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Hunting Spot Getting Logged. Advice?

cville_bowhunter

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 26, 2022
Messages
272
Hey all,

This post-season, I have gotten serious about scouting and doing little things to improve the habitat on the land that I hunt (opening up natural springs to allow for small pools, reintroducing locally native grasses and wildflowers, trying to tackle invasive wineberry, creating tiny clover/oat plots for post-winter supplemental deer feeding). For the past several years, the landowners have been tossing around the idea of doing a select-cut logging, as the land hasn't been cut in a couple decades and could really use some opening up for new growth. This year they are actually going to do it. I am looking forward to the positive benefits, but I am also a bit concerned about how this is going to impact my upcoming hunting season. They will be logging this summer, so I would hope that deer will be moving back into the area by this fall.

A little info on the land:
It's about 120 acres on the slope of a steep ridgeline that's covered in mature hardwood (tons of poplar, seconded by red and white oak), and it's contiguous with upwards of 1000 acres of neighboring forested properties

Here are some of my concerns, and I'd love to hear any insight you might have from those who have experience with post-logging hunting/land-management:
-disruption of travel corridors for deer...will they establish new (permanent) patterns of travel and throw a wrench in all my scouting efforts?

-how do I control the comeback of invasives? Is it feasible to do so? I have been trying to get after the extremely aggressive wineberry growth and replace it with native grasses/wildflowers, and I'm worried that they're now going to explode even more so

-what can I do now and immediately post logging to improve habitat and hunting for the next several years?


I have been hunting this land since I was a little kid and care for it immensely. I'd like to do what I can to make this a positive experience for years to come.

Thanks in advance!
 
A complex topic for sure. I live across from a county forest, and the county has these forests for the lumber, so they get selectively logged on a regular basis. Screws up all the dirt bike single track trails every time....lots of work reclaiming those after the loggers have driven heavy skidders across the trails and dumped huge piles of slash everywhere....but that isn't a hunting concern.

Deer are gonna move between feeding and bedding areas. Feeding areas are not likely to be impacted much by logging, since there won't be mature trees in food plots/areas. Deer typically don't bed in mature hardwoods, because there isn't much cover there, so that's likely not an issue either. But if the logging is close to either food or bedding, it'll move the deer for a while at least.

However, once the canopy is reduced and light can get to the ground, a lot more successional growth, briars and other stuff will explode, which will create good cover and browse, so may create new bedding areas a year or two after the logging. If they take down the poplars, those will grow huge amounts of shoots the following year, which will make for some nice/tasty deer browse.

I think wildlife gets used to the logging equipment and chainsaws.....they figure out that it's not a threat pretty quickly, but if the machines are close, then obviously it will move the deer at least temporarily.

One thing to keep in mind is that logging machinery works hard...and so it often breaks down. So logging operations often take longer than expected, due to breakdowns, weather, etc. So it's possible that the logging may stretch into the Fall timeframe, which would impact this years hunting season by disrupting deer movement patterns or kicking them out of adjacent bedding/food areas. Or making the deer nocturnal. This happened to me last year.....logging ran into the hunting season and trashed one of the best/deepest cover bedding areas.

Once the canopy is opened up, all growth is gonna explode....including invasives. That'll be tough to stay on top of for sure. Not sure how fast the wineberry grows....if you can find something indigenous that grows faster than the invasives, to choke 'em out, that might be a strategy to consider. Otherwise, buy some beer and invite friends to come uproot wineberry for a few weekends next year, prior to hunting season. :tearsofjoy:

Since the land is surrounded by large forested properties, odds are the deer will move out during the logging, but will likely come back once the new growth explodes. So it may help the hunt down the road, but you might be screwed for this year.

Deer will come back to use the trails or make new ones, if the property has more browse/food, or is in between bedding and feeding areas. You'll have to see where they end up moving after the logging is done.

I really like Jeff Sturgis' youtube videos (Whitetail Habitat Solutions: https://www.youtube.com/c/WhitetailhabitatsolutionsJeffSturgis). He has a lot of info on how to improve habitat, build food plots/bedding areas, and he does talk about logging and TSI a fair bit too. May be worth watching some of those.
 
