Help! I just got logged.

[LATex79]

I have a stand that has been very productive in the past. I went to freshen some deer cane sights and found out that I have been logged. :banghead:

Attached are some schematics of the set up. The black lines are roads, the blue line is a creek, the X is my stand, and the brown lines are existing deer trails. There is a bedding area just west of the area and a feeding area just east.

Do I need to move this stand in light of the logging operation? Or should I sit put and realize it may be a year before this stand gets some action.

 

[~z]

Some idea of scale would be pretty helpful. Areas of recent logging activity can be hot spots as new veg begins to grow.
~z

 

[LATex79]

Sorry Z, the drawing represents approximately a 800 yard by 800 yard area.

 

[~z]

First some assumptions; You are hunting in a pine bottom with some scattered oaks, you are in E. TX, and you are within 75 mi of Dibol. Am I anywhere close? Now my oppinion: They just did you a huge favor. You may now be in the middle of a hot spot. I had a similar experience a few years ago and was quite happy. Many more deer seen that year than previous. Probably the same number of deer, just that now they could be seen.
If in doubt...scout.
~z

 

[308win]

Looks like there is still cover for bedding area and water. The logged area should have at least a start of ground cover/browse. I agree with previous poster - you could still have a good spot.

 

[DRYHUMOR]

Deer are creatures of habit, they will probably continue to enter through the same trails.

As more browse grows the deer will be in to it. You might think about seeding some of the low wet spots with some clover or rape. Be a good draw.

You also, if you can, could keep an acre clear in the middle as it gets grown up all around it. Be a good way to have a food plot.

 

[LATex79]

Z, you are pretty close. I'm actually hunting just north of Cleveland Texas. The bottom is mostly oaks with some scattered pines. They are logging the big pines and hardwoods. You can imagine my surpise when I discovered a large skidder parked next to my treestand.

I agree with other posts about deer using existing trails regardless of the logging. I have had good experiences with this back when I was hunting in Mississippi. Barge Timberland would log, and the deer would follow the same trails and we would ambush them.

My main concern is that I have only been hunting in Texas for about 3 years and this was my first experience with logging here. In Mississippi there was a much larger deer population, however the horns seem to be thicker here.

 

[LATex79]

308, they are still logging it right now. After they get the equipment out I will spread some clover and rye grass seed.

 

[Shawnee]

I'd say they've done you a favor though it may be more apparent next year. I wouldn't move the stand unless you could find a spot that gives an even better view of the new landscape.

 

[Zip7]

I'd say they've done you a favor

I'd second that.

I've long hunted in areas recently logged - sometimes while the loggers were still working in the area. First 8 point I killed was in such a place, and was roused from his bed by a nearby log truck stopping. Trucks had been rolling by down a levee 400 yards away all afternoon, but one stopped and the driver got out, slammed the door, and deer got up and slipped out my way. 20 yard shot.

I also hunted in a huge NWR that was split by a bayou. I hunted mostly on the west side of the bayou with good success in a duck refuge (pretty open area) until the year they did extensive logging on the east side, and after that, my west side places dried up and the few spots I had on the east side became spectacularly good.

In coming years, your area should support more deer - more browse.

You hunt deer where they move. They move where they do for a reason, and usually logging doesn't change that. It often has something to do with contours of the land or available cover. In a logged area, it's easier to see this for what it is than in a big untouched woods.