Does clear cutting hurt deer hunting

Whitetail deer thrive best in a mixture of trees and open fields.

Whitetail deer like lots of edges and a variety of terrain. Edged between open field and more secluded stands of trees and brush. Managed your land to create a bunch of edges. Open spaces where they can browse. Edges on mature woods where they can travel and escape. Secluded terrain and heavy brush where they can take refuge and bed down.

Big mature bucks prefer grown over clear cuts for bedding areas as opposed to tall timber. They may avoid it the first year after cutting, but the next year when the saplings and briars start to thicken up, they'll be in there.

Leave a few mature trees of desirable type. PA does select cuts leaving a scattering of mature oaks and hemlocks, etc. throughout the cuts. I've sen them re-cut a fenced 'exclosure' that had too many non desired trees sprouting

Forester here. A clearcut will create a diversification of habitat that will be beneficial to cover and feeding opportunities for deer. Timber income doesn't hurt either!

Be advised that the brush and undergrowth may be incredibly thick for years after harvest.

Have a plan for reforestation, including leaving desirable species seed trees as mentioned above.

You may consider a combination of patch clearcutting (<5 acre openings) and thinning instead of one larger clearcut. This gives you greater habitat diversification, keeps some timber for future years, and isn't quite the eyesore.

You may want to check out U of Maine's forestry extension service in your county for a free resource to get a forest management plan.

https://extension.umaine.edu/county-offices/

Feeders and/or food plots and livestock troughs for water on the edges of cleared areas with stands or blinds located in nearby tree lines work well for deer hunting in my experience. Like another poster said, some diversification makes the most sense. At some point, the deer are going to want some food, water, and cover. The types of trees in the area also matter.

Does clear cutting hurt deer hunting

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Yep...for the first coupla years, especially if the cut is not cleaned after being cut. But once the new growth and cover starts to grow(think pencil poplars), and the trash breaks down, it will become a haven for food and cover. Biggest problem is when the cutting removes large mast trees. These are slow growing and many times get squeezed out by the more aggressive softwoods. I used to hunt large parcels of federal and state owned land. Finding a funnel into and out of a 3 yr old clearcut was always a hotspot.

We have 100ac in NW GA, we clear cut 40ac a few years back and thinned/select cut about 15yrs ago, the only problem I saw with the clear cut was they started mid October (beginning of dear season) and the weather was wet and messy that year so they messed up our driveway and roads until weather was satisfactory. Undergrowth explodes after they did a control burn, the replanted trees are still struggling since the undergrowth is head high or more, I have a platform stand overlooking about 1ac food plot that is still productive and hunting the fire breaks is so-so, around the creek and hardwoods wasn't affected (light thinning). We replanted with longleaf pines. I hope we thin out some more instead of clear cutting. I think thinning promotes healthy growth for the remaining trees and makes it easier to hunt.