eerdog

Hey guys, just wanted to know your opinion.I have hunted this piece of property for 5 or 6 years now, that is fairly large about 700 acres and there is only 3-5 of us. It is in the hardwood region. It has been cherry picked through, going on for the last 6 years. It is part of a much larger farm and the farmer says he isn't in the business of growing trees he is in the business of cows. So, he has had much of the acreage that is suitable for pasture clear cut and the rest cherry picked. He has not cleaned out the clear cut areas and turned them into fields and not sure he is going to now that they are over taken. So, the clear cuts now are all grown up over your head so you can't see through them, walk through them or even consider setting a stand to look over top of them. The cherry picked areas are starting to get the same way with briers and seedlings. I have 2 box stands and have been checking them lately to see their condition to get ready for gun season in November (bow season I am running into the same problem but will end up moving my ladder and lock on stands to hopefully get in a area that will be good early season bow hunting). Unfortunately what you used to be able to hunt the area from the stands you are now limited to just the immediate area at the stands. Do you guys recommend that you clear out the brushy areas so that you can get longer shooting lanes then 20 yards, or open up your immediate area a little more and try to lure the deer through that area via funnels, or do you think that you should not do anything and work on trying to find other areas that may be more suitable? I realize this will help the bucks in the end, but will hurt me being able to effectively hunt that property for several years. Has anyone run across this problem and what did they do? Is there soemthing that I should be focusing on and taking advantage of the thick growth restricting the deers travels? What should I be looking for new bedding areas and feeding areas to take advantage of? Thanks for the opinions