Cut Blocks

[sapper]

Okay, so I've always heard how it is good to glass cut-blocks. I've never had any luck with them myself though.
So here's the question and where I'm looking for advice: How old a cut-block should I be focusing on? One that looks like it was recently (within the year) harvested? One that has been replanted? One that has burn piles ready to be taken care of?

[Glenny]

All of the above. IMHO

[835]

I like them small ish with trees about 4' ish.
rollie hills and thick spots. Tough to explain.

[dakoda62]

I have seen very few deer in recently cut blocks, a few transiting through. I have had luck in blocks with trees 7 to 10 years old, fair amount of browse, and cover.

[tinhorse]

I personally like the younger blocks, 2-5 years old for moose and deer. Seems to be good feed in them. The blocks that have some variable ground and little gullies for the animals to hand out in seem to be better as well as the animals seem to feel a little more secure. I have gotten many deer parking and taking a walk to the edge of a little hill that dips down hiding the deer in the dip. Many hunters seem to stop, glass from the truck and move on. Get out and look around, you'll find a lot more animals by doing this.

[JDR]

I personally like the younger blocks, 2-5 years old for moose and deer. Seems to be good feed in them. The blocks that have some variable ground and little gullies for the animals to hand out in seem to be better as well as the animals seem to feel a little more secure. I have gotten many deer parking and taking a walk to the edge of a little hill that dips down hiding the deer in the dip. Many hunters seem to stop, glass from the truck and move on. Get out and look around, you'll find a lot more animals by doing this.

X2...newer blocks have very little feed in them, at least where I live.

[Cyrus]

newer the better imo...just after the equipment is rolled out.

[jml11]

it all depends on what you are hunting and time of year...early fall, young blocks are littered with bears, especially on good berry years. I've had more luck with moose in blocks with treese 0.5-1m tall...but I think more depends on surrounding topography...i.e. are there nearby lakes, wetlands, deciduous patches. Also later in the season moose and deer seem to spend more time in the blocks...Depending on where you are, the NDT3 cutblocks in the central interior are MASSIVE clear cuts so you might not catch anything in the open but along the edges perhaps...a lot of variables at play here...best thing about cutblocks is line of sight is fantastic so quite often it's just a good place to catch an animal wandering...where you can actually see it!

[russm86]

I have seen many deer including some big bucks in cut blocks where the equipment was still there. In fact 3 weeks ago I saw a real nice buck with real good mass and height in a select cut that had equipment in it the week before. Unfortunately I was never able to count points on the thing due to the remaining trees... :/

[Jelvis]

I've been told the first year is the best, all cleaned out, the deer arrive for the first time and no trees. BAM!

[doubled]

Right from when they start logging until it gets to thick to see. Blocks are used as travel routes, bedding areas, feeding zones, etc. Find a relatively new block and hike to a far corner where you have a good view and hide just inside the treeline at daybreak - you will be amazed at how much life these "dead" blocks have in them.

[Big Lew]

All good advice has been posted. One of my brothers is a logging contractor and he is always seeing deer, including monsters, throughout the summer and into early fall, at all times of the day while they are working. I have visited him and witnessed the same thing. As a bow hunter, I prefer hunting these cut blocks if they still have many large brush/rubble piles or have ravines, gulleys, and hillocks. A couple of years ago, I shot a mulie buck that was amongst 4 others at 9 am that were in a depression completely devoid of any appreciative foliage, right in the middle of a new and abandoned slash. There was deer manure everywhere and there were dozens of beds all around that depression. I find deer around the edges, in the shaded pockets, or bedded down along the brushy ridges well inside the larger slashes that are new to when trees are 6-7 feet high, although, as a bow hunter, I have my best luck hunting the small hillside slashes. I don't see many sizeable bucks in or around the large flat slashes any distance from a mountainside.

[Jelvis]

Big Looooooooo. Right on man. I learned something in your post.
Jel .. Keep up the great know how it's lot's of hunting truth there ............. BIG GUY

[jeff]

my preference and best results by far is first and second year logged. they seem to like fresh slash.

[muleychaser]

One thing I have noticed over the years is that everytime a fresh tree is dropped it always has tracks around it in the morning. I have logged in the winter before and have had to try and chase animals away in the morning dark so I could hook up ythe chokers,

[Jelvis]

Excellent information on deer in cut blocks in the thread here. This is valuable information that would make top notch deer hunting magazines in a New York Minute.
Jel I'm among the best deer hunters in the world right here thanks for the wisdom ..

[Shooter]

A few years ago in an early season heat wave (temps in the mid 20's) I was having a real hard time finding any deer in that kind of heat. I ran into some tree planters while I was out one day and the one guy that I spoke to told me then that they were jumping deer up like crazy right from the middle of the slashes. They were bedding down in all of the tiny little depressions. When they bed down like that you rarely can see them unless you are above them or hike through the slash in hopes of bumping them. They enjoy being down lower than the surrounding ground level because it is cooler. These were a couple of year old slashes also.

Typically I like to hunt 2-6 year old slashes best. But if they don't get too thick they can still produce deer for my freezer for many more years than that. And when they are too thick that is when the deer really like them it is just much harder to hunt them. Try hiking the surrounding timber of a very heavily overgrown slash.

[Looking_4_Jerky]

Although it sounds like the others have had different experiences, I personally have seen comparatively little in brand new blocks. The exception is in the late fall and winter in blocks where they're falling Douglas fir. Between the fresh shoots and the lichens the deer seem to go nuts over it. Earlier in the year not so much (that I've seen). My experience is that older cuts tend to hold more animals, but not all cuts are created equal. Ones that grow back thick with lodgepole pine to the point where the older pine has very little spacing between the trees and starts to choke out a lot of the browse that needs ample light to grow (Saskatoon, ceanothus, snowberry, rose) seem to get less use with age. Older cuts that are well spaced and have a multilevel canopy, especially ones with a lot of deciduous growth (willows, alder), get better and better. The only problem is the huntability does go down for most times of the year (until you can rake, call/grunt and/or rattle). Definitely, cuts seem to hold deer at any time, but my favorite would be when the regen is 3' to 4'.

