Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Serious Deer Talk Forum Hunting an overgrown Clear Cut?

Joe's post on hunting a cutover on cold mornings got me thinking about a 10 acre clear cut on the land that I hunt and got me thinking...

I have always wanted to hunt it but the dang fennel grass and what not growing out there is so high I don't know if I could see a deer moving through it unless I got 50 ft up in a tree... I usually just hunt the other side of the thicket that lines the cut...

A bruiser of a buck I shot a few years back in a pecan orchard adjacent to this cut ran into and across the clear cut and man it is some nasty stuff. Huge stumps, old logs and mud holes... found a couple old sheds in there when looking for blood but never found the buck...

guess it might be worth my time to look for a tree I can climb up high enough to see down in this clear cut then huh? Or how would you guys recommend hunting it? We usually stick to the hayfields or pecan groves during rut... and down by the river and creeks in oak flats pre rut. not sure anyone has hunted this land specifically because of the overgrowth and it would be hell dragging a deer out...but if he was a mature buck I wouldn't mind.

I hunt one that sounds about like what youre talking about. Its about a 7 year old clearcut right now, and while i can still see down into some places while in a treestand, you need to find the time to walk the perimeter of it and find where well used trails are and maybe focus on them more. Other than that, where youll find a funnel leading out of it or maybe a ridge in the middle petering out leading into big woods would be two nice spots to focus in on as well.

Climb really high! And on good cold mornings hunt a south or eastern facing hill

Turn a pack of beagles loose in it.......

If I have to climb 50', then that's what I do! I'm serious, LOL, I've got a 50' parachute cord in my bag and I've dangled it before a few times.

what he said

x2. As long as you've got a good tree that doesn't narrow down on you took quickly, then climb on up there at the 50' level and hunt.

A buddy of mine hunts a clear cut that is exactly like what you are talking about. He can't by any means see ALL of it but he climbs a tree as high as he can watching a hill side in the clear cut. Take some good binos and glass, glass, glass. He's killed a good buck the last three years doing this.

Only one more thing....can I come hunt it? Never hurts to ask.

I'm in the same boat as you. I have a 25 acre ten year old cutover with planted pines. Only about 1/4 of the pines grew back but briars are 6-8 feet high. I killed a good 10 pt and an 8 pt two year ago in this stuff. But I could see out in a ways and now I can't because it's grown up so bad. The only trees to climb are ones that were left on the edge of a creek that runs through it. ITs still very thick on the creek. I cut a trail just wide enough for me to walk through after the season last year to get to these trees where I can hang. The trail is about 500yds long so I can access from the north and south. The deer are now using the trail I cut and I cant wait to get out there and hunt it. The oaks that were left dropped acorns this year so I'm hoping for a good first sit.

Is it possible to go in a ways and cut a few shooting lanes by hand? Make them 40 to 80 yds long. don't have to be real wide. Others wont see a trail cut into the old clear cut but you will have a couple lanes you can see when you climb up. Has worked for me in the past but its a lot of work.

I would rather be able to see 5% in a nasty cutover vs 100% in big open woods. You will see more deer in these thick nasty cut overs that have food, honey suckle, green briar and a random oak left over. I try and avoid those cutover that are brown and dead that are ready for tree planting. Look for the ones with food in them and you will find the deer. Climb high on the edge looking at a SE slope in the mornings for the sun to help you spot the deer or if possible without making to much noise get out in them high in a tree before the deer come back to bed early in the mornings. And hunt them all times of the season, they live there all year long.

Get real high, and cut lanes into it.

As high as you are comfortable and use your binoculars

Ok. So say you kill one in that thick nasty stuff that's 6 to 8 foot tall. Any tricks on finding the deer. Because once you climb down you can't see anything.

Stay up there and have a buddy come so you can direct him to it, or pick out a land mark closest to it.

thanks for the tips fellas... its not my land, I am just a buddy that gets to hunt it a few trips a season(or id invite ya SouthWood) so I don't know about cutting lanes and such... I honestly have no idea what it looks like from up high... there could be some trails and such... ive only walked through it that once 5 years ago and there might have been some open spots if I recall correctly. my mind was only on the massive white racked buck we were trailing... (first true racked buck I had seen, let alone shot at)

a couple issues with hunting it and might be why my buddy, that owns the property has avoided hunting it, is that we cannot access it from the west, property line/river, and the south side would be through a nasty swampy area and the trees are not really climb worthy... north side could only be hunted with a south wind...

taking into account all of your guys suggestions there is a slope on the west side that has a patch of thinned planted pines with a few older pines on the edge near the cutover that are pretty big, I could probably get pretty high up in one of them... the slope is about a hundred 50 yards wide that leads up to a younger very thick planted pine field that I know is a bedding area for does, I hunt an orchard on the north edge of it during south winds and see plenty of action out coming out of that thicket into the orchard at feeding times.

we also get plenty of night time pics of shooters in the thinned pines between the cutover and pine thicket in the thinned pines at night where we have a feeder. I assumed the mature bucks spent their day in the short pine thicket... now im thinking they might be out in the cut over...

will definitely spend a day or three my next trip glassing this area thanks to you guys.

IF y'all are able to cut lanes in it for next year, cut them in June or July so they will grow up a little and deer won't worry as much about crossing them. A little fertilizer in them wouldn't hurt either. Deer will browse most anything that is fertilized and it should stop them at least sometimes long enough to get a good look.

The only buck I have ever hunted for his rack was killed this way.

I got messed up one day and was walking out and wondered what was in the 1.5 acre thicket from hell in the middle of the big thicket and walked all around in the middle of it just to see. I found rub after rub after rub, bed after bed after bed, nipped off honeysuckle and other browse and I jumped a sure enough buck out of his bed. Almost stepped on him. Could have shot at him as he sailed away but I don't do that sort of thing.

The only way to hunt him was to hang a stand 54' up in a massive old maple tree so I could see down into the thicket. I actually had to go buy some more screw in steps as I didn't have enough even after gathering up the two sets I had in other trees to safely reach that high.

I shot him three days later.

I just tried my best to pinpoint exactly what tree and bush the deer was standing in front of when shot. Luckily they fell in their tracks and were laying right there. They were both on a trail that I never knew existed until I recovered them. Now I was however scratched up really bad and pulled briars out of tail for several days. It was worth every bit of work!