I' m a member of a sportman' s club here in WV that currently leases 2000 acres in Nicholas County. Went up to the club yesterday (Saturday) for the last day of bow season , and saw a small armada of lumber company vehicles being brought onto the property. (A couple of dozers, logging trucks, etc.

Seems that even though the tentative plans where for the company to do no cutting til the first of the year... they' ve decided to clearcut 45 acres on the property starting tuesday morning.

Needless to say, we' re pissed... but it' s there property... so we' re kindof out of luck. We' ve spoke to the folks involved and told them of the three members who have there stands/feeders setup on those 45acres and are making arrangements to get things moved by tuesday. BTW Rifle season opens Monday AM.

Any thoughts as to whether this will totally nuke hunting on the property? My guess is that it should keep the deer moving... but not sure what other effects the operation will have. One good thing is that they will be operating/driving on a side road of the property... and only hauling the lumber out thru the main ' Camp" ... not thru the main hunting areas.

Thanks for any input or thoughts you may have.

In the short term it will definitely cause some disruption of movement patterns. It could work to your advantage in the long run with new growth which deer love and also possibly provide an opportunity for food plots. gg.

I shot a buck this year 20-30 minutes after watching the dozer drag a tree down the hill, not 80 yds from my stand. The deer will get used to the loggers real quick. Hunting around the egdes, if they were good spots before the loggers came, should still be adequate to hunt. Your hunting is not ruined by any means, maybe a little disrupted, but it' ll be fine.

Talked to a logger up in Maine,and he carries a rifle on his dozer.Every once in a while he would stop and look back where he just worked,and there would be deer feeding on the trees he just dropped.
They do get used to the noise,it' s like the dinner bell.

Joe

Hi,

I' ve been a logger for over 15 years and my father has been for 40+. Deer will follow the skid roads starting within a day or two even if there is no snow, but especially then. They can walk more easily, and the lack of deep leaves means they can walk more quietly as well. They will mostly ignore nearby runs and use the skid road.

It will be a good spot to hunt once the new growth starts, but deer get used to the logging operation very quickly and are not alarmed by it. Actually, if they are cutting hardwoods, especially soft (not sugar) maple and ash, or oaks with acorns, the deer view the operation as a dinner bell. I' ve had to scare deer away so that I didn' t hit them with the next tree during extreme winters with little food.

Get to the logging area before the loggers come in for the day and I bet you' ll see a whole herd working over the downed tops. For the bigger bucks I suggest hunting the area at the end of the day right before dark. Just remember, a logging area is very dangerous. There may be large hanging limbs broken off that could fall, or a tree could be cut off hung up on another tree ready to come down (bad logging practices, they should be pulled down immediately). Dead trees may have been knocked and are ready to fall over (they should be cut down first).

I know loggers who ride friends in in the morning on the front of the machine with a rifle to easily take deer. They don' t run right away since they are used to the loggers and they' re feeding them with the tops (not sporting as far as I' m concerned). The best place to shoot a deer is off of a log skidder.

By knowing this information about how deer behave around a logging job and using extreme caution you will have an advantage over the other hunters there. Also, if you can stalk well, find the nearest thick cover near the operation and stalk it from upwind, or better yet set up between it and the logging area an hour or two before quitting time. You should be able to ambush the deer as they leave the bedding area and head to the feast.

Good Luck!
Mark
http://www.buckhuntersecrets.com

Thanks to everyone for the reply' s. I feel alot better about the situation now than I did before. From the sound of things it looks like our newest club member may have ended up lucking into a good thing. He had the chance to pick his spot late in the season (last month) , and selected a spot for his stand just to the north of where the 45 acres in question sits.

I' ll not be able to hunt the first week... and it seems like the second week will end up just having about 4 to 6 hunters on the entire property. Based on Mark' s input, I believe I know where I' ll be sitting on at least a few of those evenings.

(Need to remember to try to find out what the logging crews work schedule' s going to be like. My guess is in at first light... but they may have a few days where they will work different hours, due to other possible operations they may have going in the area).

I' ll try to post any results when I get back from the hunt
Again, thanks for the input, and safe hunting.

Right on Bucksecret, very well said and very true, I see the very same thing here. Bobby

i' ve been hunting the same area for 16 years. right in the exact location where i shot my buck last year, a logging company has set up camp there. they even have a trailer set there for their lunch breaks. i first discovered the activity this fall turkey season and i was extremely pissed because of the chain saws and being able to hear a bunch of voices echoing through the woods. i decided to do some investigating to see exactly what they were cutting. climbing over enormous logs and downed tree tops mumbling not so nice words to myself i found a stump to sit down and rest. i couldn' t see more than 20 yards around me and i was thinking to myself " i might as well not even come down here for deer season this year" , no sooner than the thought crossed my mind, i heard something walking around. i sat quietly and waited for about ten minutes and low and behold a nice ten point walked right past me.....never even saw me. needless to say i changed my mind. i don' t think it will effect much of anything except give the deer a false sense of security.

Exactly, it does give them a false sense of security. One more tip though. The deer only feel safe with you coming in on a loud machine. You still have to stalk in unseen to get a shot.

One very cold and long winter when the deer were starving, I used to stop on my way out with a hitch of logs and try to feed deer with apples from an orchard. If I turned the machine off and walked towards the apple trees, they would run even though they were hungry. But if I left it running they would allow me to approach and shake apples off the trees for them.

You still have to stalk in. I used to sometimes walk in with a chainsaw to cut at daybreak and the deer would run, they are only used to the loggers coming in with machinery, and any alteration will spook them.

Mark
http://www.buckhuntersecrets.com

GonePostalWV,

Try to be there after work and don' t worry about getting there in the morning. Yes, I can almost guarantee that they will start close to daybreak. That was the logger in me talking. Find out when they get done and get there a few hours before hand. If you get there in the morning they will already be there since they feed all night and you will have a tough time stalking up to them.

There will be does that get much more used to the loggers and get there early before quitting time or stay close all day. And as you know, if a doe spots you and gets spooked, she will alert all the deer in the area as she takes off. You don' t want to run up on a doe heading in early. Get settled well in advance and stay still.

Regards,
Mark
http://www.buckhuntersecrets.com