Wooded vs Open vs Mixed Land

By Seth Willyard, Blue River Realty

For most recreational buyers, mixed land is the best all-round choice: enough timber for privacy and cover, enough opening for a building site, a view and food for wildlife. All-wooded land is the best starting point if you value seclusion and are willing to cut a few openings. All-open land is the best choice if you want pasture, a garden, horses or an easy place to build, and the weakest for holding deer. The cover you buy is also the cover you can change, in one direction much faster than the other: timber can be opened quickly, and it cannot be grown back quickly.

This article is part of our Oklahoma recreational land guide. Most land in the Southeastern Oklahoma mountains is timbered, which is why open ground gets a full and fair hearing below.

Side by side

Wooded land

What it does well

Privacy. Timber between you and the road is the cheapest screen there is. A camper or cabin a hundred yards into the woods is out of sight.

Cover for wildlife. Oklahoma State University Extension's white-tailed deer fact sheet lists what deer need from cover: screening, bedding, loafing, escape and thermal cover. Sapling thickets, thinned stands with resprouting hardwoods and thick hardwood bottoms all provide it. A wooded tract has the hardest part of deer habitat to create already in place.

Mast. OSU notes that in fall and winter, hard mast such as acorns is important and preferred by deer when available. Mature mast trees are not something you can add quickly. See trees and timber on Ouachita tracts.

Shade. In an Oklahoma summer, a shaded camp is the difference between using the place in July and not.

Possible timber value. Marketable pine or hardwood is an asset, provided the timber rights come with the land. See timber rights and water rights.

Where it falls short

A closed canopy grows little deer food. OSU's figures are blunt: after the canopy closes, forage yields fall to less than 100 pounds per acre on poor sites and generally less than 300 pounds per acre on good sites unless the stand is thinned and burned. It also reports that doe home ranges run 60 to 300 acres on good range but can exceed 2,000 acres on low-fertility soils under a closed forest canopy. Unbroken mature timber looks like deer country and often feeds few of them.

You must clear to build. A driveway, a pad and a septic field all need openings, and clearing costs money. See first improvements on raw land and what it costs to develop raw land.

Views take work. A ridge-top tract with a long view on the listing photo may have that view only from the one spot already cut.

Fuel. Timber and leaf litter burn. Know the rules and the risk before you light anything; see burn bans, wildfire and prescribed burns.

Harder to walk and read. Corners, slopes and wet ground are harder to see under timber. Our guide on how to walk a property before buying covers what to look for.

Open land

What it does well

It is ready. Drive in, park, pick a building site. No clearing bill, and the ground is easy to evaluate because you can see all of it.

Views and sky. An open hilltop gives you the horizon, sunsets and stars without cutting a tree. See dark skies and stargazing.

Grass. Horses, a few cattle, a hay cutting, a big garden or an orchard all need open ground. Horses and trail riding on small acreage covers what horses need.

Possible agricultural valuation. Oklahoma law bases the taxable value of agricultural land on its use value. Land in genuine agricultural use, such as grazing or hay, is the usual route to it. Whether a small tract qualifies is a question for the county assessor; see the agricultural exemption on raw land.

Food plots and dove fields are easy. The ground is already open and usually workable with ordinary equipment. See duck, dove and small game on private land.

Where it falls short

No cover, no deer at daylight. Deer may cross or feed in open ground, but they do not live in it. OSU's guideline is at least three dispersed core areas of thick, brushy permanent cover of about four acres each for every 150 acres. A bare pasture has none.

Not all grass is food. OSU states that introduced pasture such as bermudagrass and Old World bluestem provides little food value to deer and, if intensively managed as pasture, can be detrimental to them. A green field is not automatically a wildlife field.

It does not stay open by itself. OSU's eastern redcedar fact sheet explains that with fire suppressed, woody plants including redcedar spread into prairies and pastures, and that prescribed fire is the most economical tool for keeping them out. Without fire, mowing or grazing, open ground in eastern Oklahoma turns to brush. Budget time or money for it every year.

No privacy. Whatever you put on an open tract can be seen from the road and from the neighbors, and you can see theirs.

Heat and wind. No shade and no windbreak until you plant them.

Mixed land

Why it usually wins

OSU's deer fact sheet says white-tailed deer are often called an edge species but actually prefer an interspersion of several habitat types in different stages of growth. Its rule of thumb for forested country is roughly a third of the area in mature forest, a third in early-successional growth including pasture, and a third in brushy vegetation or regeneration. No all-wooded or all-open tract meets that. A mixed tract can.

The same publication recommends, where openings are lacking, creating them at a minimum rate of 10 to 12 acres per square mile of mature forest. A square mile is 640 acres, so that minimum works out to roughly two-thirds of an acre of opening on a 40-acre wooded tract, and proportionally less on smaller ones. The one-third rule of thumb points to far more than the minimum. Both figures say the same thing: timber with openings beats timber without.

For people, mixed land solves the practical problems at once. Build in the opening, keep the timber between you and the road, put the stand where the two meet.

What to check

Where the pieces are. Ten open acres along the road and thirty wooded acres behind is a different property from the reverse. Timber on the boundary gives privacy; an opening on the boundary gives the neighbor a view of your camp.

What the opening is. A recent clear-cut, a pipeline right-of-way, a hay meadow and an overgrown field are all "open" in a listing. Each behaves differently and some come with easements. See legal access and easements.

Who is keeping it open. If a neighbor cuts the hay or runs cattle on it, find out whether there is a lease and what happens to it when you buy.