They logged the farm I hunt few years ago in the summer. That fall was a little slow. I didn't see many 2.5yr old + bucks or big prints. There was a lot of activity thru the summer. They left a lot of tops on the ground, and someone had been on the edges cutting some of them up. So they effected it some as well. Now, the following year was definitely better. More under growth took off, and the tops provided more cover. I didn't notice much of travel shift. Their was other factors that still dictated how they travel. Water level and natural terrain features.
 
@tarafrost covered it pretty well, only thing I’ll add is maybe get in touch with your fish and wildlife folks or wildlife conservation folks and ask them what they’d recommend. It’s been my experience, at least here in VA, the love it when someone comes to them with that kind of scenario as they get to work with a landowner
 
A complex topic for sure. I live across from a county forest, and the county has these forests for the lumber, so they get selectively logged on a regular basis. Screws up all the dirt bike single track trails every time....lots of work reclaiming those after the loggers have driven heavy skidders across the trails and dumped huge piles of slash everywhere....but that isn't a hunting concern.

Deer are gonna move between feeding and bedding areas. Feeding areas are not likely to be impacted much by logging, since there won't be mature trees in food plots/areas. Deer typically don't bed in mature hardwoods, because there isn't much cover there, so that's likely not an issue either. But if the logging is close to either food or bedding, it'll move the deer for a while at least.

However, once the canopy is reduced and light can get to the ground, a lot more successional growth, briars and other stuff will explode, which will create good cover and browse, so may create new bedding areas a year or two after the logging. If they take down the poplars, those will grow huge amounts of shoots the following year, which will make for some nice/tasty deer browse.

I think wildlife gets used to the logging equipment and chainsaws.....they figure out that it's not a threat pretty quickly, but if the machines are close, then obviously it will move the deer at least temporarily.

One thing to keep in mind is that logging machinery works hard...and so it often breaks down. So logging operations often take longer than expected, due to breakdowns, weather, etc. So it's possible that the logging may stretch into the Fall timeframe, which would impact this years hunting season by disrupting deer movement patterns or kicking them out of adjacent bedding/food areas. Or making the deer nocturnal. This happened to me last year.....logging ran into the hunting season and trashed one of the best/deepest cover bedding areas.

Once the canopy is opened up, all growth is gonna explode....including invasives. That'll be tough to stay on top of for sure. Not sure how fast the wineberry grows....if you can find something indigenous that grows faster than the invasives, to choke 'em out, that might be a strategy to consider. Otherwise, buy some beer and invite friends to come uproot wineberry for a few weekends next year, prior to hunting season. :tearsofjoy:

Since the land is surrounded by large forested properties, odds are the deer will move out during the logging, but will likely come back once the new growth explodes. So it may help the hunt down the road, but you might be screwed for this year.

Deer will come back to use the trails or make new ones, if the property has more browse/food, or is in between bedding and feeding areas. You'll have to see where they end up moving after the logging is done.

I really like Jeff Sturgis' youtube videos (Whitetail Habitat Solutions: https://www.youtube.com/c/WhitetailhabitatsolutionsJeffSturgis). He has a lot of info on how to improve habitat, build food plots/bedding areas, and he does talk about logging and TSI a fair bit too. May be worth watching some of those.
Thanks a lot for the thorough response! I will check out the Sturgis videos
 
@tarafrost covered it pretty well, only thing I’ll add is maybe get in touch with your fish and wildlife folks or wildlife conservation folks and ask them what they’d recommend. It’s been my experience, at least here in VA, the love it when someone comes to them with that kind of scenario as they get to work with a landowner
Great idea, thanks! Also a VA guy here
 
Its worth considering a hack and squirt follow up treatment of undesirable or invasive understory trees so it doesn't convert to a low-value (financial or wildlife) forest with predominant maple, beech, etc
 
Its worth considering a hack and squirt follow up treatment of undesirable or invasive understory trees so it doesn't convert to a low-value (financial or wildlife) forest with predominant maple, beech, etc

The problem with that is that the higher the timber value, the lower the wildlife value and vice versa. "Undesireable" from what perspective? Timber $s or deer habitat/browse?
 
