sparky858

The area that I hunt in N. WI has lots of public land. I good portion is in fairly mature aspen. I know the deer love the clearcuts when they're made, but I'm wondering about the more mature groves. Are these attractive to deer at all? As either a food source of cover area.

frontier gander

of course those heavily timbered areas hide bucks. You think a deer that are high pressured during rifle season are dumb enough to step into the open? Face it, us humans dont want to walk through all that thick stuff, we stick to the easier open areas while the bigger animals are deep in cover of that thick stuff. I'd hunt that area hard or atleast search for sign. Im not sure if this is the same for whitetail, but mule deer will strip any smaller aspen of its leaves. Ive heard of hunters cutting off aspen branchs with leaves and laying them out and hunt over that.

Wingbone

I've never found mature aspen to be attractive to deer. There is no cover and nothing to eat. They have no reason to be there.

130woodman

I know out west the elk and mule deer eat the bark off aspen trees I have never heard anything about whitetailed deer eating the bark. You can tell if thet are eating the bark by the teeth marks & scars on the trees.If there is cover they will use it.

Phil from Maine

I have seen deer walking through aspen more then once. Usually there is some saplings growing around some place and deer like eating them. Also if there is any dead hardwood deer are there looking for mushrooms. However, younger aspens are usually better to hunt in.