Well, I contacted my logger and to my surprise, it's more affordable than I thought it would be to have him grub stumps and rocks and rough leveling. So, I can afford about 10-12 hours of work which will clear about an acre of land total. My current thinking is 4 separate plots about 1/4 acre each. I've got good locations for each - 3 in areas that were clearcut and one in the remaining timber. Is a 1/4 acre plot big enough? Just trying to get them to stop while passing through. Thanks.
Depending on the lay of the land and the remaining woods, I like 1/2 acre plots. 1/4 acre plots are small enough that the deer can wipe one out completely very quickly.
How do your ideas for plots lay out? How will you hunt them? What is the prevailing wind direction? Morning or evening hunts? By having them cleared what direction will the deer enter them from? So much planning and thought ahead. Isn't this fun?!?!
Another thought would to do two 1/4 acre plots and a one 1/2 acre plot. But the decision would be best made by the layout of the land. Got any aerial photos of property for use to help with some layout suggestions?
Hopefully the attachment is here. Yellow solid is existing logging road; yellow dashed are ATV trails. Stars are box blinds. Triangles are treestands. Areas outlined in red are the clearcut areas. The area marked with the "C" and adjoining to the south is low, cedar and balsam mainly. We generally stay out of the larger area with the "C". Prevailing winds generally from the southwest and west during bow season. West to northwest later in the season. Blue is where I'm thinking of placing the food plots. The round one was cleared by the logger as a landing and to park his equipment - this one's a no-brainer as it's clear of stumps and flat. The other blue areas are where I'm thinking of having the logger grub and level. Does this help?
Just a thought on plots in the woods, you get areas that don't grow well because of shade and competition with the surrounding trees. Larger plots would get more sunlight. Don't know if this would change you strategy or not. I don't know if there is any ag fields near you, but if these plots are to feed the deer you may want larger ones to get better production. If plots are only for hunting, then maybe smaller ones for more stand sites is better Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk
Also take access and egress routes into consideration when putting the plots in. Typically when having some good plots you will bump feeding deer on the way in before sunrise and have a hard time leaving the stand after dark because of feeding deer.
