Do deer bed in your hinge cuts?

[tim]

Amen dan! Deer are going to bed where they want not where we want . But in the end the wind has to be right. We can definitely enhance what they like. But the sound of a ridge full of dead hinge cut trees 7 years down the road does not intrigue me. I know it has its place and can be effective

[Natenlsn2]

A combination of TSI and hinge cutting has turned my small property, into a place that I can consistently get opportunities at mature (4.5+) deer with bow or gun. For increasing odds of seeing mature deer on your property, a chainsaw is the most valuable tool a "land manager" can use around here.

Could you explain a little more how you did the tsi and hinge cuts? Curious to see what has worked well for you!

We have a small 57 acre parcel. We live directly in the middle of it. We are in a rural area of NE MO. The surrounding properties are heavily hunted. So, I tread lightly and use most of the "farm" as a sort of sanctuary. I only hunt the edges in the evenings. If I do hunt the woods, it is for all day sits. I only hunt the fronts and stand particular winds, until the end of Oct. After the end of Oct. I sit between doe bedding, downwind of doe bedding, funnels and heads of draws, depending on circumstances. I have put in one small food plot, as well. When we bought it (year 2000) our place had a shortage of mast producing White Oaks, in particular. And very little cover. The ridges were loaded with giant Hickories that shaded out the understory. You could see all the way from here to yonder. So my goal was to encourage the growth of mast producing trees, as well as stimulate the browse, which would thicken it up with the TSI. Sunlight=browse. I started by leaving 30 ft. or so between the trees with the best crown. I have gone back in to cut additional trees, as disease, damage or crowding dictate. I also, make sure that the deer can move freely through the areas, by keeping trails open, at this time. The first ridge I started cutting, looked like a totally different place, 2 yrs after the initial TSI project. Once the understory took over, you couldn't see past 20 yds in most places. Deer started using it during daylight hours. The number of scrapes, rubs and beds increased steadily for the next several yrs. Mature buck sightings also became more common. Although I like to have these projects done by late winter, in late spring of 2017 I went back in there and hinge cut the low value trees that had survived the original TSI project and most of the smaller trees that had sprouted. I make some hinges at waist level and some at head level, depending on how it feels at the time. Some places are more open, so I cut lower, Other places could use a canopy the deer can walk under, so I cut higher. I try to make appropriate looking bedding spots more deer friendly, by raking a spot clean, making sure there is some kind of backing, a downwind view, somewhat of a canopy, and semi-open escape routes. After deer season, I pick an area to get our firewood out of every winter. I take the main log out of the trees for firewood and leave as much of the top as I can. Then I follow up with a hinge cut, on the way out. There are several places that I will not hunt due to swirling winds. I cut these areas hard, and leave a distinct transition line between types of trees/cover/openings and terrain features. These areas are never hunted, but left alone. I stay out of there after cutting, unless we shed hunt it a time or two or are following a blood trail. When we moved here, rubs were few and far between. Beds? Nonexistent. There was no mast, except a few Shingle Oaks on the perimeter. Now, all these yrs later, we have some White Oaks that are finally bearing acorns. Rubs, rubs and more rubs all over the place. Beds, here there and ever where. Browse. The whole place is covered in browse. There are 3 doe family groups that "stay" on us and feel unthreatened who are used as buck magnets. The results may not be the same on properties of differing shapes, sizes, surrounding pressure and the amount of cover available. But it works here. We went from seeing a mature deer ever couple years, during the rut, to killing 2or3- 4.5 yr old bucks off here ever yr. I can't say that this will help everbody, but it has made this place a little slice of hunting paradise. This method of enhancement has worked well on our property. Just ask the outfitters lined up along our fence.

Cool to hear a good success story like this! Sounds like you provided a lot of severity of habitat and didn’t just bushwhack your property. You had a goal in mind of what you wanted and did it. Thanks for sharing!