Making the land you have into the land you want

Opening timber. OSU's recommendations for deer in pine and hardwood stands are to thin, to follow thinning with prescribed fire, and to plant existing man-made openings such as log landings, unused logging roads and skid trails with clover, legumes and rye. It cautions that food plots are not a cure-all: planted openings rarely make up for seasonal swings in natural food, and their value is mainly in winter where closed-canopy forest dominates. On small tracts, a few well-placed openings matter more than their total size. See managing 10 to 40 acres for deer and hog hunting, food plots and ATVs.

Growing cover on open ground. OSU suggests letting odd areas grow into brushy thickets, leaving fence rows uncleaned, planting field edges next to woods in native grasses and legumes, and connecting blocks of cover with brushy or timbered travel corridors. It also says not to mow or brush-hog during fawning season, which in Oklahoma is May and June. This is slow work measured in years.

Free help. Oklahoma Forestry Services says more than twelve million acres, about 28 percent of the state, is forested, and it offers private landowners forest management plans, timber stand improvement advice and prescribed burning assistance. Its Forest Stewardship Program provides free technical assistance and a written multi-resource plan to non-industrial private forest owners who commit to active management for at least ten years. OSU also points deer managers to the wildlife department's Deer Management Assistance Program.

Which to choose

• Choose wooded if privacy and hunting come first, you are happy to cut a homesite and a few openings, and you do not need pasture.
• Choose open if you want horses, a garden, a workshop, a view and easy building, and hunting is secondary or you plan to grow cover over time.
• Choose mixed if you want to hunt, camp and build on the same tract without years of work first. Expect it to be the most sought-after of the three; what drives recreational land prices covers how cover and other features affect price.

Blue River Realty sells surveyed tracts with legal deeded access in Southeastern Oklahoma, with owner financing available. Cover differs from tract to tract, so ask us what is on a specific one, and walk it before you decide. See recreational land for sale in Oklahoma, mountain land and hunting land, or contact us at (539) 426-1374.

This article is general information, not forestry, legal or tax advice. For a plan specific to your tract, ask an Oklahoma Forestry Services forester or a wildlife biologist.

Frequently asked questions

Is wooded land or cleared land better for deer hunting?

Neither alone. Oklahoma State University Extension says deer prefer several habitat types mixed together, and gives a rule of thumb for forested country of about a third each in mature forest, early-successional openings and brushy regrowth. Wooded land supplies cover but little forage once the canopy closes. Open land can supply food but no cover. Wooded land with openings cut into it, or mixed land, hunts best.

How much of my wooded land should I open up for deer?

OSU's minimum where openings are lacking is 10 to 12 acres per square mile of mature forest, which is roughly two-thirds of an acre on a 40-acre tract. Its broader rule of thumb, about a third of the area in early-successional growth, suggests much more. Start with openings you already have, such as old logging roads and landings, and ask a forester or wildlife biologist before clearing more.

Does open land stay open if I leave it alone?

Not in eastern Oklahoma. OSU Extension's eastern redcedar guidance explains that without fire, woody plants including redcedar move into prairies and pastures, and it calls prescribed fire the most economical tool for preventing that. Mowing and grazing are the usual alternatives. If you buy open ground and do nothing, expect woody plants to move in, and plan the upkeep into your yearly costs.

Is pasture good for deer?

It depends on the grass. OSU Extension states that introduced pasture such as bermudagrass and Old World bluestem provides little food value to deer and can be detrimental to them when intensively managed. Native grasses and forbs, legumes, and small-grain or clover plantings are far more useful. A pasture's value to wildlife comes mostly from what grows on its edges and how much cover is nearby.

Can I get help managing timber on a small tract in Oklahoma?

Yes. Oklahoma Forestry Services offers private landowners management plans, forest health advice, timber stand improvement and prescribed burning assistance. Its Forest Stewardship Program gives free technical assistance and a written plan to non-industrial private forest owners who commit to actively managing their land for at least ten years. The program page does not state a minimum acreage; contact the forester for your area to ask.

Is wooded land harder to build on?

It takes more preparation. You will need to clear for a driveway, a building pad and, if you install one, a septic field, and the clearing is an added cost that open land does not have. In return you choose exactly how much to open and keep the rest as shade and screening. Walk the tract with whoever will do the dirt work before you buy, and get a written estimate.

Sources

1. Oklahoma State University Extension, White-Tailed Deer (L-267, April 2017) — habitat interspersion and the one-third rule of thumb, cover requirements, forage yields after canopy closure, home range sizes, introduced pasture, thinning and prescribed fire, openings per square mile, food plot limits, cover on open land, fawning season.
2. Oklahoma State University Extension, Best Management Practices for Controlling Eastern Redcedar (E-988, March 2013) — woody encroachment into prairies and pastures without fire; prescribed fire as the most economical tool.
3. Oklahoma Forestry Services, Forest and Land Management — forested acreage in Oklahoma and services for private landowners.
4. Oklahoma Forestry Services, Oklahoma Forest Stewardship Plan — eligibility, free technical assistance, ten-year commitment.
5. Oklahoma State University Extension, Lease Hunting Opportunities for Oklahoma Landowners (NREM-5032, June 2023) — reference to the ODWC Deer Management Assistance Program and to land management practices that affect wildlife.
6. Oklahoma Statutes Title 68, section 2817 (Oklahoma Legislature, complete title) — use value of agricultural land.
7. Blue River Realty, The Agricultural Exemption on Oklahoma Raw Land — how agricultural valuation applies to small tracts.