"Whitetail Hollow" - 90 Acres NE Oklahoma.

This is a post from the old forum on the Hinge cutting which is what I started doing on this 80 in 2015

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I am at a crossroads on our habitat management plan on our 80 acres. I did a test hinging here on our 10 acres last year in areas deer already liked to bed on our property. These areas are woodland near the county road. Anybody driving down the road could see the deer laying there bedded in the open woods and since we are usually gone hunting other areas during rifle season have had several shot from the county road that I found later. 3 years ago I found 5 dead on our 10 acres... I decided since they already like to bed there I might as well make them very difficult to see so I hinged all the areas they were most vulnerable but historically love to bed.

The problem is since I have hinged these areas have become sterile of deer activity which has me very concerned. These Oklahoma ridge runner deer I have hunted all my life tend to bed in open hardwoods no matter where I have hunted them in Eastern Ok. You ease through the woods and see them get up well out in front of you and over the ridge or down into the hollow they go and seem to use terrain much more than cover for bedding.

This is a picture of how the area I hinged looks almost a year later...

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This is what it looks like where they like to bed...


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Johnny
 
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dilemma...
Hence my dilemma for my plans up on our 80 acres. Deer bed on it most of the year but at this time of year tend to move off of it and I would like to bring them back. I blame it on the fact that when leaf drop occurs the cover is mostly gone but my experiment here at home has moved the deer from where they liked to bed into the more open woods. I am concerned If I hinge cut it like I have planned to do in about 3 areas I will move the deer off the property like it has to a degree here at home.

Did I make these hinges incorrectly? I cut them high so the deer can move through them with ease but blocks the vision...

I believe the deer move every year at this time up on our 80 because the neighbors dogs seem to be more active on the property this time of year...
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Johnny
 
I began hinging on our 80 in December 2015. This is how it looked when I began...


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I hinged the "Pine Ridge" area as this is where most of the deer have historically liked to bed already. I killed my 9 point not far from this area and most deer headed to or came from this area...
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I ran a tank out on my saw so I figured I would use my little Stihl hand saw to take down some of the smaller stuff.


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These were those loblolly pines I had planted the spring before. This is December 26th 2015...

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Little more hinging on some hickory trees I Did on January 15th 2015...
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__________________
Johnny
 
I also did a little hinge cutting along our North border where we butt up to the cattle fence. Last spring I had guys that were set up right on our fence row turkey hunting right there so I did the hinge to kill visibility into our place from that end. My old saw I bought used many years ago and has always ran perfectly decided to not run very well and was bogging and kept dying on me so I ended up cutting what I could with my hand saw made by Stihl and similar to a Silkie. Of course I didn't get near as much as I would like done that way. My wife drove up and we marked off our area for the house of which I forgot to take pics of and I put up a feeder well back into the woods. I wondered how long it would take deer to find it and I was there working on it till after 4:00 and I had buck pictures at it by 6:30 PM according to the trail cam.

This is a picture of what the woods looked like in this area before I started cutting.
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__________________
Johnny
 
When I left the property I stopped by Atwoods on the way home and bought a new saw. I used it today and it worked like a champ... Hinged Hickory and Elm and a very few spindly Post Oak.
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Johnny
 
Another angle...

All hinging was done at neck to head height...
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Johnny
 
One of the bucks that survived the 2014 season. Take note of his size because I will show what he turned into the next year...

Even bigger deer...
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Johnny
 
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