Our Lease was logged....questions.....

[ApexerER]

So I went out to the hunting lease yesterday to take a walk on such a beautiful day and it was logged. I know it was mentioned as a possibility by the land owner but totally forgot about it.  Yesterdays walk was supposed to be a shed hunt/turkey scout. (no luck with either) The loggers sure made a mess. They took all the big dollar trees knocking over anything in their path to get to them, limbed them and left the mess. There were so many downed limbs some of the places were hard to walk through. The most heavily logged area is the only place I know of that turkeys roost on the property. I can't imagine they didn't move on. What is your experience with logging and hunting. It also looks like they took a few of our trees stands. Either that or the terrain is so different looking I couldn't find them. I know in a year this should actually make the hunting better with more cover and new growth in the thinned out areas but what can I expect this year for both deer and turkey season.  What has been your experience after the land was logged.

[phade]

Deer will shift patterns to the new layout. Turkey might roost elsewhere obviously because roosting areas are chosen for a reason.

[Merlot]

Property I hunt has been periodically thinned of mature hardwood. Maybe every 12 years or so. Tree forestry expert was hired to do the marking, laying out logging pull routes, soliciting bids and watching out for our interests before and after the harvest, including the repair of any damage/rutting of drag routes. Have had no complaints. Maybe this is what was done on the property you hunt?

[ApexerER]

Property I hunt has been periodically thinned of mature hardwood. Maybe every 12 years or so. Tree forestry expert was hired to do the marking, laying out logging pull routes, soliciting bids and watching out for our interests before and after the harvest, including the repair of any damage/rutting of drag routes. Have had no complaints. Maybe this is what was done on the property you hunt?

I wish, this wasn't managed by anybody that cared about the woods. My guess is the landowner bid it out to the highest bidder and he went out and hacked it up. Huge trenches where the skidsteer has been. Knocked over trees. The trees that are left are damaged at the bases from equipment hitting them. It is really a mess and a huge disappointment. If I was the landowner I would be furious but I don't think this landowner cares at all. I don't think he even ever sees the property....He lives down state and receives a check from us once a year.....I have never even met him....

[Trial153]

Probably will help the hunting if anything.... Food and cover from the tops, and new growth from opening the canopy up.

[HectorBuckBuster]

Logging will not effect your hunting. The deer with switch over and use the logging roads. If you where smart you could take the limbs and make walls and direct the deer where you want them to go. The turkey hunting may be harder, as with all the brush, they may have to take the long way around. What I hate is loggers that just tear ass pulling trees out and damage the base of the trees on the logging roads, hurting the value on those trees in the future.

[G-Man]

Turkeys will move to the edge of old roosting areas until it grows up to brushy. Deer will love it, I hope the roads m must still.be regraded as part of the logging contract, I'd contact you land owner and see what it entails , tops may or.may not of been sold for firewood. Nothing worse for turkey than disturbing them every day.

[Culvercreek hunt club]

Turkeys will move to the edge of old roosting areas until it grows up to brushy. Deer will love it, I hope the roads m must still.be regraded as part of the logging contract, I'd contact you land owner and see what it entails , tops may or.may not of been sold for firewood. Nothing worse for turkey than disturbing them every day.

many of the timber plans are recommending leaving the tops in place (especially in areas with high deer populations) to give any seedlings a bit of protection and screening from browsing.

[LI OUTDOORSMAN]

Sounds like it was done very unprofessionally...too bad...but on the flip side the deer and grouse will love the cover provided by the tree tops and such..Turkeys will find better roosting but on our property after it was logged they didnt leave because of the farm fields.If you have a good food source they might stick around.We also had to do some cleaning and rearranging after the job was done but the hunting stayed good.

[dbHunterNY]

if it was a mess but a good mess than maybe you're better off.  any "junk" tree shouldn't be laying there knocked over though.  maybe tops but not the whole thing.  that'd sound more like a hack job. 

[G-Man]

Yes that is the best practice Esp in high deer population areas, but if they were sold a fire wood guy could be there all turkey season ... that is what I would worry about, leaving them makes great.bedding and nesting cover. Just turkeys in general do not like pressure every day and will vacate the area, found that out when a neighbor walked her dog every day thru the wood down the ridge all april, we came to an understanding of no dog walking april and may and Sept to dec. She always had it leashed and is a good neighbor a non hunter with a postage stamp lot I go around, just couldn't figure where the turkeys went after using that ridge for roosting for 20 years.... saw her one day and she said she saw them every am but they always flew away and then just dissappeared... really ya think?

[MACHINIST]

Deer will shift patterns to the new layout. Turkey might roost elsewhere obviously because roosting areas are chosen for a reason.

 

 

This,my suggestion is burn some shoe leather in the next few weeks and once you find some trails set some cams.Also look for secondary trails(parallel trails) off of the does group trails and set cams on them.This summer you will want to run cams as much as you can to learn the new routines of the deer.Once the briars start coming in it will be awesome bedding,food and sanctuary for them.One of the best spots on my friends farm is a 10 year old logged area thats choked with briars and the deer go in and out.

[Doc]

The bad news is that everything you have built up as an inventory of knowledge about deer patterns on the property is trashed. The good news is that new patterns will emerge, and the deer population levels will flourish. For areas where forest maturation is resulting in diminishing herd numbers, often logging is the only way to reverse the overstory sheltering that is eliminating browsable deer food and nutrition for other critters.

 

However, I have seen some of these "rip 'em up" kinds of logging operation, and the damage caused can last for decades. Particularly skidder tracks that go knee deep and cover entire sections of a woods. What a miserable thing to walk across when you are trying to do a little still-hunting, or just walking to your stand.

 

Tops will provide new cover for a while and will rot down, eventually. Some trees will wind up a bit barked up ...... hopefully not too many. In general, it is accepted that as ugly as it all looks, selective logging will result in better deer (and other critters) habitat. It's tough in the short-term, but probably best long term.

[DaSwampBuk]

The deer will love it.  I am a forester and have gotten excellent feedback from clients where thinning has taken place.  Yes patterns will change but they will still be around, especially once hardwood regeneration/browse becomes established.  I (usually) don't recommend logging extremely heavily but it does have it's place from a forestry standpoint.  Just remember to always use a consulting forester when managing your woodlot to determine what is best for your woods and the effects it may have on wildlife.