Diversity you say? Diversity isn't just mature hardwoods and either pasture land and/or agricultural fields. True diversity on your hunting property comes from logging and forestry management. A clear cut my friend can be a beautiful thing to behold! The group of 5 year old lob lolly pines can hold food and yes give cover for deer. A selected hardwood lot can give food, cover, as well as hunting options.
It is proven that a clear cut produces way more food than oak trees. Browse is the name of the game. Now I do understand that the hunting tactics have to change. Green fields may need to be planted on rows and old logging decks. But logging or even select cutting of certain trees, opens the ground to sun light that in turn allows for succulent undergrowth to develop supplying allot of food as well security.
There is something' else to consider whether you own the land or you lease , have permission, or even hunt game lands. Land is a very valuable commodity. If land doesn't have a purpose then it isn't making the owner any revenue. I would rather see timber cut and replanted rather than developed never allowing us to hunt again.
We will look in future article about different timbering options, picking out the right person to help you along the way, planning how to hunt but still get the revenue from your land, and other topics as we go along.
I will leave you with this story. I sat in a green field planted on the corner of a swamp bottom with mature hardwoods attached to a vast 5 year old pine thicket. The plot and shooting house were strategically placed along the edge as a long narrow strip. I slipped into the shooting house early in the afternoon ready for a long afternoon sit. I pulled out my grunt tube and and gave a hit really just passing time. As soon as I stopped grunting, out burst a mature buck only about 70 or 80 yards. I pulled up my custom 7mmWSM and gave him one single shot. A pine thicket can be a good thing and good thing can come out of them.
