How soon do you...

[Rusty Snuffers]

Start cutting trails, shooting lanes and such?  The woods we hunt in down here tend to include lots of briars and other underbrush so we usually run the bush-hog to and around the few semi-permanent stands.  How long do you folks like to wait until you go in and start prepping the area?  I just sat down after having tried to draw my bow (still getting over the pinched nerve from a few weeks ago) and was thinking about which areas I want to hunt this year.  I don't want to cut the trails too soon and have them overgrown before bow season but don't want to wait so long that I mess up the patterns of the deer and hogs in the area.  Where's the happy medium?

Discuss!  :D

Rusty

[jamesh76]

I start cutting them from about now until August. I want to be done by mid-end of Aug.. Youth season starts Sept 11th or so here. I want to have it all trimmed up and have been out of there for 2-3 weeks prior.

I guess it also depends on how many properties or stands you hunt. Myself, I have 6 private properties and about 12 stands, so it takes a little longer.

[BRITTMAN]

Im cutting them now also , I put up two stands already this week and trimed out another old stand . Your trails will not grow up muh at all come bow season if you do it now plus you give the deer time to get use to the change .

[KevO]

I try to cut right after season.  However, IMO  a good time to cut  would be right after the peak of the growing season. I think vegetative growth in woodland areas is pretty well finished by mid-July.  At least that's what I see in my area.  In addition, I try to hang a few stands in August & prune then if I need to as well.  Then get out & stay out!

[mrpenguin]

I picked out a what I think is a new good tree and will be trimming the woods in the next couple of weeks. I may also try to alter the funnel tad if there is a fallen tree or such near by and run the deer a little closer to my stand... We'll see. But I can't wait for bow season!

[Friend]

Doubt there is a perfect plan due to available and preferred, food source changes, breeding phases..ect. Possibly several book's worth of information is available.

Just a couple of examples of how my partner and I prepare is listed below.

Typically my partner and I would set-up ~8 stands and have 2 stands for moving and quick set-ups. Knowing the territory and being intimate with numerous past season trends, we would scout heavy after season, perform low impact scouting preseason and also rely heavily from log information of previous years. Our goal was not to set a stand unless we had scene a book buck more than once in a specific location unless we were seeing heavy action during the rut.

Stands that we were confident that produce during the rut, we may set in July and August, are approached with a little aggression at making sure we have both a clean approach and clean exit. We are also a little aggressive at creating shooting lanes by taking additonal growth into consideration. Early season patterns such as animals feedng on visible field food sources may be set a few days prior to hunting. We attempt to prep the area by inflicting as low as impact on the area as possible in order to approach, leave and clearing anticipated shooting lanes. As soon as the acorns start to drop the deer may disappear from the early season visible field food sources.

Note: Some areas are prepped in Jan and Feb where heavier limb removal is required and revisited closer to season for additional prepping.

Strategy planning and preparation can even prove to be more rewarding than the hunt itself. Having mentioned our strategey, I have walked into unfamiliar territory, picked the most likely spot with a light, set up my climber and arrowed a very nice even 12 pointer, my biggest deer to date.

Luck was on my side.

[Hoyt]

I trim and snip yr. round. Don't cut out too much, but when I go through and area I know I may hunt I'll snip a limb or two if needed for a shot.

I was in the woods today and picked up one of my climbers I have stashed in there and climbed a tree I want to hunt and sawed limbs off the trunk so I could get to the height I wanted.

I've sawed limbs the same morning I go up the tree to hunt and have deer come in 10 or 15 minutes later. Don't like to do it, but sometimes have no choice if it's the only tree in spot I find myself in right before daylight and I want to hunt that spot.

[Bowwild]

I'll start tomorrow, God willing.  I want to be out of the woods by mid-August as our season starts the 1st Saturday of September. Over the years I've tried to reduce the amount of trimming and cutting. Where possible I'd rather tie back big limbs to create a window rather than cut them if I can.

[Recurve50 LBS]

I know from last season where I want to try this year. I hunt on the ground and now is the time I start building my ground blinds and trimming.

[Michigan Mark]

I prefer to put as little scent as possible in the places where the BIG ones hang around as once they know your there they are not.

[awbowman]

I am assuming you are hand cutting and not just renting a dozer or something.

I can tell you what I do.  At the end of the season (February and March), I spend a few weekends in the woods looking at signs and locating travel patterns in a new area.  I mark potential shooting lanes with reflective tape while the brush/browse is down to a minimum. I do not cut much at that time, too much area to scout.  Then........

If you have snake boots, I would be in there now while it is dry and you can get a few hours in semi-tolerable heat we have been having.  The heat will start to get unbearable soon.  I will be starting this weekend, just standard layouts and progress along the marked lanes.  The lanes will not be cut too the ground, only enough to establish the lanes outline.  It may take me a few weekends to get it done, but it's not that bad.  BTW, I like my lanes slightly off northwest/southeast for control of scent when the south or north winds come to our area.

I will have set up the stand before the cutting begins to verify the angle of the lanes.  In September I will go back and see if the deer have taken the paths and see how much I now need to cut, trimming is minimum after the deer begin taking the paths.  Hope this helps.

After that I will not be in there until Oct. 16th at my doe killing stand and not until after Thanksgiving for my buck stand.

[straitera]

Go back Wednesday to one wayward spot deep where Ruth found her big deerhead. W/o horses near impossible. Build a groundblind & get coordinates. One L stand is up already.

[lpcjon2]

If you scouted the area already then have at it.just get done and let things settle down a month before the season opens. and take a rake uand clear a path around the tree and atleast 50yrds down the trail from your tree.this will help you just before the season for a final trail cleaning.

[Pat B]

Generally by mid summer the vegitative growth has stopped or at least slowed down, especially in high heat. The longer before you plan to hunt the better but I have cut shooting lanes, etc and sat the stand the same day and seen animals. Early in the season I don't think the deer are so spooky.

[frassettor]

I got all of my work done on my stands 3 weeks ago. I like to get it done early and not go back until the season opens. I believe by doing this it gives the area enough time to "cool down"