Great idea, thanks! Also a VA guy here
Nice! Dunno where you’re at, I’m up in NOVA. Our folks up here are Matt Knox(Matt.knox@dgif.Virginia.gov), Cale Godfrey(Cale.godrey@dgif.Virginia.gov) and Nelson Lafon (Nelson.lafon@dgif.virginia.gov). If you aren’t up here I’d think reaching out to one of those folks and they’ll steer you right. I’m kinda in the same boat, hadn’t visited one of the parcels I hunt in awhile, checked and almost the entire parcel had been clear cut. I reached out to Matt and he came up with a plan to plant some clover along with winter rye and radish to steer the deers back into the property.
 
The problem with that is that the higher the timber value, the lower the wildlife value and vice versa. "Undesirable" from what perspective? Timber $s or deer habitat/browse?
There are absolutely undesirable species that will impede your forest value and wildlife health. Any forester will confirm that. There are species with both low wildlife value and low timber value. You are right though, there is usually a trade-off of some kind. I would be looking to contain the species in your cut areas that provide neither timber nor wildlife value (invasives, non-mast producing soft-woods) and promote regeneration of species you want, like those that bear mast of some kind. Beech is a prime example of a low wildlife and low timber value species compared to others. I'm not referring to stump sprouts and browse here, more existing understory trees that like to take over after a select cut of the desirable trees causing reduced competition
 
I didn't completely read all of the responses but generally, the right type of timber harvesting is great for whitetail deer and many other game species, especially if it is a mature hardwood forest with little to no undergrouth. The right type of harvesting can really make a good property great by allowing sunlight to reach the forest floor, creating succession growth which encourages all kinds of wildlife. It may take a year or so for it to be prime but if tops are left in there to protect the young seedlings/saplings and as the sunlight has more access to the forest, you will have a deer, grouse woodcock and turkey mecca to name but a few potential critters depending on your state and location.
 
I wonder if it would be productive to put in a few food plots in areas away from the logging, or put in some plots in the newly-opened areas. That might keep deer in the areas while the forest adjusts to the new normal.
 
The impact to the local deer will likely be positive in the long run. As others have noted more sunlight will reach the forest floor and allow secondary growth to thicken up the woods and make it more desirable for wildlife. Along with this green up will likely come some of the undesirable plants. I don't really know what to do about that but a call to your State's natural resources department can't hurt.

As far as logging goes, I don't have any experience with select cutting. The logging I have seen around here is clearcut. The effects vary. Sometimes the loggers seem lazy and leave a pile of tangled treetops and twisted vines scattered amongst rows of skidder ruts and alternately I have seen a half section of woods cut down to bare dirt. And it seemed like they wanted to take the dirt too, lol. What I have noticed is that well established trails, unless they are physically blocked by some fallen obstacle, will be quickly reestablished.

I remember one heavily used lane in particular. I hunted a lane that ran through pine timber for several years. It was a predictable spot to pick up a deer on its way to a food plot in the evenings. The plot was about 150 yards north of a spot on the trail where the land rose from a swampy area below. If you got in there with the right wind around 2 PM and climbed a certain pine, you could be reasonably assured a deer would walk through broadside about half an hour before dark on its way up to that plot. Hunting the plot itself was useless. They knew not to go up there in daylight.

Well, the loggers rolled in one day and when they left that half section was as bare as a parking lot. They cut it in December, during season, and I remember going back out there to visit the stump of my hunting tree in March, just after turkey season opened, and there were lots of fresh deer tracks on what had been that lane through the woods. The deer were still using that trail even though it now ran across the top of a bald hill.

I really liked that spot.
 

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After one of my spots was timbered, the deer show up every morning. Bedding to west and ag fields and hardwoods to east. They swing through browse for a snack coming from or going to bedding. Glad this year i’ll be able to saddle hunt from a tree this year….
 
My land was clearcut years ago. I built a box blind. The base was 16ft high. For 1.5 years my 30.06 barked every single time I went out and lots of times it was double deer days. The deer will still be there. Get high and sight your rifle in at 200 yards. I had and made lots of 350+ yard shots.
Now, if you are talking select cut, you won't even notice a difference in the deer and their behavior.
 
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