Cutting timber

We have a feeling that our landowner is going to be cutting timber soon. How does this affect the hunting? Better or worse?

All depends on the deer.

My dad has told me before when they had cleared lanes or roads at a job sight that the deer would almost be in the fresh clearing before they could blink an eye.

That's my experience too. The daggone deer love the logging roads and the brush that grows in cut over land is great browse for them.

As a matter of fact, I see a lot of deer when I'm cutting fire wood. They are pretty tolerant of logging operations and people working in the woods. I live pretty close to a place with a lot of moto-cross type trails in it and the deer have gotten used to the sound of mc activity during the week-ends. Makes for more sightings when I'm tooling around on the four wheeler. People that hunt on the place drive pretty close to their stands with four-wheelers and it doesn't seem to bother them. My neighbor just had his timber cut and he has more deer now than anyone else.

When we cut ours years ago in San Augustine the neighbors told us we did it wrong...right before they asked if they could hunt it.

We can crank up the chainsaw and the deer come to see what has happened later that same afternoon.

I have alot of cedars at my place and something about the fresh cut cedars turn the bucks on

Your deer have fetish issues

The lease I was on last year, the owners did the same thing. The deer population on our lease decreased significantly. I am sure there are others with different outcomes, but that was mine

1st year is rough since their cover is taken away, the years following are fun if you can stretch out a rifle. If they spray it you're in trouble. Deer won't have the first reason to be there other than feeding along a SMZ or they took a wrong turn if it's sprayed.

If they do it during the season it will suck. After they clearcut and are out of there it could turn into a deer haven, with sunlight hitting the ground, fresh browse and forbs. And equally important, you can see. Any type of heavy machinery, trucks, noise, etc. while you're hunting, is no good.

Same here. But east Texas deer are difficult to see as it is. Very spooky. You get a full blown logging operation going on and the neighbors should have a great season.

We were logged just before last season. I didn't see one deer all season. This season the deer are everywhere....and fat, fat, fat.

During my last season at my old lease, the logging company clear cut a section across the lease road from my stands in December and for the last 2 weeks of my season,(had to go to work offshore), I didn't even see a squirrel at my feeder!!!

Now if there are no trees left then why would you expect to see a squirrel? This whole time I thought you were down there deer hunting in CB, but nooooooo, you were trying to pull a squirrel out of a hat.

There were plenty of trees where my stands were but across the lease road is where they cut and with them cutting all night and stopping at 6am, what deer were around before the cutting were definitely somewhere else!!! At that point with the guys cutting all night for 2 weeks, I would have welcomed squirrel/rabbit for a nice stew!!! Luckily, I did get a doe before they strted messing me up!!!

I hunted on approximately 2k family owned acres for several years. Of those 2k acres, half was pine tree plantation. The first year they cut timber they did it right before deer season, our deer sightings and kill ratio dropped dramatically. However, the following year when the thicket grew where the pines were, the deer sightings went through the roof. The number of deer sightings was amazing and the population was VERY healthy. The new thicket offered protection, and the young growth offered tender forage. Depending on when the trees are clear cut, you might have some very good thicket forming before the first winter hits and if you do will have good activity.

The only problem we had after that first year was trying to recover deer that bolted into the thicket after being shot. Once they go 5 feet into that new thicket, be prepared to be cut, gouged, scraped and molested by every possible thorny plant/shrub/scrub....it gets THICK and your arms and legs will show the results of your labor!