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Do You Cut Shooting Lanes?

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Do You Cut Shooting Lanes?

Postby Swede » 03 26, 2017 •  [Post 1]

Ok, I suppose we all do cut shooting lanes to some extent, but what is your objective and just how aggressive are you in removing branches that could interfere with a shot? Some go for minimum and some for the max.

I like to remain concealed, and will even hang some objects, like fake branches to break up my profile, but I like a lot of clear lanes in the area where I anticipate game critters to show up.
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Re: Do You Cut Shooting Lanes?

Postby Freebird134 » 03 26, 2017 •  [Post 2]

I've never treestand hunted for elk. But for other things, I do more than cut shooting lanes.....I cut everything I can. I'm pretty good at sitting still even when exposed; I'm terrible at shooting through solid objects.
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Re: Do You Cut Shooting Lanes?

Postby Brendan » 03 27, 2017 •  [Post 3]

So, my experience is for whitetail - but a couple things I pay attention to.

Yes, I like to do minimal cutting if needed. Enough to make sure I have a couple clear lanes to shoot, but not enough, or not close enough to trails that a buck is going to notice something different and spook. The ideal scenario for me is that I can do my cutting in the summer, or I even have stand locations that I come back to year after year where I can keep some lanes trimmed - and then there's no changes in the season to potentially scare off deer.

I also like to make sure I have cover behind / above me if possible so I'm not skylined. That allows you to get away with a little more movement if a deer you don't see is moving your direction.

Even so - I have one stand where I have cut lanes, where I've watched deer for a good 30 minutes before I was able to get a shot through the brush with a scoped rifle! And on the other side, I have a stand location where the landowner has cleared too much in my mind - I don't think the deer travel through there the same anymore.
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Re: Do You Cut Shooting Lanes?

Postby olympushunt » 03 27, 2017 •  [Post 4]

Brendan wrote:So, my experience is for whitetail - but a couple things I pay attention to.

Yes, I like to do minimal cutting if needed. ...but not enough, or not close enough to trails that a buck is going to notice something different and spook.


You should come out here to Oregon Brendan. Our blacktail and elk (both rosies and rockies) are oblivious to that stuff. I've heard that about whitetails before...that they will notice a change and spook. Here? You can clear cut a spot and they will come by...even more likely to come by in some cases. I have dropped large amounts of limbs on the ground the day before and heck....elk came in to browse on the moss on the downed limbs! That and once I cut a trail into a blacktail stand from behind my tree so I could get to my stand without leaving my scent along the trail they were using. Evidently this big buck thought my trail was better than the existing main trail and came up my new trail.....only to turn around (never spooked) and went back for some reason. He loitered 5 feet directly behind me for 15 minutes eating. Jerk. Maybe he was annoyed I drug a large log across the main trail running perpendicular to my stand so they would pause a second before going over.
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Re: Do You Cut Shooting Lanes?

Postby Swede » 03 27, 2017 •  [Post 5]

I have observed the same thing Oly has on deer and elk in the Pacific Northwest. You can take walk a bull dozer through the area without compromising anything.
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Re: Do You Cut Shooting Lanes?

Postby Brendan » 03 28, 2017 •  [Post 6]

To be honest - I've experienced some of the same things. We'll drop a tree and the deer will be all over it eating the buds and limb tips. But, I'm convinced that the bigger and wiser a buck gets - the more he know's what's up when something changes in his bedroom, so try to take that into account.
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Re: Do You Cut Shooting Lanes?

Postby Swede » 03 28, 2017 •  [Post 7]

I have never been around Whitetails, but I have been around a lot of logging and forest activity. Some logging often improves the habitat for deer and elk. Even during logging activity the critters will come in and feed when the logger go home. Mostly they like to come into active logging in the winter to forage on moss and lichens when other food is scarce. Of coarse anything can be done to an extreme to push big game out of an area, but if they have food, cover and water, they won't go far.
Elk and Mule deer have a much larger range than Whitetails. An individual may not go into a tree stand location for weeks even though they are undisturbed. A good tree stand location is one where many elk are in the area, and any one could drop in or pass by at any time. Also sometimes they bed in a nearby area and come in during the afternoon or evening on a regular basis. I like that even better, but it is getting very hard to find spots like that where I have been hunting.
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Re: Do You Cut Shooting Lanes?

Postby stringunner » 03 29, 2017 •  [Post 8]

I tend to over cut openings. Get far to zealous when setting things up then sit down opening morning and go "whoa, I really opened myself up". I think there is a middle ground, not too open and yet open enough to not restrict shooting options to just one or two lanes. I'm still learning where that middle ground is.

I do think that Oly is on to something with staging a log or something that provides the animal just a quick stopping point for a shot. I need to think about this more when setting up spots.
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Re: Do You Cut Shooting Lanes?

Postby Wahpeton » 04 08, 2017 •  [Post 9]

Shooting lanes.

We have one guy get up in the stand and then the other guy walks around the likely shooting locations. We try to be very deliberate to "prune" specific obstacles and not completely alter the area. My experience is 95% whitetail hunting, but if a guy can thin it out a bit without turning your stand location into a neon sign by over exposing yourself then that seems about right to me.

Murphy still says that whatever you miss when pruning is where a buck will manage to get behind!
Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.
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