Longleaf Pines and Big Bucks

My brother harvested this deer yesterday off of our property.  It was a nine pointer, probably 3 1/2 years old with a 19 inch spread.  The significance of this harvest is where the deer came from.  

In the past two years every buck we have harvested has come from areas where we have planted longleaf pines.  Most of the bucks we have harvested in the last eight years since we started planting longleaf pines have come from where we planted these pines.  I can only speak for the Piedmont area of our state but I can definitely say this is a major benefit to planting longleaf pines in the range of the  Mountain Longleaf Pines.  

You don't hear of this much in the promotion of planting longleaf pines but it is a major reason we have started planting in harvested areas with longleaf pines, deer love the habitat.  I can't say for Coastal Longleaf but here in the Piedmont there is a definite advantage. The management of these trees produce most everything a deer wants and needs as far as habitat.