Cutovers, Old Fields & Briar Tangles

An old-timer points across the fence at a scraggly cutover choked with briars, honeysuckle, and broomsedge. “That’s where the rabbits are,” he says. To you it looks like a tangle of nothing. By the end of this lesson, you’ll see it the way he does — and know exactly how long it will stay that good.

Quick recall

Quick recall — what is the single most important structural feature that makes a location productive for cottontails?

Quick recall — what is the single most important structural feature that makes a location productive for cottontails?

Open food ground AND dense escape cover within a short bolt Abundant food — clover, grass, forbs Shade from the midday sun

Check answer

Timber cutovers: the Piedmont hotspot

A recently logged tract — especially one 2–10 years after harvest — is some of the best cottontail habitat in the SC Piedmont. Here is why: the logging opens the canopy and floods the ground with light. Native grasses, blackberry, greenbriar, and brush rocket up first. The tangle of slash (leftover tops and limbs) creates instant escape cover and structure. The young regrowth is tender, palatable, and dense at ground level.

Rabbit numbers in a fresh cutover can be startling. Survey work in the Southeast regularly documents high cottontail densities in young pine plantations and logged tracts. The catch is the window: as the planted pines or hardwood saplings close the canopy — typically by year 10–15 — they shade out the ground cover, and the rabbits move on.

Reading a cutover for rabbit potential:

• 2–4 years old: optimal. Slash still provides structure; native regrowth is at its rankest; cover and food are everywhere.
• 5–10 years: still very good if enough light reaches the ground. Look for persistent briar patches around the margins and openings.
• 10+ years: canopy is closing. Rabbits have largely moved to the edges of the stand — concentrate on the perimeter where cover types transition.

The why Why pines matter for Piedmont rabbit hunting

Much of the SC Piedmont is managed pine country — tree farms, Sumter National Forest blocks, and private timber lands are all loblolly or longleaf. This is actually great news for rabbit hunters because timber operations create an ongoing mosaic of cuts at different ages. A forest managed on a 25–35 year rotation will always have some blocks in that 2–10 year sweet spot. Contact Sumter National Forest district rangers or local timber company recreation coordinators to find which blocks are recently cut — these are usually publicly accessible or available with a courtesy ask.

Broomsedge old fields

Broomsedge (Andropogon spp.) is a rust-orange warm-season grass that dominates abandoned Piedmont fields, roadsides, and fallow ground. It grows knee-high in dense clumps and is the classic South Carolina old-field species.

Old broomsedge fields are outstanding loafing cover for rabbits. The grass clumps are the exact structure a cottontail builds its form (resting depression) in. Rabbits sit tight in these clumps through the day, almost invisible.

The limitation: broomsedge alone is not enough. An open broomsedge field without nearby escape cover is less productive than a smaller patch of broomsedge adjacent to a briar tangle or brush pile. The combination — broomsedge for loafing, blackberry or brush for escape — is a Piedmont classic.

Old fields also cycle. Broomsedge is an early-mid successional species. Left alone, it gives way to native shrubs, then eventually to hardwood saplings and pine. A pure broomsedge field from 15 years ago may now be a closed shrub thicket — still useful but different. Notice where the field is in succession when you scout.

Blackberry and briar tangles

Blackberry (Rubus spp.) and native greenbriar (Smilax spp.) are the cottontail’s best friend and the hunter’s worst obstacle. They are the same thing.

A mature blackberry thicket is simultaneously loafing cover (dense enough to conceal a sitting rabbit from aerial predators), food (rabbits eat stems and berries), and escape cover (thorny enough to slow any predator). For the rabbit, it is a one-stop shop.

Look for blackberry in:

• Old field margins and roadsides
• Pine cutover edges, where the slash and sun combine for ideal blackberry growth
• Fence lines and forest edges
• Any disturbed ground — logging roads, old homesteads, abandoned pastures

Briar patches also mark out an age: they thrive in full or partial sun and decline as the canopy closes over them. A briar tangle in a 6-year-old cutover is peak habitat; the same spot 20 years later is shaded out.

