clear cuts

[Bowhunter4life]

Clear cuts, just those words get me excited. With the vast open timber around here there is no place better to find a big mature buck than a clear cut. The younger ones that have no trees big enough for a climbing stand are my favorite! The edges will recieve some pressure but I dive in deeper than others. Opening day of rifle season I love to slide in deep in the cut close to a known buck bedding areas and let the tons of pressure push the bucks to me. Had some very fun hunts that way in the past. To compare a marsh and clear cut I can't speak on though. I have not hunted a marsh really as there are none around here but I'm sure the same strategy could be applied in some marshes

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[Ack]

Opening day of rifle season I love to slide in deep in the cut close to a known buck bedding areas and let the tons of pressure push the bucks to me.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

So are you saying that the bucks are bedded in the cuts? If so, what types of areas are you finding the buck beds?

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[Bowhunter4life]

Opening day of rifle season I love to slide in deep in the cut close to a known buck bedding areas and let the tons of pressure push the bucks to me.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

So are you saying that the bucks are bedded in the cuts? If so, what types of areas are you finding the buck beds?

[ Post made via iPhone ]

Oh absolutely! Here where I live in SE MIssouri it's hill country so they mostly bed up on the points. Most of the ridges have the logging roads on them but will be some brush piled up near the edges of the points that I often find the bucks bedding just below them. If it is a cut that does recieve some foot traffic through the season I have found them bedding lower say half way down the point or even in some of the wider valleys that have a spot higher that the rest of the ground in them the bucks will slip down and bed on those as pressure rises. Like say a little mound in the valley floor. I find lots of bucks bedding in the cuts themselves though. Way more than in the vast open timber.

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[Divergent]

Most of the bedding I've seen in clear cuts are on the edges by does and small bucks. It really heats up during the rut though. The mature deer will cruise the edges for does coming in and out of the cutover. My favorite time is on a cold morning after the last windy day from a front pushing thru.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[Ack]

Opening day of rifle season I love to slide in deep in the cut close to a known buck bedding areas and let the tons of pressure push the bucks to me.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

So are you saying that the bucks are bedded in the cuts? If so, what types of areas are you finding the buck beds?

[ Post made via iPhone ]

Oh absolutely! Here where I live in SE MIssouri it's hill country so they mostly bed up on the points. Most of the ridges have the logging roads on them but will be some brush piled up near the edges of the points that I often find the bucks bedding just below them. If it is a cut that does recieve some foot traffic through the season I have found them bedding lower say half way down the point or even in some of the wider valleys that have a spot higher that the rest of the ground in them the bucks will slip down and bed on those as pressure rises. Like say a little mound in the valley floor. I find lots of bucks bedding in the cuts themselves though. Way more than in the vast open timber.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

Gotcha....makes sense now. I was just trying to relate it to our dead flat clear cuts around here.....sounds like totally different terrain.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[mainebowhunter]

So I watched part of the new marsh bedding video and it really got the wheels turning. There isn't the big marshes around me like I see in the video as I mostly hunt northern wisconsin. What really got me thinking though is I have clear cuts all over and from watching the video see a lot of similarities between how deer use the cattail marshes and how they use the thicker clear cuts. For instance a lone big tree in the marsh likely has bedding, often times I find beds under lone big trees in clear cuts as well and same with "islands". So my question to you guys is this, do you all see many or any similarities between the marshes and clear cuts? What is your strategy to go about hunting clear cuts vs marshes?

Hunter

[ Post made via Android ]

If you have flat land clearcuts, there will probably be marshy wetlands in them. And, since they cannot cut wetland/marshy areas, trees are left standing. This winter, I have spent a bunch of time in a 600 acre clear cut. More time needs to be spent. Its not something that is figured out in one season. If my cameras show mature deer using it, this season is going to be lot more hunting observation sits and in season scouting more so than doing a lot of hunting. I have spent a bunch of time in it this year and have not really found any "wow look at that bed". Found some beds...but nothing that I am going crazy about.

I am not a rifle hunter. Bow is going to be a bit tougher. Unless I can find exact beds.

[mainebowhunter]

Figured I would bump this back up with some more information. Just to add to the information about finding beds in clearcuts.

As I mentioned early, I have been scouting this clearcut over the winter and into the spring. Walked a lot of miles ...located a couple beds here or there.

Early in the day, after pounding the timber for nearly 3hrs...was just not coming up with much. My plan for the day was going to be scouting a thick spot on the far end of the cutover that i had scouted yet. Its funny...you can walk and walk and walk...but without just a bunch of determination, its easy to miss stuff. With very little elevation changes, really, its just boot leather that finds the sign.

Today, located a great bedding spot. Just really great, sheltered, dry bedding Bedded right on the edge, right under and near standing spruce that were not cut. Right on on the outside of the bed is a bunch of red brush. Just a classic bedding spot. Access is really great, especially for an evening set.

Pretty cool to find a shed right in one of the beds.


Spent some time picking out a tree. Just need to come back and prep for a set. Then it will be trailcams and observation to find out how the buck or bucks are using this bed. Setup will be a bit tricky...but hoping some trailcams and observation will tell me what I need to know. Deer can exit both sides of the bed, depending on what they are going to feed on.