Thick or Thin for Deer Cover?

By GrowingDeer,

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Question
Can the woods on a property be too thick or too open for good deer cover?  I am 56 and recently bought land (98 acres) to fulfill a lifelong dream.  It was cut over 8 years ago and is extremely thick in some places.  I try to observe this characteristic on your videos and it looks fairly open around the food plots/woods to me.

James

James,

The “woods” on a property can certainly be too open for good deer cover.

It would be very difficult for woods to be too thick.  Good escape cover for deer is usually so thick that humans don’t like to walk (or crawl) through the area.  Prescribed fire or other tools can be used to thin a portion of your woods if they are too thick and are lowering the recreational quality of your property.

The timber on my property had been mismanaged, at least from a wildlife habitat point of view, for decades.  There was no cover on The Proving Grounds when I purchased the property.  However, I’ve cut trees, used prescribed fire, etc., to open the canopy and allow ground level vegetation to grow.  You can see some of the cover I’ve established by watching GDTV #15.  Better yet, come and tour The Proving Grounds during the 2nd Annual Shed Hunt as we will be discussing habitat improvements during that weekend!

Growing Deer together,

Grant