Clear cuts..

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rfickes87
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Re: Clear cuts..

Unread postby rfickes87 » Tue Jan 08, 2019 4:59 am

moondoondude wrote:Out here, clear cuts and selective cuts are like gold. They produce the best habitat for big bucks in my opinion. Their regeneration is based on a number of factors but in general, 4 - 9 years are the sweet spot for bedding areas, food sources, and maximum utilization. You can't beat a clear cut or selective cut in my opinion, all the ingredients for big bucks.


Moon,

I put a camera on a transition of a mature clear cut and open woods. This is also the military crest elevation of a ridge. Thick cut ontop and open woods below the crest. I left it there all archery season. Shooter after shooter on cam anytime it was leeward. I guess they were going into bed and back out and/Or just cruising for does. You could set your watch to it. I was just laughing every time I'd go back and check the wind. I couldnt believe it. Just as Dan has said before, they love thick to back and open below.

I have another mature clear cut i want to scout. Its a 2 mile walk and it seems to be the best bedding in the area. However this one, it's not on the top of the ridge. It's on the eastern facing side of a ridge. So that good bedding on the military crest that i found in other cuts like before might not be there this time? It'll be interesting to scout on foot and see. Have you ever scouted this sort?


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moondoondude
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Re: Clear cuts..

Unread postby moondoondude » Mon Jan 14, 2019 12:32 pm

rfickes87 wrote:
moondoondude wrote:Out here, clear cuts and selective cuts are like gold. They produce the best habitat for big bucks in my opinion. Their regeneration is based on a number of factors but in general, 4 - 9 years are the sweet spot for bedding areas, food sources, and maximum utilization. You can't beat a clear cut or selective cut in my opinion, all the ingredients for big bucks.


Moon,

I put a camera on a transition of a mature clear cut and open woods. This is also the military crest elevation of a ridge. Thick cut ontop and open woods below the crest. I left it there all archery season. Shooter after shooter on cam anytime it was leeward. I guess they were going into bed and back out and/Or just cruising for does. You could set your watch to it. I was just laughing every time I'd go back and check the wind. I couldnt believe it. Just as Dan has said before, they love thick to back and open below.

I have another mature clear cut i want to scout. Its a 2 mile walk and it seems to be the best bedding in the area. However this one, it's not on the top of the ridge. It's on the eastern facing side of a ridge. So that good bedding on the military crest that i found in other cuts like before might not be there this time? It'll be interesting to scout on foot and see. Have you ever scouted this sort?



Rfickes87 - Sorry just seeing this.

Yes, for sure. A lot of the terrain here drops and rises maybe 20 - 50 vertical feet repeatedly every couple hundred feet. A lot of gullies and cuts repeatedly, so it offers a lot of opportunities to see numerous southern exposures, numerous northern exposures, numerous western exposures, and numerous eastern exposures. If a large area with this type of terrain is clear cut or selectively cut, you get to see the difference in these exposures repeatedly.

You also get some areas that are more gently rolling that don't have so many cuts and gullies - where you get larger areas that can have a singular exposure (like the eastern exposure you are referencing).

Eastern ridges receive the first sun exposure in the mornings. Particularly in the coldest times of the year in a clear cut or selective cut, deer will bed and hang on eastern exposures since they warm up quickest in the morning (the coldest time of the day). Wherever deer are in the mornings is typically close to where they bed, if not where they actually bed.

I would actually prefer that the clear cut or selective cut is on the side of a hill, like you are describing, because even that slight angle of the hill permits more light to penetrate in and hit the forest floor which in turn creates more, thicker habitat competing for the sunlight. This is why the deer are there - the habitat creates better security, bedding, and food for lots of wildlife (including deer). I would hunt the southern edge of the cut assuming that the cut is on a pretty gradual slope and that there isn't a defining topographical feature to the south that makes up the clear cut's southern boundary. Most of all you have to have a reason that the deer have somewhere to filter out towards the south. Focus your scouting on top third, middle third, and bottom third of the southern edge of the cut. Whichever third is closest to food will probably be where they want to leave the cut.
Tennhunter3
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Re: Clear cuts..

Unread postby Tennhunter3 » Tue Jan 15, 2019 12:07 am

Most cuts here are saplings. They grow in so thick nothing with any head gear can walk through them in most areas.

I've seen more mature bucks and sign around several year old pine and Briar clearcuts.
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Re: Clear cuts..

Unread postby Ahawk116 » Wed Jan 16, 2019 12:46 am

Down south in my experience you’ll do well to hunt cutovers and young pine plantations similar to how the swamps are explained here on the beast.

My basic system is I’ll walk the transition paying close attention to the ditches that run up into the cutover, the corners, and the islands of undesirable trees that get left by the loggers. (Cedars, elm, beech)

If someone can post my pictures on here for me shoot me a pm. I can show a spot on private where I killed a good one this year in a setup like I just described.
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Re: Clear cuts..

Unread postby cmbrown337 » Wed Jan 16, 2019 1:32 pm

Good topic. I do a lot of hunting in the big woods of northern Wisconsin and the last couple years I have been paying attention to the clear cuts. I have noticed the clear cuts that are 1-2 years old produce a lot of day time activity with does, fawns and young bucks.

This year I am going to focus on the cuts that are around 5 years old and see what I can find for sign.


For OnX users there is a “timber cuts” layer on the app that allows you to view all the clear cuts or thinning of trees on National forest land. It also tells you the year they were cut so it’s easy to identify how old of a cut it is. Doesn’t help if you don’t hunt National forest but for those of you that do try it out.
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johnsoninc86
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Re: Clear cuts..

Unread postby johnsoninc86 » Thu Jan 17, 2019 8:58 am

IN DNR has been selective logging most of the big public parcels here for several years now, and it seems like the 4-6 year old cuts seem to start to produce the best. The challenge here is finding one that doesn't get pounded by hunters, as most of these areas stick out like a sore thumb on an aerial or topo map, and they also typically have an old logging road leading to them for easy access. The best ones I've found have been ones grown up with beech trees, as it tends to hold the cover later into the year than others without the beech trees. As the rest have stated, hunt the downwind transition line and be ready to see lots of deer.
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Re: Clear cuts..

Unread postby dan99 » Tue Mar 29, 2022 12:31 pm

cmbrown337 wrote:Good topic. I do a lot of hunting in the big woods of northern Wisconsin and the last couple years I have been paying attention to the clear cuts. I have noticed the clear cuts that are 1-2 years old produce a lot of day time activity with does, fawns and young bucks.

This year I am going to focus on the cuts that are around 5 years old and see what I can find for sign.


For OnX users there is a “timber cuts” layer on the app that allows you to view all the clear cuts or thinning of trees on National forest land. It also tells you the year they were cut so it’s easy to identify how old of a cut it is. Doesn’t help if you don’t hunt National forest but for those of you that do try it out.


Nice, I just realized this feature existed. I can't wait to check it out.
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Re: Clear cuts..

Unread postby Elite » Tue Mar 29, 2022 1:36 pm

Correct me if I’m wrong, but mature bucks will bed just inside of the clear cut facing the open timber?


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