Not that I can do anything about this, but I am going to have to do some adapting on one of my properties next season. There was a great little bedding area that the deer just loved. We don't have big woods around here. The woods we have are not always very thick. I suspect the majority of the deer are going to skip out of this section of woods now and find more cover.
My thoughts are:
1)Keep a close eye on the other two smaller areas which deer have used for bedding in the past.
2) Keep an eye on the trespassers. I already had 6-8 guys with permission to hunt next to this thicket. I have permission on two sides of it. Well, 4 of those guys just trespassed and hung stands on properties they didn't have permission on. For this reason, I did not hunt there at all last season. The removal of the thicket "might" benefit me if the deer begin to congregate in the other bedding areas. Unfortunately, those areas are plagued with human traffic and I am afraid the hunters are going to just trespass farther. The other problem is they very well could just move 1/2 mile to a mile down the road to other parcels.
For what it is worth, I called the buck in that hangs on my wall on November 21, 2010 from this thicket. I can't honestly say he came charging to my calls, but I got his attention enough that curiosity got the better of him and so did my muzzy! This will not happen again with the thicket removed.
Here are the before, midway progress and final product pictures. They are about half way done removing this thicket. I should add, this was previously two fence rows with the first picture being indicative of what the entire area DID look like. Scrub trees and sections of briars sometimes taller than me. I never had permission to hunt it, but had permission to pursue if I had to. I have had to use that permission one time. They also removed 2 other fence rows further to the south on this property. This might help me as well. The deer have to go somewhere and this might limit their travel routes. Might hurt me too. Time will tell.
My thoughts are:
1)Keep a close eye on the other two smaller areas which deer have used for bedding in the past.
2) Keep an eye on the trespassers. I already had 6-8 guys with permission to hunt next to this thicket. I have permission on two sides of it. Well, 4 of those guys just trespassed and hung stands on properties they didn't have permission on. For this reason, I did not hunt there at all last season. The removal of the thicket "might" benefit me if the deer begin to congregate in the other bedding areas. Unfortunately, those areas are plagued with human traffic and I am afraid the hunters are going to just trespass farther. The other problem is they very well could just move 1/2 mile to a mile down the road to other parcels.
For what it is worth, I called the buck in that hangs on my wall on November 21, 2010 from this thicket. I can't honestly say he came charging to my calls, but I got his attention enough that curiosity got the better of him and so did my muzzy! This will not happen again with the thicket removed.
Here are the before, midway progress and final product pictures. They are about half way done removing this thicket. I should add, this was previously two fence rows with the first picture being indicative of what the entire area DID look like. Scrub trees and sections of briars sometimes taller than me. I never had permission to hunt it, but had permission to pursue if I had to. I have had to use that permission one time. They also removed 2 other fence rows further to the south on this property. This might help me as well. The deer have to go somewhere and this might limit their travel routes. Might hurt me too. Time will tell.
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