[Kevan]

My hunting property is around 15 acres but it got quite overgrown this year as I have not cut the weeds down all year. There are quite a few apple trees though out the property and it is surrounded by woods but right now it is just too overgrown for me to walk in undetected, and I would also like to cut some lanes in.

Do you guys think it is too late this year to do this? We still have some time but I don't want to spook the deer off.

 

[Kevan]

Sorry I forgot to say that it is mostly field with a few trees and a couple lanes of apple trees.

 

[Luv2hunteup]

It will not hurt a thing unless you use your tractor for hunting and the deer know it. I just finished up brush hogging a fire break around the outside of a couple of fields we plan on burning next spring. I was able to get within about 15 yards of a feeding doe before she picked up her head. A 42 hp diesel makes noise but she showed little concern that I was there. Deer do not associate farm equipment with danger.

I should add that I am in an agricultural environment.

 

[Minibouncer]

I just opened up some of my trails and made some new cut-ins last weekend with a brush hog. I'm an amature to deer habitat, but if you think it would help the deer movement to where it benefits their bedding, eating, and drinking, then I think it would be a good thing. Just keep in mind what's good for a human isn't always the case for deer. On that note, I had an uncle who would chop down trees in the front of a 20 acre wood lot and deer would still pass through WHILE he was doing it. It's hard to hear in the woods, especially if it's overgrown like you said it is.