Multiflora Rose Thickets

[Archivist13]

The piece I hunt in PA rifle season has a 30 acre island thicket of multiflora rose that runs from 1250 ft to 1550 ft in elevation. It begins at the point of a long ridge and encompasses to benches going down hill. It is nearly impossible to enter, and has probably been unhunted for 6 or 7 years due to the multiflora roses taking over. I'm thinking of focusing on this piece of cover during the coming rifle season. Does anybody have any experience hunting these ridiculously thick multiflora rose thickets? Do the deer avoid it as well, or do you think it would give enough cover and food for the deer to use? I use to have a stand right in the middle of the area before the rose took over and killed some good deer there, but abandoned it once it got so thick I couldn't get past the perimeter.

[mheichelbech]

I would look for spots that appear to be browsed down more than the rest. They do like to browse that stuff around here.

[Hawthorne]

They will walk thru it like nothing. Some of the best bedding areas I’ve had on private has been rose thickets. They know predators won’t bother them in there. I know of a small wood lot that mostly thick rose with a rise in elevation. Right there is 3 beds. Bucks and does will bed there. There was beds there in 1996 when I first started hunting there and there are beds there now. I have found some good dead heads in rose thickets on public also. Best way to scout them is wear brush pants, a carhart jacket, and leather gloves

[MarshRunner1]

Only one way to find out! Go for it! If I was you I would stick a trail cam in there in the winter and leave it all summer. Then you'll know for sure.

[Edcyclopedia]

Dive in side and deflower that floral mess...

[Edcyclopedia]

Dbl post

[Grizzlyadam]

I have to deal with tons of that stuff, we call them pricker bushes. Mix in some barberry and bittersweet vines tangled into it all and that is what I'm often into. It's a nightmare. I find that the deer don't just walk through it, they use the path of least resistance and usually stick to the same travel pockets. They definitely bed in it, as it provides great cover and anything going through it ain't moving too fast. When I go through those spots I find it easiest to get through using a hand pruner. Just snip my way through. That also makes a path that the deer will end up using after. Sometimes I end up making travel lanes through it that I end up hunting a year or two later.

I have spooked or shot deer that ended up running through the stuff. When I follow where they went I find torn out hair and broken branches, doesn't look like they enjoy it much. One time I was blood trailing a deer I shot with the muzzleloader and ended up walking up to it literally standing there dead on it's feet suspended in the middle of a giant tangle of multiflora rose. I had to stand there for a while with the cross hairs on it to make sure it was actually dead. Think I took a picture, I'll have to dig that up. Another time I shot a buck that plowed full steam into a patch of the stuff and got his antlers caught up in it and did a full front flip right into it. Not fun getting them out.

[MarshRunner1]

I have to deal with tons of that stuff, we call them pricker bushes. Mix in some barberry and bittersweet vines tangled into it all and that is what I'm often into. It's a nightmare. I find that the deer don't just walk through it, they use the path of least resistance and usually stick to the same travel pockets. They definitely bed in it, as it provides great cover and anything going through it ain't moving too fast. When I go through those spots I find it easiest to get through using a hand pruner. Just snip my way through. That also makes a path that the deer will end up using after. Sometimes I end up making travel lanes through it that I end up hunting a year or two later.

I have spooked or shot deer that ended up running through the stuff. When I follow where they went I find torn out hair and broken branches, doesn't look like they enjoy it much. One time I was blood trailing a deer I shot with the muzzleloader and ended up walking up to it literally standing there dead on it's feet suspended in the middle of a giant tangle of multiflora rose. I had to stand there for a while with the cross hairs on it to make sure it was actually dead. Think I took a picture, I'll have to dig that up. Another time I shot a buck that plowed full steam into a patch of the stuff and got his antlers caught up in it and did a full front flip right into it. Not fun getting them out.

That sounds like a pretty good idea! If you have a really dense thicket that you know the deer like, why not take some time and cut a trail through it? The deer would probably use it nonstop and it'd be an excellent spot to hunt over.

[Archivist13]

Great insight everyone! Think I'll be doing a combination of tactics to hunt this thicket. Watching the wind, I'll walk the perimeter of it, looking for heavily browsed areas, and perhaps major access trails in and out of it. If it looks hot, I will hang a stand and see what goes. I have 7 huntable days so I should have plenty of opportunities to pattern something if they are using it. Unfortunately it is 8 hours away so I can't just go there every weekend and cut trails through it, but when I am there for spring turkey and visiting in the summer I can head up there and work on cutting some trails for the upcoming seasons.
Keep the ideas and experiences coming, cause I think this could be a great spot to tag some unhunted in heavily pressured rifle season.