Brush piles: artificial escape cover

A well-constructed brush pile in otherwise good edge habitat is a rabbit magnet. Hunters and landowners who pile slash from fallen trees, pruning, and clearing operations are essentially building free cottontail housing.

An effective brush pile is 4–7 feet tall and 6–20 feet across, with an open interior that rabbits can enter from ground level. Smaller piles (2 feet or less) are too low and easily crushed by snow or accessed by predators. Space them 10–50 yards apart if building multiple piles.

In the context of hunting: treat every brush pile as a potential flushing point. Approach it quietly, position yourself for a shot before kicking it, and be ready for an explosive, low, close flush.

How rabbit numbers track succession

The big-picture rule: rabbits live in early successional cover and leave as cover matures. Succession is the process by which bare or disturbed ground moves through grass to shrubs to saplings to forest. Cottontails peak in the middle stages — grassy-to-shrubby — and decline sharply once the canopy closes.

This means rabbit habitat is not permanent. A cutover that holds dozens of rabbits today may hold almost none in 15 years. Good rabbit hunters think ahead: where is the new disturbance? Which fields are being taken out of hay? Which timber blocks are being cut this winter? Succession is always moving; follow it.

Bare/disturbed — few rabbits yet Broomsedge + forbs — loafing cover Briar tangles — peak habitat Young cutover — excellent Closed canopy — rabbits gone

Make the call — which cover type, when?

Knowledge check

You're scouting a piece of ground in late October. You find a 4-year-old loblolly pine cutover with thick native regrowth, lots of blackberry, and slash piles throughout. What should you expect?

You're scouting a piece of ground in late October. You find a 4-year-old loblolly pine cutover with thick native regrowth, lots of blackberry, and slash piles throughout. What should you expect?

This is likely excellent rabbit habitat — hunt the edges and interior openings Too old — rabbits have already left because the pines are too big Too young — come back in a few years when it grows in more

Check answer

Knowledge check

You find a wide broomsedge old field — roughly 10 acres of knee-high grass with no brush, no briar patches, no brush piles, and woods 400 feet away on all sides. How productive is this likely to be?

You find a wide broomsedge old field — roughly 10 acres of knee-high grass with no brush, no briar patches, no brush piles, and woods 400 feet away on all sides. How productive is this likely to be?

Limited — loafing cover is good but escape cover is too far away Excellent — 10 acres of grass means plenty of rabbits Poor — broomsedge has no food value for rabbits

Check answer

Take it to the woods

Scout a new piece of ground this week — in person or with satellite imagery first, then on foot.

Cover-type scouting checklist

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Reset

• Find any recent cutovers on the property — estimate their age.
• Check: is the cutover 2–10 years old with a mostly open canopy?
• Locate any broomsedge old fields and note distance to escape cover.
• Find every blackberry / briar patch — these are your X marks on the map.
• Count and locate existing brush piles; plan approach angles for each.
• Make a rough call on where each cover type is in succession: early, peak, or declining?

Sources

• Carolina Sportsman — Bust Upstate Bunnies (SC Piedmont cutovers and rabbit habitat): https://www.carolinasportsman.com/content/bust-upstate-bunnies-south-carolinas-upstate-is-home-to-a-lot-of-good-habitat-and-great-rabbit-hunting/
• Penn State Extension — Managing Habitat for Eastern Cottontails (brush pile specs, old-field succession): https://extension.psu.edu/managing-habitat-for-eastern-cottontails
• SCDNR Cottontail Rabbit: https://www.dnr.sc.gov/wildlife/publications/pdf/rabbit.pdf
• NC State Extension — Cottontail Rabbit (habitat succession, escape cover): https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/cottontail-rabbit
• Dive Bomb Industries — Rabbit Hunting in South Carolina (Piedmont cover types): https://www.divebombindustries.com/blogs/news/rabbit-hunting-in-south-carolina-cottontail-essentials

Season dates, bag limits, and license requirements change yearly — always verify current SCDNR regulations before you hunt: https://www.dnr.sc.gov/regulations.html