So in a couple weeks I am finishing a stand I have along a alfalfa field and the opposite side is pretty thick woods. I am thinking of cutting down some of the trees to at least have a shooting lane. How wide or how much would you cut out? This will be used for rifle and muzzeloader seasons?
Very tough to answer Wade without seeing the terrain, bedding areas, food sources, travel routes, pressure points etc…
I’m not a big believer in clearing shooting lanes at this time of the year being the gun season is less than 3 months away. It may cause them to change their travel patterns.
Maybe consider making what I call a “45 degree looking lanes” which will allow you to get a glimpse of the deer coming through the terrain and then create a very narrow shooting lane/kill zone that will allow you to get off a shot.
should the clearing out a lane be done in the spring time then? I was thinking of making a path/lane and planting alfalfa or some kind of food source there.
Yes – early spring and I like to do it when the leaves are off because that would match up to what you’ll see during the gun season. If you do it with the leaves on, you may end up clearing too much.
I cleared shooting lanes this past spring and still had to do trimming this past weekend. Once the leaves came out they bent limbs that were originally not in the way. If you trim in spring time make sure you check them before the season starts or you may not get that shot off! 
thanks for the tips!
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