Mature pines and briars stand location

bfriendly

Bigfoot friendly
So I found an awesome looking area With mostly mature pines, those briars that grab you, your clothes and yank your hat off(twice), not far from a famous round here creek. There are some hardwoods mixed in, but not a bunch.and most of the hardwoods are very young. some of the ground is super thick with brush, mostly briars and periwinkles . Trails everywhere and a few intersections. There are some steep slopes to creek bottoms, but I found a finger type small ridge that just really stuck out as THE place and a tree that told me he was it. The elevated view would be amazing and the food plot behind me about 75-100 yards. This is a public land food plot so it’s not exactly a tecomate type of plot. Don’t even know if they’ll plant it. I did find one good rub from this past year, but that’s the extent so far.....didn’t have much time to check it out.

Is there a time of the year when deer prefer big pines? Do they eat the nuts from the cones? I am gonna put a trail cam out next time I’m there, but I’m wondering if there is anything from a pine that a deer might consume, seems like a lot of nuts for just the few squirrels out there.
 

buckpasser

Senior Member
To answer one of your questions, mature closed canopy pines with some underbrush often makes excellent warm season bedding. It’s no mystery why. Shady timber is good in the heat for the same reason young cutover is great in the bitter cold.
 

swamp hunter

Senior Member
I just agreed with the first 3 posts....
Nothing in them Mature Pines for deer except maybe Mushrooms. But Deer will travel a long ways to get to a good Food source. At one of my Pards camps they travel 2 miles or so every night in late season...Back and forth.
Call it 4 Miles every night.
 

bfriendly

Bigfoot friendly
In a month or three I expect the undergrowth to be thick. They do eat that prickly briar though right? Or is it s different one? I am thinking of an archery set up for early season and I think I’ll like the shade of a pine tree too. I’m sure there will be others close by, but they can have the food plot and if there is a truck parked there I’ll Just go elsewhere.
 

oldguy

Senior Member
If the "briars" you're referring is smilax/green briar it's a preferred food for deer. If they're there and using it "sign" should be easy to find. Trails, they got to come and go. Browse sign in the form of nipped off ends on new growth. They ought to be working on it hard right now.And of course deer droppings will probably be present.
 

splatek

UAEC
no expert here, not even close!!!!

But I will say that I have found some amazing sign in a similarly described area up north on public land. There are some food sources - green briar in particular with the feed sign mentioned above. In side of a small area I found some underbrush that was THICK with vege and a ton of old rubs and feed sign.
got me thinking: maybe in all this hardwood forest these smart animals realize that the hunters don't come up in these pines... but then I thought that's absolutely a crazy thought....right?
Then I checked my cam in there, actually my nine year old did.
Lil man, "Dad, DAAAAAD!!!! Come look at this!"
We started scrolling through the SD cards and had deer, lots of deer, several budding bucks...which is a first for me and this in public land. Sometimes I feel like I get it, but 99% of the time I have no idea why I have deer here and not in the other spots that are picture perfect descriptions of what a buck bedding area "ought" to look like according to just about every interwebz site and person I have consulted. Literally a 10:1 ratio of deer. The puzzle continues...
 

swamp hunter

Senior Member
You've got Months till Season.
Want to know if it's a Bedding Area..Just Crash into it and look for poop. Deer don,t hide their poop and it will be all over the place if they spend lot's of time there.
 

HarryO45

Mag dump Dirty Harry
Late season I try to hunt the large briar patches. In my area it stays green through the season. Deer eat it up.
 

HarryO45

Mag dump Dirty Harry
Another thing about briar patches is if you can find a way in and out, then often other hunters will avoid the pricker bushes, and you got less pressure. I have noticed that deer do not like to go into the thickest briars at night (cameras). I see more “daytime” deer on camera munching briars than anything thing else late season. No science behind my theory, just my experience. I try to find trees that overwatch green briars and get high. Most often they are locations in the pines.
 
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