If you spend much time hunting, you’ve likely enjoyed some quality time in forestry industry-created cutovers. No two cutovers are alike, and hunters never forget the really good ones. Over the years, I’ve spent hundreds of days in logging cuts, sometimes gazing at the endless emptiness, and also witnessing incredible sights. There is a certain smell to a cutover that’s hard to articulate; when you smell it, you know it. It makes me think of hunting.
The first cutovers
My earliest memory of hunting a cutover is from the early 1980s, when my family and friends began to hunt deer around the Nestor Falls area. These hunts were done with my father Gord Ellis Sr. and various friends. That’s when the forest industry was beginning to boom, so many trees were being cut. We learned that setting up on the edge of these new cuts was a great way to see deer. Sometimes we would do pushes through smaller chunks of bush that would force deer out into the open.
I have a memory of my father pushing a section of bush and yours truly setting up in the cut behind a big stump. That stump was 100 yards from a well-worn deer trail entering the cut. About 15 minutes after Senior began his push, deer could be heard bounding into the bush. My heart rate redlined as I waited. When the animals began to appear at the end of the trail, they all had shiny, smooth heads. With only a buck tag available, I watched as seven does and a couple fawns trotted into the open and across the cut. Not a single buck was in the group. But what an amazing sight.
Deer will return in time
It became obvious over time that when cuts were made, a lot of deer would be pushed into the adjacent standing timber. We saw this north of Vermilion Bay in the late 2000s when large chunks of red pine were being harvested. When we hunted the remaining pine stands, we found a very high density of deer and a bumper crop of big bucks. This created the perfect scenario to hunt for a deer of a lifetime, as many mature bucks were vying for the attention of does. Calling and rattling was effective as the displaced bucks seemed especially territorial. Gord Senior and I both took big bucks calling and rattling near the edges of these cuts.
The hunting was great for several years, but when nearly all the trees were cut in the area, the deer disappeared. Thankfully, forests grow back, so someday those deer will return, I hope.
Moose magnets
If you hunt moose in Ontario, you’ve almost certainly spent quality time in large cuts. Disturbances connected with logging are moose magnets, as the leafy browse they love grows well in them. Where there are moose, there are hunters. You might assume hunting big cutovers for moose would be pretty much a slam dunk. You would assume wrong. Moose have an incredible ability to make themselves scarce when hunters arrive in a cut.
They can also be very stealthy when they exit. One time, on a hunt near Upsala, we had found an area where the moose had been feeding heavily on red willow. The shrubs were chewed down hard, and tracks and poop were everywhere. The plan was for our group to park well back from the cut and walk in at first light. The spot where the moose were feeding was overlooked by a high ridge, so it was a great place to spot a moose and hopefully harvest one. We had a bull tag and there were several sets of bull tracks. In the early morning light, I walked in with great anticipation.
At the top of the ridge, I could see a dark shape in the willows about 150 yards away. The gun went up but somehow, that moose saw me and slunk through the tag alders like a garter snake in the grass. The last glimpse I had was its hindquarters heading into the bush.
Making memories
Sometimes it all works out. On a moose hunt several years ago, I picked my way up a tote road that connected one large cut with a smaller “winter cut.”
That smaller route was full of new, leafy browse. The trail into the cut was pockmarked by moose tracks and some of them looked very fresh. The morning sun was shining down, and the wind was slight. There was a feeling of anticipation in the air. At the top of the hill, the new cut could be seen spreading out for several hundred yards. Using binoculars, the edges of the cut were carefully scanned for any sign of a moose bedded down.
More than once, moose have sprung up from behind bushes or blowdowns and galloped into the woods. Yet, there was something telling me that a moose was close. Turning slowly, I looked behind me to see a bull standing 50 yards away. It was looking directly at me and was standing still. Slowly, the gun went up and the scope found the base of the bull’s neck.
I squeezed the trigger and the bull turned and ran into the trees. A minute later it went down. It was a gorgeous 2.5-year-old bull. The extraction was not easy but, the cut allowed for the use of an ATV.
Many memories have been made hunting in cutovers. Hopefully there will be more to come.
Originally published in Ontario OUT of DOORS’ 2023-2024 Hunting Annual
Cutovers are great places to hunt, but it helps if you do some scouting to see which edge is most likely to be used by game. A common fault is that hunters try to cover off more than what is practical, so end up with very long shots. Don’t post upwind of where game are expected be, and try to stay hidden as moose/deer/bears aren’t blind. Folks need to think things out before posting in a cut.