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Hunting After Selective Logging

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AJared

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After the May tornado, we had about 60 acres of our hardwood timber selectively logged. The removed everything blown down, and the other trees over 14 inches in diameter.

I was wondering if anyone has any experience or tips you could share in regards to hunting this area in the future.

For example:
Can we expect the deer hunting in this area to be good in the future, and if so how long does it take to return?
Is there anything we can do or should do to improve the hunting in this area?

Thanks for the info!
 
AJared said:
After the May tornado, we had about 60 acres of our hardwood timber selectively logged. The removed everything blown down, and the other trees over 14 inches in diameter.

I was wondering if anyone has any experience or tips you could share in regards to hunting this area in the future.

For example:
Can we expect the deer hunting in this area to be good in the future, and if so how long does it take to return?
Is there anything we can do or should do to improve the hunting in this area?

Thanks for the info!
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Just my own experience they tend to like it a lot for travel routes and bedding. The undergrowth gets thick for the first few years. It can be good hunting but you need to clear some shooting lanes. That has been my experience on my families land in East Tennessee and on public/private land here in Montgomery County/Fort Campbell and up into Kentucky around Hopkinsvile. I am sure there are guys on here that can give you better info though
 
It can be tough to figure out the new travel routes the first year, but the deer really like all the early regrowth. However, it can get darn thick after year 3. Rakkin6 is right. Think open keeping shooting lanes open once all the regrowth turns into head-high saplings.
 
Back in the good old days when they did select cuts at LBL, that was my favorite place to hunt - especially when there was low mast production. Deer would be all in there browsing on undergrowth. Definitely keep the roads cleared and preferably planted with some yummy stuff. As stated previously, the 1st season will be random movement, but after that it should be some good hunting!
 
Thank you all for the advice. I was thinking on planting some no till food plot seed along the logging roads and in the areas that have exposed dirt. I believe I can bush hog most of the roads after clearing a few logs.
 
Had a huge triple trunk black locust blow down a year ago. It took out close to 1/4 acre of other trees when it came down. Scouting it this year, lots of game sign around it. Scrapes, rubs, groundhog dens, coyote tracks, cat tracks, doe skeletons, turkey feathers, owl pellets full of rodent bones/fur… Several old nurse logs in the vicinty torn to shreds by something hunting grubs and fungi. Fairly recent hog wallows, within the last 4 months.
 
cbhunter said:
Try to keep the logging rds cleared whether that means planting, mowing or whatever it takes
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The below video is why you want to keep the roads open. Once the regrowth gets head high, deer will focus their movements along the roads' easier to travel routes. The below video is a 3-year-old heavy select cut.
 

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BSK said:
The below video is why you want to keep the roads open. Once the regrowth gets head high, deer will focus their movements along the roads' easier to travel routes. The below video is a 3-year-old heavy select cut.
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Nice!
 
BSK said:
Just go in with a bushhog about twice per summer and mow all the old logging roads.
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I did that until the blackberry briars grew from-the side across my trail. I finally got tired of all the scratches and let it go. The area was getting too thick to see very far by then anyway. I then just hunted the edges and caught them traveling in and out.
 
TnKen said:
I did that until the blackberry briars grew from-the side across my trail. I finally got tired of all the scratches and let it go. The area was getting too thick to see very far by then anyway. I then just hunted the edges and caught them traveling in and out.
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That can be a serious problem. I have one old logging road running down the middle of a valley in a near clear-cut situation. Even though I had mowed it last year, the blackberries had grown so tall I had to use the tractor's bucket as a bulldozer blade lifted pretty high in the air so I could knock down the blackberries (which were about 10 feet tall) far enough that I could even see where I was going. I purposefully put on my heaviest brush-busting clothing while bushhogging that road and was still nearly ripped right out of the driver's seat! I won't be hunting in that, just hunting the road as it exits the jungle.
 
TnKen said:
I did that until the blackberry briars grew from-the side across my trail. I finally got tired of all the scratches and let it go. The area was getting too thick to see very far by then anyway. I then just hunted the edges and caught them traveling in and out.
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Crossbow works pretty well on blackberry.
 
Iglow said:
I'd be glad, nothing kills my confidence more than big wide open woods. Hate hunting those kinda places, reason I marked LBL off my list.
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That is an interesting take on the wide open woods. Why do you dislike hunting that type terrain?
 
I bought 50 acres in 2019 that had been selectively logged in 2017. In 2021 or 2022 I bought the 51 acres next to it that had not been logged.

Unfortunately I wasn't privy to how this land hunted prior to being logged but from the day I bought in Aug 2019 thru today it is eat up with doe. Only got 3 or 4 bucks and only 2 of them are shooters (at least that show on cell cams) but I never shoot bucks so I'm ok with that. Between very little public land hunting but a lot of leases over the years and permission to hunt other private properties, I've never seen many bucks in mid TN to begin with.

The only problem I had is I by far prefer a climber and the climber trees weren't big enough to climb and the trees left with any size weren't climber friendly. That's why I had to hunt from a saddle for 4 seasons. With the addition of the property next door and the growth in the trees I'll be going back to a climber full time this season.
 
BSK said:
Just go in with a bushhog about twice per summer and mow all the old logging roads.
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Our problem with this is there's too many logs hidden under the grown up areas. Also, some of the equipment left ruts that are 2 feet deep. They didn't do a good cleanup job when they left. Gonna take some work.
 
BigAl said:
Our problem with this is there's too many logs hidden under the grown up areas. Also, some of the equipment left ruts that are 2 feet deep. They didn't do a good cleanup job when they left. Gonna take some work.
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I know your pain BigAl! I've had to do some creative lane-mowing to get around all the junk and ruts left by the loggers. And I'm glad I started early in the process as I would never be able to see down through the regrowth to find a path now. Even some of the trails I started mowing early have been lost. I simply can't see the ground from the tractor.
 

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