Hunting the timber or cut blocks - how do you choose?

[Harvest the Land]

Hey folks,

Just wondering how you approach choosing between hunting cut blocks or hunting in the timber, assuming there's adequate food sources in both places. Like do you hunt the cut blocks in the early season in September/October and maybe switch to the timber during late season in Nov/Dec? Do you hunt cut blocks at first and last light and sneak through the timber in the middle of the day? Is there a general rule of thumb that some of you adhere too?

Personally I mostly just hunt the timber because I hunt in highly pressured areas where there are tons of road hunters cruising through the cut blocks, but I've still never come across another hunter while I'm hunting the timber and I definitely see more sign in the timber too.

So what do you guys/gals do?

[Wild one]

Don’t matter about pressure I hunt timber it is where I am more comfortable and have had more success

Lots of deer and other game for that matter avoid open areas in daylight hrs. In my opinion timber hunting increases the hrs of the day that are productive. With deer I find many move around for periods mid day in the bush as well. There are way more hunters that target open areas so it is much easier to find peaceful areas. I like close range hunting and clear cuts do not provide good conditions do to noise made by crap on the ground and less cover

Each to there own but clear cuts are my least fav areas to hunt. Some get excited to see areas get logged myself I get pissed I need to find a new area to hunt. Timber or small natural opening for me

[Harvest the Land]

Great reply and insight Wild one. This is exactly the type of response I was hoping for. I guess I should have clarified that I'm referring mostly to deer hunting, but also bear and moose. I too thoroughly enjoy hunting inside the timber - just feel more at ease

[wos]

I hunted cut blocks in the south caribou when i was growing up, for moose and deer. The timber in that area was to tight to quietly move through and i never saw much game when i did try to hunt it. Now i have a place in the south Ok and the timber is much more open and i find thd game uses it more or its is easier to hunt more effectively so I find myself hunting it more. But thats not to say i don't rule out the cut blocks I still find deer in them aswell! Moose will always be suckers for cuts and swamps.

[Frank grimes]

I really dislike hunting cutblocks. I would much rather glass natural scenery. Although I always seem to end up hunting cuts. Still hunting the timber is my favourite, but the dry crunchy deadfall super thick forests I seem to encounter in region 3 make this difficult, without a trail or some rain.

I think im going to take a different approach to still hunting. Maybe slowly and quietly as I can, creep though bush and find sign, or game trails, then sit for an hour maybe 2. And repeat. I find sittting for longer then 2 hours difficult, especially without a large area to glass.

[Wild one]

You don’t need to be 100% stealth still hunting deer but you need to sound natural. Metal, fabric, plastic, and squeaky are bad sounds but you can getting away with natural noise sticks, leaves, and rocks if you can make it sound natural

animals make noise in the bush even squirrels. Most animals I find still hunting I hear them before I see them. I don’t try to be 100% silent I try to sound like a deer when I move. Breaking a twig or lightly crunching leaves is not a big deal as long as it’s not with a heavy foot or dragging feet. A handful of well placed slow steps and a long pause and it can be ignored. Stopping is key this is when you hear game and when the animals relax in the bush around you and make mistakes where you can plan your next steps. I am a very slow still hunter when I am in an area I believe holds deer and I mean I sit way more the walk

Adding calling makes a huge difference and this does not need to be in the rut. Deer vocalize year round so I use the odd fawn and doe bleat to help cover my noise. Often deer step out in curiosity after a bleat or two but it’s not a come to you response like calling in the rut. Come the rut antlers and estrus bleat come out

No doubt there is timber that is too thick or too noisy to still hunt but there is tricks to effectively push the boundaries. If that fails me I will sit in ambush before I hunt cuts lol

When it comes to the wind you can’t beat it so never try to work against wind conditions deers nose beats any scent control

Its not about being a ninja it’s about being seen as non threatening

[Harvest the Land]

Good idea. I started using a pop up ground blind a few years ago and its been a real game changer. Can get away with movements (which I still have a tough time controlling) much easier than without the blind. And if you have a decent sized blind you can stand and stretch or quietly bounce up and down to get the blood going and wake up. It definitely is tough sitting for long periods of time and not seeing game and being exhausted and freezing your ass off. That's I why I started using a blind because it makes sitting for long periods of time much easier. And being able to use a heater when its below zero is pure gold. Also, much easier to leave the blind up for the season on public land inside the timber than out in the cut blocks where it would not doubt get jacked.

