I own 280 acres and the land hasn't been logged in 10 years do you think if the loggers come in during the fall to log it will disrupt the deer movement or will the deer just ignore it
In my opinion i think you'll find a lot of night movement in the fall if chain saws, skidders, trucks etc, in the woods all day long. they cut small trees in my area about 3 years ago and it took a while for the deer to make new trails as for a long while they would just randomly wander thru the treetops that were still on the ground. they also started logging both sides of the river last year and i have lost a couple of stand placements as it looks like a bomb has went off around them. they are supposed to come in and cut some more, so i am moving a couple of new stands to areas that they won't be cutting, but still feel it will be a long, tough season compared to what i'm used to. but, that's why it is called hunting!!!!
I've done a lot of logging and been around a lot of jobs - late season(december) the tops are deer magnets and if colder and snowier even more so all day long. We have deer that have learned logging machines mean food and safety from wolves while they are running...though at shut down and overnight the wolves feast. 10 yrs is a little bit of a short time between operations for a property though and 15 should be a minimum as it will take 2-3 yrs for trees to start growing well again after a job due to 'shock' from root compaction and the canopy opening up and sort of a sunburn on previously shaded leaves/branches/stems. If you have a good freeze up on the ground in winter and not too much snow I would wait to harvest until january or february so the deer can benefit the most and root compaction would/should be at a minimum....Get yourself a forestor - worth the cost for lack of stress and dealing with loggers who need to make money NOW, with minimum effort for 'leave' tree protection and other environmental impact issues, as well as cleanup. If you know a good logger and can count on him to do the job the way you want it done and will cleanup roads etc then you can forego the forestor but make sure you can trust the guy and have a contract. BTW - my opinion the deer would be into a 'normal' routine by mid October if you got the stand logged right now but the benefits of the fresh buds at feeding levels would be wasted as they don't need them til later.
