Hedge cutting, winter pruning timing

Wayside

The general advice is to prune cut back deciduous hedges in winter.  Is it better to do closer to spring burst or does it not matter?

Thinking Hazel and Beech here.

(I know with the Beech, people will say why would you do that while it still has it's rusty leaves.)

I assume as there is no growth, the wounds can't heal until the spring.  Is this an issue?

I know the leaves have barely fallen yet.  I'm just trying to organise tasks over the next few months.

Fairygirl

Some of our local mixed hedging has just been cut, and that has all sorts in it, so assuming your weather is quite benign, it shouldn't be a huge  problem. We have a lot of beech round here in the hedges as well as full trees, although most are bare now. 

Beech would normally be done by now,  in a domestic setting, and it just allows any new growth to be hardened before frosts. Again, that depends on your climate. September is usually about the end point, but we often have frosts at end of September and early October, and I used to do my Dad's hedge in later September with no problems. You may get a few nipped 'ends' , but in a healthy hedge, it would recover well, and could be tidied in later spring/summer.  

I don't have any experience of Hazel though, so I can't comment on that.