You need a combination of both, which is what we've got. Deer bed down in the thickets, especially on ridge tops where anything approaching them has to come uphill. They pass through "mature forests" to get to glades, acorn trees, and bedding areas - but they don't stay there.

The "thickets" we have are mostly multiflora roses and blackberries. The roses are an invasive plant, I don't know if the blackberries are native or not. Both of them will eventually get shaded out as the trees grow and the understory will become open again.

I'd love to set the place on fire and thin it out a bit, as you claim the Indians did - but that's illegal. Funny thing, Conservation area land is next door to us and they burn it off every few years. I guess it ain't illegal if the government does it.

One thing for sure - none of us will ever see the Ozarks in the natural pre-settler condition of big pine forests. Every inch of this country has been changed by man's activities.