Putting in a new food Plot.

[spud]

In the back of my property I have just started putting in another food plot. Im finding that the bigger bucks will be in my lower plots right up to deer season but once the season starts they go high. The new plot is a mile off the road and at the 1250 elevation which is the highest point of my property. Going to do clover for this year and then plant 15 apple trees around it next spring. I plan to put a shooting shack about 16 feet off the ground at the far side of the new plot. This will allow me to see anything coming from all sides. The shack will be insulated and be about 6x6 so I can sleep in it if needed. The plot itself will only be about 1/2 acre.

Spud

[n8hutch]

Sounds like a good plan, we seeded a roughly 4 acre field with SAMs (sportsman's alliance of maine)wildlife mix last year . Wouldn't you know it but one morning during hunting season there was a good sized deer in that field feeding with its head down, I was sure that it was a Doe because there was alot of them around, drove another 250 feet closer and that Deer picked it's head up, you guessed it 10 pointer big wide rack, and now it's running for the woods, next time I'll get out of the truck and put a scope on it. What a dummy.

I guess that is a long way of saying that food plots work, and are worth the effort, we also left about 6 big oaks in that 4 acre field.

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

Nice spud, good luck. That sounds identical to what I am working on behind our house. 1/2 acre with a similar mix to what Nate used. Just clearing the alders now, hope to have it turned over and ready to plant next year. Plan to do 3-4 apple trees and some pumpkins or beets annually in a corner of it. Hopefully have the insulated shack up next year.

[maple maniac65]

Insulated sleeping Shack and a foodlot. I might as well just stay in my easy chair with a TV and set out a bowl of grain.. I get 8 point bucks 16 feet from the sliding door..

Good luck guys,

[maple flats]

I have blueberries, 4.5 acres on one of my parcels of land. I need to get nuisance permits to reduce the herd every year because the deer really like to feed on the buds from about late Jan thru March. The State DEC suggested I put up a shooting house at a junction between the 2 blueberry fields. I built one that is 6x6x7.5 tall. It has steps going up and there are 8 shooting windows. I built it with 4 sides about 4' wide and then cut off the corners to leave a 18" corner and each has a shooting window. It is on legs that hold the platform 11' off the ground. In the 2 years it has been there we have shot 11 deer from it, but this spring, in May I still saw 2 does on the same day, walking to different areas in a weed covered field, most likely to nurse their young. Blueberries seem to be a great food plot unless you want to get a good harvest of berries.

[FDA]

I have blueberries, 4.5 acres on one of my parcels of land. I need to get nuisance permits to reduce the herd every year because the deer really like to feed on the buds from about late Jan thru March. The State DEC suggested I put up a shooting house at a junction between the 2 blueberry fields. I built one that is 6x6x7.5 tall. It has steps going up and there are 8 shooting windows. I built it with 4 sides about 4' wide and then cut off the corners to leave a 18" corner and each has a shooting window. It is on legs that hold the platform 11' off the ground. In the 2 years it has been there we have shot 11 deer from it, but this spring, in May I still saw 2 does on the same day, walking to different areas in a weed covered field, most likely to nurse their young. Blueberries seem to be a great food plot unless you want to get a good harvest of berries.

Plant more acres. 4 acres is a food plot.

[maple flats]

I doubt it, while 4.5 acres HAS proven to be a food plot, at my age combined with the fact that it takes 6-8 years for full production from a blueberry planting and between 11-14 years to recover the expenses of planting and tending the planting before you realize any profit and the fact that I have no family members having an interest in taking over the business when I can no longer do it, I'll stay at 4.5 acres.