Although I know a lot of hunters/managers hate their big sections of industrial pine, in a primarily hardwood habitat, small patches of pine are gold mines. The first pines I ever planted were on a steep hillside clearcut, and I didn't get them planted until the cuts had experienced a full summer of regrowth. That put the seedlings behind the 8-ball. The seedlings on the lower section of the hillside, where soil moisture is better, couldn't compete with the natural regrowth that had a year's head start and were eventually shaded out and died. But the seedlings towards the top of the hill, where soil moisture was more limited, were able to outgrow the hardwood saplings, and eventually the pines dominated. It took about 5 years of growth before the deer started to focus bedding and movement on that pine patch, but those pines have been a hot spot ever since. I honestly expected the pines to lose their drawing power after about 15-20 years, but they're now at 23 years and deer are still using them.
I'm hoping the fact I got my current pine seedlings in before any natural regrowth had started will allow them to come on strong and dominate quickly. Although I purposefully used a spacing that will allow some hardwoods to fill in between during the regrowth process. Once everything is up about 3 years of growth, I'll probably knock that hardwood competition back with herbicides.