[Jelvis]

Cut blocks have ravines and crevices and little ridges with some bushes left, scattered here and there. Makes for hiding better but sets the deer up for a silent stalk through them until you get lucky and see the tine of a four point mule deer buck and your thumb is going for the safety.
Jelly Clear Cut$ .. Gotta get out and hike em, if yah like em .. or a drive by lol ..

[5 spike]

a key in shooters post on hunting slashes get above the bedded deer in slashes. the deer in the heat or any time will bed during the day in these depressions and ravines,gullys glass them and you will have success. the wind must be right.this is another reason to get to no your area and how to approach it at various times of the day. figure this all out and you will see bucks all day long.
A few years ago in an early season heat wave (temps in the mid 20's) I was having a real hard time finding any deer in that kind of heat. I ran into some tree planters while I was out one day and the one guy that I spoke to told me then that they were jumping deer up like crazy right from the middle of the slashes. They were bedding down in all of the tiny little depressions. When they bed down like that you rarely can see them unless you are above them or hike through the slash in hopes of bumping them. They enjoy being down lower than the surrounding ground level because it is cooler. These were a couple of year old slashes also.

Typically I like to hunt 2-6 year old slashes best. But if they don't get too thick they can still produce deer for my freezer for many more years than that. And when they are too thick that is when the deer really like them it is just much harder to hunt them. Try hiking the surrounding timber of a very heavily overgrown slash.

[Big Lew]

I have theories why deer are frequently seen in new slashes, especially ones that have no visible feed....first of all, many cut blocks uncover and disrupt previous deer trails and haunts, similar to a new road (which is why some new roads are closed to hunting)....secondly, deer, like most living mammals, are curious, and will check out anything new, including fallen trees, machinery, and commotion, if they perceive no imminent danger.... and third, they feel safe out in the middle of barren slashes, as they can see any threat well in advance, similar to the situation I mentioned earlier about the 5 bucks spending many days right in the center of a new slash devoid of any vegetation.

[warnniklz]

Animals aren't always in cuts... they're in the timber too

[Shooter]

Although it sounds like the others have had different experiences, I personally have seen comparatively little in brand new blocks. The exception is in the late fall and winter in blocks where they're falling Douglas fir. Between the fresh shoots and the lichens the deer seem to go nuts over it. Earlier in the year not so much (that I've seen). My experience is that older cuts tend to hold more animals, but not all cuts are created equal. Ones that grow back thick with lodgepole pine to the point where the older pine has very little spacing between the trees and starts to choke out a lot of the browse that needs ample light to grow (Saskatoon, ceanothus, snowberry, rose) seem to get less use with age. Older cuts that are well spaced and have a multilevel canopy, especially ones with a lot of deciduous growth (willows, alder), get better and better. The only problem is the huntability does go down for most times of the year (until you can rake, call/grunt and/or rattle). Definitely, cuts seem to hold deer at any time, but my favorite would be when the regen is 3' to 4'.


Great post.. There is a lot of truth there.

[brig]

I would agree that cuts with a fair bit of structure usually hold the most deer. It's amazing though how well a deer can hide in those cuts you really want to spend a lot of time sitting quietly watching in the draws. That said the last deer that I shot I found after I had been patiently watching one cut for quite a while and finally decided to move on. As I stood up and started walking I broke a branch and right away I heard some movement right over a little ridge in the cut and shortly after a buck came up the far side of the draw and just stood there staring at me broadside. I guess sometimes being noisy does help!

[Jelvis]

That's a great point brig. Sometimes being a little noisy does help the hunter ..
Jel .. Awesome point .. brig

[Moosehunter64]

The reason you see deer in the slash`s is because the area in now opened up and the animals are more visible.They have probably always been there.In the spring they come out for the new tender shoots and grasses that grow there.In new fallen timber in the winter they come in to eat the lichens that grow on the sides of the tree`s and when new timber is laying on the ground they can now reach the lichens that were growing higher up on the tree.Deer do prefer new growth that is tender and has more nutriants.You have to remember that a deers entire day is usually in pursuit of food and water so anywhere there is good feed you will find them there.

[rattle e 6speed]

My dad operates an excavator on the island, and has told me many stories about deer eating the leaves off the trees that he has just knocked over, or is piling up to burn. I wont condone hunting with a crew working in there, but it does indicate that a slash that is being processed can often hold deer as well. At least for the first few days while the feed is still green anyhow.

[5 spike]

your dad is right they will feed on newly fallen trees until they are bare then there gone. hit that cut and surrounding timber 2 years later.
My dad operates an excavator on the island, and has told me many stories about deer eating the leaves off the trees that he has just knocked over, or is piling up to burn. I wont condone hunting with a crew working in there, but it does indicate that a slash that is being processed can often hold deer as well. At least for the first few days while the feed is still green anyhow.

[Mr. Dean]

The reason you see deer in the slash`s is because the area in now opened up and the animals are more visible.They have probably always been there.In the spring they come out for the new tender shoots and grasses that grow there.In new fallen timber in the winter they come in to eat the lichens that grow on the sides of the tree`s and when new timber is laying on the ground they can now reach the lichens that were growing higher up on the tree.Deer do prefer new growth that is tender and has more nutriants.You have to remember that a deers entire day is usually in pursuit of food and water so anywhere there is good feed you will find them there.


yup. wwhat he said.