Actually, I'm running a Remington 870 12 gauge with 24" rifled barrel and iron sights for most deer and hog hunts. I've got my father-in-law's Savage 10 in .270WSM, but it's too much gun for this close-in style hunting. My brother uses a Winchester 97 in .30-30 for the same brushy hunts and does well with it.

I think I'd just go with a smooth bore barrel

I hunt the same exact type of area. Fortunately the loggers left huge piles of sawdust that are about 25' high. Last Saturday I made a hole in the top of one, sat down inside and could see 360 degrees around me. (I watched two bucks chase a doe for about 10 minutes)
Any chance you have sawdust piles?

If you can find any, hunt some acorn producing oaks. If not, I would try setting up somewhere around that small pond. May be your best bet. Try and find the trails where they are coming in and watering, then set up back far enough you are not right on top of them when they come in. Even if it means you can only get back 20-30 yards due to the undergrowth. If you are able to hang a stand you should be good.

OK ... let me see if I get this? You are hunting near Smith Lake, on the Winston Co. side. Private property that has little or no large trees, and none of them acorn bearing oaks ?? That makes it a tough go for this time of year. And by the way, the "large" acorns are likely Chesnut Oak acorns, and where I hunt in SE Alabama these are one of the top 2 choices for deer .... the other being White Oak acorns.

Around the pond there are trees large and tall enough to be suitable for a ladder or climber? Sounds like a possible set-up to be looking down into the thick stuff or watch the pond. As dry as it has been here in Alabama these past 5-6 weeks, deer should be using the pond at least some. If there are no tracks around the edges of that pond, I'd say the 350 acres is not holding many deer at all.

In that thick stuff, if there are deer in the area, I'd say you will come across well used and obvious walking paths , plus beds. Any paths that are regularly used should have droppings along the way. You just have to keep looking.

Also look carefully at the browse around the edges of any open areas. If there are deer in the area, they will be clipping the ends of what I call "Wait-a-Minute" vines, French mulberry bushes, any oak saplings, Honey Locust, etc. If you cannot find evidence of browsing, you may be hunting a very sparsely populated area of the county.

Good luck.