Things are going to be a bit different next season on our 10-man 900 acre lease in S.E. Louisiana.

What part of Louisiana?

Don't get too discouraged!
It might actually help the hunting as the new growth starts to spring up!

Looks like you have a legit reason to purchase another rifle for long range hunting...Congratulations!

St. Helena Parish, just north of Greensburg.

It IS for the first year or two, but then a 'clear cut' becomes so thick and tall you can't see anything in it. It then becomes 'bedding' area and you have to hunt the fringes. Gain for the wildlife, net loss for hunting about the 3rd year.

Definitely will change things a bit

This year will be a year for long shots for sure. I hunt a bow only place and they have been clearcutting and select cutting parts of it for the last 3 years. Needless to say it changed the deer travel patterns and we lost a whole lot of mature Oak trees but the ones they left really stepped up on acorn production. I guess it was more water, sunshine and nutrients for the remaining trees. I had to relocate the bow stands into stream side conservation areas to be able to see as the growth in the 3rd year has been tremendous. Lots of forbs and browse for the deer though. Good luck this year.

One of the best stands that I hunted in my 40+ years of deer hunting was near a small creek that ran across a fresh cut over. As I understand laws require, the loggers left a stand of small trees and thin brush along the creek to help battle erosion. By the time the season rolled around, deer had begun using the cover along that creek to make it across the cut over, not wanting to cross out in the open. I set up a ladder stand about 100 yards off the creek where I could see the deer moving in both directions. It was the closest thing to a turkey shoot for deer that I have ever seen. It wasn't a matter of "if" a deer was going to show up but "when". Deer will also use the long rows of limbs and debris left by bulldozer operators and foresters to help conceal their movements across otherwise open areas. Simply put, deer look for something that breaks up their outline as much as you might when picking a spot for a tree stand.

Once all the work is done, study the area for funnels and pinch points, even if they shorten the distance between separate areas of cover by a few yards. All you need do is check these spots for lots of tracks to confirm deer have made them new travel routes. And of course, a game camera can help identify which deer and how many deer have started using them.

Stands near corners of open areas can also be very productive as deer pass around them like water funneling around the edges of a rock in a stream. Just think about deer wanting to move throughout the larger area without going across open sections and you'll get the idea.

Good information so far. Check with the land owner or Timber company. Some will let you put in food plots in places and those can be great even after things get thick to hunt the rest especially if located at natural travel points. I have killed quite a few deer at 5 to 10 year old clear cuts on food plots in food plots some as small as 20 feet wide and a hundred yards or more long others 1/4 acre or less. I know some timber companies will allow a few acres of food plots on land that size to get to continue leasing the land for hunting which helps them offset the taxes. Loading areas usually stay open for food plots for longer and the "roads" that are packed from trucks loaded with logs can become travel places once it gets thick in a cutover.

Good catch. Lots of new areas now likely for food plots and green strips. When life deals you a lemon, you make lemonade.

For sure a lot of that pine forest is just not good deer habitat, so the cutting may make a great bit of difference in a couple years

Improvise, Adapt, overcome

The property next to were I hunt in east texas was clear cut in January. That property used to be stands of thick mature pine forest, then one day I walked up to the fence and it looked like your place. I was out there pig hunting this weekend and walked over to the fence line to see what the clear cut looked like. Now only 6+ months later I found it has grown over with a thick blanket of head high weeds, brush, and trees. It looks impenetrable by man and I don't think I could see a deer in that jungle if I were standing 5 ft from it. And if I were in a high stand I don't think I could see an animal in that growth unless I was right over it. But the good is there are at least twice as many game trails as before crossing that fence line. My stand is in hardwoods not far from that area and I will benefit greatly from it. Now if I had to hunt on that same clear cut and was sharing 900 acres with 10 guys, I honestly don't know how I would go about hunting it. If there was not any other lay of the land that already fit in my around 90 acre share, perhaps move my stand to a high spot, maintain some shooting lanes out from my stand as best I could to keep them from turning into jungle with the rest of it, and plant some small food plots or a year round feeder or two at the end of them so game establishes trails to them while it all grows back over. I do know the thing I would do before it grew over is walk the whole place looking for arrowheads.