Mature Hardwood Cut, Need Help!

[Mightyhunterr]

So me and my buddy manage a property for deer — it’s his grandparents’ land, about 60 acres. It was mostly hardwoods with a thicket in the middle, and it had a bunch of saddles and ridges that made it an awesome spot before mid-rut.

Recently, his grandparents decided to have a select cut done on most of the mature hardwoods. They just finished cutting this week, and while it’s a bit of a mess, it actually looks somewhat promising. They left quite a few young white oaks, and a lot of them are still dropping. There are still good numbers of younger oaks on the ridges and in some of the bottoms too.

We’re already starting to see deer tracks and sign again just a week after the cut. We’re planning to put out some ryegrass and a few other things along the trails to help prevent washout, but my question is — what would y’all do to help get deer movement to pick back up after a cut like this?

Thanks for any advice!

 

[Fishman]

Keep out the invasives, control erosion, and let the sunlight do its thing. You might be surprised what pops up once the sunlight hits the ground. It is going to come back thick. Let it go for a year and see what comes up naturally. Then you can reassess what it is filling in naturally and decide what you need to do if anything.

 

[yoderjac]

So me and my buddy manage a property for deer — it’s his grandparents’ land, about 60 acres. It was mostly hardwoods with a thicket in the middle, and it had a bunch of saddles and ridges that made it an awesome spot before mid-rut.

Recently, his grandparents decided to have a select cut done on most of the mature hardwoods. They just finished cutting this week, and while it’s a bit of a mess, it actually looks somewhat promising. They left quite a few young white oaks, and a lot of them are still dropping. There are still good numbers of younger oaks on the ridges and in some of the bottoms too.

We’re already starting to see deer tracks and sign again just a week after the cut. We’re planning to put out some ryegrass and a few other things along the trails to help prevent washout, but my question is — what would y’all do to help get deer movement to pick back up after a cut like this?

Thanks for any advice!

Nothing. Just stay out. The result of disturbance is a great deer attractant. Within a year or so, both food and cover will multiply with the open canopy. With any disturbance, deer will relate to the differently so it can take a while to figure out new stand locations. Just minimize human activity after the cut and let nature take its course.