Still hunting is my favourite too, but I can only hunt weekends and more often than not there's not enough wind, rain or snow to drown out the sound - I hear you on that.

Great replies guys!

[okas]

I like to be about 50 70 yards off the cut in the timber and a few steps stop look around another few steps again look around just as the deer do

[dino]

You don’t need to be 100% stealth still hunting deer but you need to sound natural. Metal, fabric, plastic, and squeaky are bad sounds but you can getting away with natural noise sticks, leaves, and rocks if you can make it sound natural

animals make noise in the bush even squirrels. Most animals I find still hunting I hear them before I see them. I don’t try to be 100% silent I try to sound like a deer when I move. Breaking a twig or lightly crunching leaves is not a big deal as long as it’s not with a heavy foot or dragging feet. A handful of well placed slow steps and a long pause and it can be ignored. Stopping is key this is when you hear game and when the animals relax in the bush around you and make mistakes where you can plan your next steps. I am a very slow still hunter when I am in an area I believe holds deer and I mean I sit way more the walk

Adding calling makes a huge difference and this does not need to be in the rut. Deer vocalize year round so I use the odd fawn and doe bleat to help cover my noise. Often deer step out in curiosity after a bleat or two but it’s not a come to you response like calling in the rut. Come the rut antlers and estrus bleat come out

No doubt there is timber that is too thick or too noisy to still hunt but there is tricks to effectively push the boundaries. If that fails me I will sit in ambush before I hunt cuts lol

When it comes to the wind you can’t beat it so never try to work against wind conditions deers nose beats any scent control

Its not about being a ninja it’s about being seen as non threatening

This is something every hunter needs to realize. Great post.


Timber hunting near a food source like a cut block or other will yield results. I will add some advice also, while timber hunting try to hunt ridges and climb the knolls for possible bedded bucks.

[WesHarm]

As a REAL novice, i just want to say thank you to all of you putting effort into your posts to help others with your particular prefered methods. Definitely sounds like some solid tips here!!!!

[whitespringer]

Quality insights on this thread. A good reminder to get off the beaten track, hunt slow and don't worry about stepping on the odd stick.

[William88]

Also being a novice, been out twice now and wish I had read this thread before I started. Started with clear cuts and while out today, I caught a glimpse of three does dancing off into timber. I checked out the timber and saw way more signs of deer (droppings, tracks) than browsing clear cuts.

[Bugle M In]

If it is MD, I like timber or slopes to hunt over cut blocks.
Had way more success to go in and hunt them.

[Wild one]

To the novice hunters interested in trying this it takes practice and it is a solo hunting technique for the most part

Practice how to place your feet in order to minimize noise. The right footwear helps and you want something you can feel what is under your feet. If weather and terrain allows it I wear runners but that can’t be done a boot with soft flexible soul. Place your feet down slowly and gently that way you can shift weight placement of your step minimizing noise. People are noisy naturally so we have to work at moving like animals

Its STILL hunting not hiking this is where most hunters fail in this style of hunting. Depending on the location I can be really slow like snails passing me slow. If I am in a thick noisy location that looks good it is 3 slow steps and stop for 15min or longer. This is for multiple reasons it gives you a chance to hear/see game and let the bush settle. It’s not about covering ground it’s about finding out what is in that stretch of timber. If in game rich area my morning hunt is measured in yards not miles. Knowing when to creep vs cover ground takes time to learn but most I find try to rush too much

Letting the bush settle a novice usually is lost on what this means. Well when you are walking in the bush and all you hear is silence or squirrels alarm call that’s not natural. Majority of animals shut up, hide and freeze if they hear something in the bush with them. This is why stopping and listening is important. If you sit in the bush and don’t move or make a sound the bush is not silent. You will hear animals move( you will be surprised how noisy mice are lol), squirrels stop alarming, and birds/other animals start calling between each other. This is when a deer calmly steps out 10yards in front of you lol.