[Natenlsn2]

A lot of the properties I visit have had other "experts" visit before me, so its cool to see what they did and the results. One property I visited last year an expert came in and did hinge cutting on an entire ridge and created tunnels and trails . It was interesting that this property had a lot of big bucks and after a few years of this hinge cutting not much was bedding in it. So when we looked at the maps and discussed the property I pointed out that the hinge cut was on the windward side and East winds were rare and it was the entire ridge with no breaks or edge except above the ridge and at the bottom along the property line. He said occasionally he got trail cam pics of bucks coming out if there in the evening, but most of the bucks came from elsewhere. We looked thru the pic's of bucks coming out of there and the majority were on an east wind when he looked up historical data. I pointed out an isolated point that was leeward for westerly winds and would work for bedding for any wind except East. It was an area the landowner did not go much and said the area was mature forest and you could see for ever and he had little faith in the area. But I new the big bucks he was getting on his cameras had to be coming from somewhere. We went over there and the ridge was not only littered with big worn beds and big rubs, but also had a couple big sheds laying in beds. Now... If you thicken up that and leave an edge, you would really have something. The "pro" this guy hired charged him thousands and did nothing to enhance his hunting... Sure he set up some neat rope toys for the deer, but really in the end his hunting was no better. A lot of smoke and mirrors and no results. Now... He is having results... I see this over and over on the properties I visit. Creating bedding is a lot more complex than most "experts" make it out to be. The 1st thing you gotta think about is where do bucks naturally bed, on what winds, and what senses do they use when they bed there...

If they are bedding there for vision, don't block there vision, if its wind based bedding, it needs to be where the wind is right, etc. Once you realize you were wrong, you can't undo removing trees,,, Make sure you get it right the 1st time. And... If you follow the BEAST you probably know better than a lot of the "experts" on where big bucks bed and why.. I would recommend doing small scale tests and looking at the results before going nuts on the whole property. I think most properties see results from the so called experts because they thicken areas... Thicker woods will always bring you better results than open woods. But we should be looking for the best results, not just a little better.

Nailed it Home Dan, makes total sense to me to enhance the areas bucks naturally use for bedding instead of just going in and hacking down a whole hillside. I can see also enhancing a spot bucks may not be using but one that has all the makings of a great bedding spot. I have been a skeptic of creating tunnels for deer...I would feel trapped if I was being chased by coyotes through a maze of tunnels.

[UofLbowhunter]

A lot of the properties I visit have had other "experts" visit before me, so its cool to see what they did and the results. One property I visited last year an expert came in and did hinge cutting on an entire ridge and created tunnels and trails . It was interesting that this property had a lot of big bucks and after a few years of this hinge cutting not much was bedding in it. So when we looked at the maps and discussed the property I pointed out that the hinge cut was on the windward side and East winds were rare and it was the entire ridge with no breaks or edge except above the ridge and at the bottom along the property line. He said occasionally he got trail cam pics of bucks coming out if there in the evening, but most of the bucks came from elsewhere. We looked thru the pic's of bucks coming out of there and the majority were on an east wind when he looked up historical data. I pointed out an isolated point that was leeward for westerly winds and would work for bedding for any wind except East. It was an area the landowner did not go much and said the area was mature forest and you could see for ever and he had little faith in the area. But I new the big bucks he was getting on his cameras had to be coming from somewhere. We went over there and the ridge was not only littered with big worn beds and big rubs, but also had a couple big sheds laying in beds. Now... If you thicken up that and leave an edge, you would really have something. The "pro" this guy hired charged him thousands and did nothing to enhance his hunting... Sure he set up some neat rope toys for the deer, but really in the end his hunting was no better. A lot of smoke and mirrors and no results. Now... He is having results... I see this over and over on the properties I visit. Creating bedding is a lot more complex than most "experts" make it out to be. The 1st thing you gotta think about is where do bucks naturally bed, on what winds, and what senses do they use when they bed there...

If they are bedding there for vision, don't block there vision, if its wind based bedding, it needs to be where the wind is right, etc. Once you realize you were wrong, you can't undo removing trees,,, Make sure you get it right the 1st time. And... If you follow the BEAST you probably know better than a lot of the "experts" on where big bucks bed and why.. I would recommend doing small scale tests and looking at the results before going nuts on the whole property. I think most properties see results from the so called experts because they thicken areas... Thicker woods will always bring you better results than open woods. But we should be looking for the best results, not just a little better.

I wished what you wrote here would get soak in some dnr guys heads. This all makes total sense