Do 1-3 year old cutovers do well for poult production?

[Fieldglass]

General ask, one of my honey holes was leveled last year, turkey #s were already struggling before the cut though, #s of birds cut 50% in one season it seemed, abrupt....its 900 acres of mature woods clearcut to nothing for a solar farm bid. Now, no solar farm coming im told, so here we are with a monoculture desert with some oak drains.

Neighboring tracts are 15ish yr old select cut pines and a 500 acre hardwood/pasture heaven.

So....Will the 1-3 years of this cutover yield good brood, better than previously? It was a ton of hardwoods cut so its got a lot of messy slash and zero predator edge or lane etc, shouldnt this lead to better nesting and poult hide?

Thoughts? Hopium?

 

[antharper]

From my experience 1-2 years after it was cut they like it , after that they find somewhere else to live

 

[Fieldglass]

From my experience 1-2 years after it was cut they like it , after that they find somewhere else to live

100%, im just hoping for those 1-2 years to be a poult surge for the general area, i swear a disease took em out in 2021, instantly lost 50% of all birds it seemed in one year, hens went from 25+ to 12+ in winter flocks...no clue.

 

[Gut_Pile]

If you can keep your roads clean and wide, you should still have some passing through.

As ant said though, after the second growth year, they are going to use it less and less

 

[buckpasser]

General ask, one of my honey holes was leveled last year, turkey #s were already struggling before the cut though, #s of birds cut 50% in one season it seemed, abrupt....its 900 acres of mature woods clearcut to nothing for a solar farm bid. Now, no solar farm coming im told, so here we are with a monoculture desert with some oak drains.

Neighboring tracts are 15ish yr old select cut pines and a 500 acre hardwood/pasture heaven.

So....Will the 1-3 years of this cutover yield good brood, better than previously? It was a ton of hardwoods cut so its got a lot of messy slash and zero predator edge or lane etc, shouldnt this lead to better nesting and poult hide?

Thoughts? Hopium?

Post some pics of ground cover. I’ve seen some that looked like brood cover and some that looked pretty useless a year in. I can’t picture any of them being great brood cover on year 2 or beyond, unless they are on some very poor soil type.

 

[Fieldglass]

It was a lot of hardwood, unfortunately. About 850 acres of cutover monoculture, several miles of hardwood drains and edge/border, cutters left October 2023.

I am the only turkey hunter and it's my first experience with a monoculture of this size, I know it's basically a deer lease after another year or so...im just hoping the slash is nasty enough to boost some nesting and brood aspects.....I'll have roughly 400 acres of hardwoods and mature timber left to hunt (adjoining lease we also hold).

Today per my intel I know of 3+2+3=8 total toms on 1700+ total acres, zero jakes. 14ish or so hens. I should see more as the bugging starts for these cutovers.... Neighbors have 900 of 15ish yr old pines (recently select cut) are saying they have good numbers but this overall 5 square mile area is prob 75% cut to the ground in the last 12 months....kills me seeing it all go like this so fast

I digress, thanks for any and all hopium, firsthand experience, advice, etc.

I don't plan to take any birds off this tract, didn't hunt it once last year and only took one the year before. Something was taking out the birds abruptly in 2021 or so, Tom and hen numbers cut in half in one season, no overharvest or change in any habitat back then. Can't figure it out. For example in 2020 fall, I recall 11 toms in a winter flock, hen flocks were 20+. Not even half of that the next year and has been about the same for 3 years, now the cut...

Warren County Ga area.

@buckpasser