When you stop sometimes for visibility reasons sometimes you will see more sitting so you can look below the bows

Learning to hunt with your ears more than your eyes. Playing cat and mouse with a noise in the bush takes practice. For starters being able to tell the difference between a squirrel in the leaves and a deer helps. In thick bush odds of stalking up on an animal you can only hear is really tough. The trick I use is trying to work into a position that I cut them off and they come to me well I wait. It takes lots of failures before you start getting good at anticipating where the animal is going to go. You need to be able to sit still for long( I have sat for well over an hr) periods just to see the animal 20-50yards away from you. Being too aggressive often fails but with mule deer I find you can push harder

I like to combine calling because it helps create opportunities and the ability to push harder

This is my style of still hunting but others have their own style that works. My style may seem too slow to some the way I describe it but it is because at times I hunt thick bush most would never consider. My pace and style varies depending on the conditions

To those who want to figure this out except to just hear/see animals run for a while till you get good at it. I have years of screwing up behind me to help anticipate how a situation will play out lol

[Weatherby Fan]

Regardless of where you hunt scout an area out to see if
A- there’s any sign or deer in the area
B- how are they using the area ? Are they using that area to feed or is a travel route to and from feeding to a bedding area, summer area, Rut, wintering area, think like a deer !

Watch your wind, watch your wind, watch your wind

You can waste a lot of time in areas that hold no animals, if no sign MOVE

Cutblocks can be productive, I prefer to hunt them in the evening if I have to !

[caddisguy]

I much prefer still hunting the timber as Wild One described. While I have no doubt cut blocks produce results for many, in the area where I normally hunt there is a lot of pressure. Heli-logging aside, cut blocks mean roads and roads mean a lot of pressure (in my case). Deer certainly feed in the cut blocks even in my area, but they know how to play the game and virtually all at night.

In other areas with less pressure and plenty of cut blocks to go around, I'll look at the cut blocks from time to time and glass the odd one but I probably a lot of opportunity. I really dislike staring at cut blocks and glassing. It's almost painful to me. It's a personal preference thing. I know people who can glass cuts and power lines all day and think still hunting is unnecessary torture, so obviously personal preferences are a factor.

My favourite part about cut blocks is they are almost always an excellent starting point. You can stomp around in there and see what it holds for trails, tracks, poops, etc. As you work around the tree line, you will see the trails the animals are using in and out of the timber. This is a good place to poke your head in the timber since you are going to have a trail as a starting point. See where they go, then find intersecting trails and see where they go, then find more trails that intersect with them. Opportunity from here is pretty much endless. You can walk around looking at trails and sign, playing detective and thinking about how you will still-hunt that area.

I find still-hunting much more stimulating. Using my eyes (rarely glass) ears and nose is so much more stimulating, even exhilarating. It makes me feel so in touch with everything around me.

What WO said about letting the forest settle is bang on. If you hear silence, or only alarms from squirrels or birds giving you heck (crows, ravens, stellar jays, wood peckers and even chickadees all have their own way of telling the whole forest there is an intruder) it means you are not being accepted, but rather rejected.

In Blacktail Trophy Tactics, Boyd Inverson talks about "the ripple effect" which takes it even further. It is not just the immediate area you are being rejected from because of your unnatural movement, sound, smell, etc. The rejection and warnings can spread beyond your immediate area and far beyond earshot. For example, you creep through the timber and reach your blind that you left all zipped up... zipper door and Velcro windows. You unzip the entrance, go in, zip it back up, tear down the Velcro windows *RIP* ... *RIP* then press the button on your Buddy Heater *CLICK* and you are sitting in front of the cozy wooshing of the heater. No problem right? A deer could probably have only heard that 150 yards at most, especially with that creek in the background. NOPE! In reality, your immediate area went silent or maybe a squirrel chirped. 100 yards away, critters heard the squirrel chirp and went silent. 100 yards from that sudden silence, a stellar jay knows something is going on and flies off squawking for another 150 yards. This sets off some chickadees which then let off their warning call. The deer you were hoping would walk by the blind is 700 yards away freezes, ears back, eyes forward alert and ready to stand there for an hour just waiting for subsequent warnings before deciding if it is safe to travel around or if it should go lay low until the forest seems safe again.

