I’m more in this thread to learn than anything else, but on the subject of hinge cutting I can’t stand what it does to a property. Truthfully I don’t understand it well enough to make sense of it in the overall scheme of deer management practices, but from a human perspective, it sure junks up a good property in short order.
Our neighbor owns like 20 acres of woods that backs up to our 20 acres of woods, which is a thoroughfare within a larger forest, trafficking deer between ag fields. This neighbor is a hunter, has some good natural habitat with a creek bed, oaks, etc. Well, he thought he’d increase some bedding cover over the last few years and hinge cut/hack-squirted a bunch of stuff near our shared border. The hinge cuts are like 6’+ up the trunks of some trees (yikes!) and the trees he squirt fall on our side of the property line in a storm or windy day. He has deadfall all over the border of our properties and it’s now encroached on our woods, right near one of my favorite presets. Can’t get the golf cart back there anymore, the fence that used to show the border is trashed, can’t get a mower back there anymore, can’t even get a good chainsaw back there because these are some of the biggest trees in the forest that he just let drop wherever without a plan for them (unless his plan was to make 20% of our property completely inaccessible in just a couple of short years). What’s worse? The deer moved their beds closer to my preset. Sounds awesome until you can’t access that tree without something snorting at you within 50 yards. It’s still a good tree but I’m on pins and needles during the first hour any time I hunt. Some deer moved to another neighbor, and it’s incrementally shifted their travel pattern each of the four years I’ve hunted that portion due to the lack of trail maintenance I am able to accomplish now.
Needless to say, I won’t be “binge” cutting on our property any time soon. Select cuts only and have a plan for the trunks when they fall.