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Planted Pines?

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Boll Weevil

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I've got stand of unthinned planted pines where the canopy closed a couple of years ago. There's no understory and it's clean with nothing but pinestraw in there. There's some hardwood drains that run up into the plantation where birds roost on occasion and back when the trees were much younger and it was all thick hens would nest in there alot. Other than that, I've never really seen a great deal of use.

Pines grow so fast compared to hardwoods that the way turkeys make use of them and how to hunt them seemingly changes from year to year. Seems like just yesterday you couldn't even crawl through there much less walk without getting all your clothes tore off. Now it's just clean as a highway in there and I'm wondering if this is the year they actually start roosting in there/using them more such that the hunting improves WITHIN the stand? I've killed birds all around the edges but never deep within this particular block.

My question is do the birds in your area use pine plantations frequently and do you hunt them with success?
 
One farm I used to hunt had a decent stand of 20 yr old pine. Lots of turkeys on the farm. The rest is fields and hardwoods. That block of pines is probably the only area of the farm in which I have never killed a turkey. I dont even think I ever had one gobble in there to set up on. And I called into it a lot because it looked so appealing to me. I've watched enough hunting shows to know other people kill turkeys in pines, but that has not been my experience.
 
I would believe that they would use them some, but if it is that open, compared to other big pine woods I have seen, it's about impossible to call one up close enough to shoot because they are so open and turkeys can see so far.

On the other hand, they may only roost in them and move out later. Probably not as much food in there for them. When they thin them again or clearcut it, it will probably be more beneficial.

But who knows with turkeys, they crazy.


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I'd have liked to run a fire thru them but we've had so much rain all winter just couldn't get a time when things had dried out, the conditions were right to burn, and the schedule allowed. That would have helped for sure. I've never walked thru them trying to strike a bird but I will try it this spring.
 
I would probably cut some lanes through them 30 or so yards wide and divide it into sections, plant the lanes and open up some roosting
 
I've had luck mid morning setting up in the loblolly plantations close to the edge of the hardwood drains and doing some light calling. In the case of the spot I like the pines are around 15 years old and wide open underneath, the edge is thick so the birds enter and already in range, don't know if something like that would work for you.

This is on a big WMA so the hardwood "drain" is several hundred acres with multiple branches so there's always birds down in there
 

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