One of the cool things about running trailcams with sound is that you can see/hear this all unfold. When you see a deer on alert, it's usually not just the deer acting differently... the birds are silent and you might hear an alarm in the background. While you don't get to see where the chain reaction started, you see the deer become alerted to the silence or the alarms and then you get an hour of camera footage of a deer staring off into space and moving it's ears around for an hour. The deer seem the most at ease when the forest sounds rich with life.

This is why I absolutely love (and obviously prefer) still-hunting timber.

Moving slowly, pausing, sitting and keeping sounds natural are keys to acceptance. I only move quickly if I am scouting or trying to get from point A to point B and have a lot of ground to cover in between.

[Wild one]

Caddisguy your telling me that these days you can learn this info from books. You hunters these days have it way too easy

That is a hell of a a lot easier then following a mentor through the bush getting whacked with a stick or arrow for being impatient or stepping heavy lol

[Bubbacanuck]

All good advice above, as for a novice like me it all helps! I’ve been out a few times this year and ATV’s on FSR’s scare most anything from cut blocks. Still hunting takes time, early I can go slow but then find I’m moving too fast and likely ruined my chance. Found a ton of trails, tracks, droppings and rubs but timber was so thick I couldn’t move quietly. Going out again this weekend to keep practising before the rut as I hope to perfect the art of still hunting in timber. Anticipating the deers movement is solid advice and I will try this as it makes total sense.

[Tim Tam Slam]

Going to try some of these tactics out next week! I’m one of those guys who has hunted mostly clear cuts and goes way too fast in the thick stuff.

thanks all for the tips

[Dirty30-30]

Great tips! Thanks for the posts!

[twoSevenO]

I will hunt older cut blocks for mulies, especially toward the end of the day where i like to sit and wait for an hour or two until the light fades to see what comes out
For blacktails, i find most of them are hunted pretty heavily already so i just hunt the timber.

I mind the wind and i try to move as quiet as possible and if i break a branch i'll just stop for a while. Remember, moving slow and being quiet isn't always about being stealthy ..... the less noise you make, the easier it is for you to hear OTHER noise around you. And when you're in thick blacktail timber you CAN hear them quite well, actually .... but not over your own noise that you're making.

Having said that, they almost always spot me first. They're just good at spotting predators. it's their job in order to survive. However, if you remain neutral and make no sudden movements, it is possible they won't be spooked and will just continue on their way. I have a video of a doe and yearling on my Instagram that passes by at 15 yards and I have time to get out my cell phone and start recording and she doesn't spook.

The only times i've been able to see them close undetected is while still hunting, when they come to you. A lot of people find still hunting boring .... but try it! You might be surprised what you see in just 45mins of sitting down overlooking a relatively open section of timber. They whould be moving around pretty good during the day Mid November onwards.

[MichelD]

Something I've been thinking about lately is sense of time. As Caddisguy mentioned above; a deer might stand still for an hour making sure everything is safe. They don't have schedules or clocks and have all the time in the world to look, listen and smell the world around them to ensure their safety. As humans, we are used to a different pace, in our normal lives, we get up, race against the clock to have breakfast, rush to get to work, something always has to be urgently done at work, we lose our patience if we're delayed for a minute in traffic, etc. etc., you know what I mean.

Then suddenly we have two or three days off to go hunting, we rush home from work, madly pack up and maybe even take off Friday night, drive 3 or more hours to the spot, sleep poorly in the cab or canopy of the truck, force ourselves to get up an hour before daybreak, rush noisily off into the bush and then...attempt to adapt to the pace of the animals we're after.

Meanwhile the buck we're after is taking one step, stopping, looking, listening, maybe taking a bite of something, then waiting some more before taking another step. Who is going to see whom first?

[skibum]

Lots of good advise above - Over the last 10 years I have observed deer behaviour change a lot and I relate it all back to wolves moving in.

Where they use to freely walk in the cutblocks, they now stand at the edge and poke their noses out and then retreat back in. My sock softly brushed against the stump I was sitting on and the deer 150 metres away fled - they were comfortably eating before. I had walked in in wool socks, to a remote cut 2hrs before daylight.

Feeling you are a ninja can depend on how pressured the deer are (humans/wolves)

I am setting up a lot more in the timber this year for sure, but am finding some of my shooting lanes hard to move to without deer spotting the movement.