Gotta make lemonade

[BradB]

In keeping with all the timber harvest posts I decided to throw my situation out in the fray and see what some of you more experienced hunters suggest for the next few years.My west neighbor is mostly through clear cutting their entire 250 acres of beautiful mature native pine/hardwood forest. Supposedly gonna get sprayed, burned and replanted. So for about 4 years I am gonna have a 1/4 to 1/2 mile barren wasteland between my entire west line and the next woods.I am Orange, my clear cutting neighbor is Yellow.

This is a little more zoomed in. Green are existing plots and Orange is my 6 ac Summer plot now in 3 ac of beans/corn and 3 ac of a summer mix with sun hemp.

So where would you guys who have been through this think my best locations to hunt would be this year and even more important what I can do over the next few years to maximize the benefit of having 250 acres of absolutely prime bedding adjacent to me in a few years.I believe most east/west crossing will move to the south part of the property with less open ground to cover and that sw corner of mine will be where it happens. That 40 is about 1/2 thinned pines which will be burned this year and about 1/2 4 year old clear cut.. Also, whats this gonna do for my turkeys? I assume they will really like it for a couple of years and then will get no benefit when its gets thick again.

 

[buckdeer1]

I would think cutting across your SE corner or through you and then south.May make for some great hunting

 

[Blizzard Ridge]

I would say by adding more food it will benefit you in the future. When the pine thicket becomes a mess in the next few years if you have the food source, you would be able to set up on your ground between bedding and your food sources and be very successful. I like the looks of the pinch point at the south end of your summer plot as a great ambush site. Seems to me the creek will help funnel deer down the edge of your summer plot as well. It also looks like you have some thick stuff towards the SE. I am guessing there is a good creek crossing right around that pinch point where you will catch bucks cruising from your thick stuff to the neighbors eventual thicket.

 

[j-bird]

You are still going to need to hunt pinch points and the like in the cover and terrain. What I would expect to change will be where the primary deer bedding areas are. Until the cover on the neighbors is sufficient the deer will look to your property for that. Hopefully you have sufficient cover to make those deer happy. As time goes by and the neighbors thickens you are going to see some shift to the bedding to be over there. You may still retain some bedding on your own place, but with the regrowth from a clear cut - it's going to be tough to not have deer in there. The good news is the browse created will feed a bunch of deer and may help take some browse pressure off of your place if needed.

The fact is that as the cover changes so will the deer pattern. You will simply have to adjust accordingly. I would suggest using trail cams to monitor both areas as you will want to know when/if that switch happens. Also keep in mind doe bedding and buck bedding tends to be different so don't give up on the cover on your place. Those does moving to the neighbors could be a blessing by taking some pressure off the bucks wanting to bed in your more mature timber.

Fact f the matter is we really don't know for certain - all you can do is monitor what is going on and be prepared to adapt as needed. How the neighbor decides to manage his property may have a big impact as well.