‘Cutovers’ come with a double-edge
I do understand that “Cutovers” or “Clearcuts” as we call them in the northeast have their good points as well as there bad points. I do agree that after a cutover there is a couple of years of not much wildlife use but, give it 2 to 3 years after and it is teaming with all sorts of wildlife. I do know the demand for pine but if they keep taking the hardwoods it could hurt us in the long run.
This story by JASON MUNZ had come from The Clarion Ledger - Outdoors & Hattiesburg American
GEORGE CLARK | Hattiesburg American
DAVID DONOHUE, owner of Donohue Forestry Services, surveys a 35-acre tract that has been replanted with pine seedlings after being clear-cut. 
Take a drive through Hattiesburg or any part of the Pine Belt really, and the likelihood that you will see at least one tract of land being cleared is extremely high.
It’s not uncommon to make a trip down Mississippi 589 or U.S. 11 or even U.S. 98 and pass by land that is littered with trucks, dozers and loaders, especially since Hurricane Katrina.
Reasons for that range anywhere between housing development to retail development to timber harvesting.
No matter the motivation for land clearing, the issue remains controversial among different groups for various reasons.
Among those groups are conservationists and animal rights activists, but hunters and outdoorsmen are affected as well.
Russ Walsh, private lands biologist with the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks (MDWFP), said he sees both sides of the issue.
“I think there is a negative connotation with the term ‘cutover,’” he said. “From a wildlife standpoint, it’s not necessarily bad, because you’re going to have a flourish of vegetation after that. Most hunters understand that timber harvest and management is part of good wildlife management and cutovers are built into that equation.”
Walsh, who works the southern third of the state, said there can, however, be drawbacks.
“It can be problematic years down the road,” he said. “Whatever kind of hunter you are, the loss of hardwood acres is a concern.”
Deer hunter Blaine Gregory of Brandon is somewhat divided on the issue.
“When they’re initially harvesting (the land), it’s bad, because the wildlife aren’t going to stick around,” he said. “After it calms down, though, especially the year or two after, that’s when the hunting gets better, so at that point it can be an advantage.”
According to the MDWFP Web site, about 80 percent of Mississippi is privately owned, and there are 48 publicly-owned wildlife management areas in the state.
Gregory, formerly of Hattiesburg, said he enjoys the benefits of land that has been cut over, but he does not seek it out.
“If the land I’m hunting has been cut over, I’ll take advantage of it,” he said. “But I don’t go out seeking it. If you hunt public land, they don’t get out much and cut timber.”
Walsh said part of hunters’ concerns deals with the loss of hardwoods.
“Hardwoods are cut and replaced with pine,” he said. “A lot of this area is being harvested with production pines. I think, by and large, a lot of pine plantations are mismanaged these days, for species like turkey and quail.”
Gregory said he’s never hunted turkey, but plans to this year.
“I’ve been hunting since I was 12-years-old,” he said. “Deer hunting is what I prefer. I’m not even sure how cutovers affect turkeys.”
Walsh said cutovers benefit deer hunters more than turkey hunters.
“It’s really not a good turkey habitat,” Walsh, who has been in his current position for the past three-plus years, said. “But, from a deer hunter’s standpoint, cutovers are good. It gives hunters good viewing and for the first couple of years, you see a lot of deer in a cutover area.”
Gregory, who hunts in Morton, also owns land in Stringer and Bay Springs.
“I would prefer a planted food plot or a hardwood bottom over a cutover,” he said. “Probably just because a cutover is just not a pretty place to hunt. When you have a hardwood bottom, it’s just a prettier place to hunt. That’s part of it, enjoying nature.”