.A lot of guys hunt the clear cut and see and take a lot of deer.The first year is not to great but the second year(what we call the scond growth)is real nice.On our land,right now the whole section is growed up real tall with weeds and tall grass growing all over the brush that was left behind.When that stuff dies those deer will bed in it and use it for shelter.I plan to hunt ours a lot this year.
JE

wayomic

Your only disadvantage is it's being done now and not early enough in the year (winter to spring) to get a summer's growth of new brush and berry bushes. Give it a week, even a few days, and the deer will be using all of the new "trails" made on the land and taking advantage of the cover made by tops and brush piles, and all of the sprouts, new growth and access toleaves n' buds that were on top of treesfor feeding.

ilovehunting

That is a good thing!! Some of the good hunting is on land that they log. It opens up the terain for growth and it opens up places to walk. Doesnt sound to bad to me. I hope everything goes well for you. Maybe youll bag a P&Y

cartman308

thanks guys for opening my eyes. The reason i have a really bad taste in my mouth about clear cutting is that when they cleared the first sections it was some of the nicest woods to hunt in you'd ever see. just pick a trail and you'd see at least five deer a day. The timber was tall......we just had them figured out. The logged it and things seem to changed monthly.....and since then my dad has been hurt and i've started a career and family so hunting/scouting time has DRASTICALLY fallen.

Oh and the vandalisim comment i made...........don't worry about me doing that. I was just PO'ed. The locals in that area will do enough of that. We had our cabin broken into four times last year.....once they actually cooked themselves some soup and put the dishes in the sink [:-].......after the second time they had already cleaned everything of value out so i guess they were just hungry.....

thanks for getting my back in the sprit to hunt!!!!!!! Gotta save a few more pennies for the LoneWolf now!!!