Orchard vs Foodplot
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Buckmaster
Senior Member
Rutin
Senior Member
Why not both? Next season I will be expanding my food plot and planting rootseed apple trees. I want something they can eat year round on my property!
Food plot on the way too an orchard too be exact.... I've had the pleasure of hunting an orchard with Sam and some of his friends and the traffic around them is amazing this time of year....
That's what came to mind for me. Orchard is long term, food plot is pretty much annual.
Ohiosam
*Supporting Member*
Getting a few fruit trees growing where there are a bunch of deer can be a challenge. They'd need to be fenced off till they got mostly grown.
Be a challenge here to. Hell I can't even plant a garden for the deer eating everything.
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ok all! Finally I got a few minutes.
Heres my situation. I have a large food plot. It is near the road tho- old dirt road, tons of noise when car/truck goes down it. I rarely have deer feeding in this plot during the day. I have hung a camera just about every place you can hang them. Ive hunted it, my uncle had hunted it, we just are not seeing the deer.
My solution:
Make the large field a Apple Orchard, at 20ft apart I could probably get 25-35 trees in this field, give or take. I want enough room in-between rows to be able to run the tiller, and put in a lite clover, brassica, oats mix every year.
Below this plot is some decent cover, however I dont think the deer are bedding in it due to the surronding property being 800acres of clear cut. I am thinking about dozing about an acre below the future orchard. So its hidden from the road, and makign this a maing plot with turnips, clovers, etc.
What do yall think?
Heres my situation. I have a large food plot. It is near the road tho- old dirt road, tons of noise when car/truck goes down it. I rarely have deer feeding in this plot during the day. I have hung a camera just about every place you can hang them. Ive hunted it, my uncle had hunted it, we just are not seeing the deer.
My solution:
Make the large field a Apple Orchard, at 20ft apart I could probably get 25-35 trees in this field, give or take. I want enough room in-between rows to be able to run the tiller, and put in a lite clover, brassica, oats mix every year.
Below this plot is some decent cover, however I dont think the deer are bedding in it due to the surronding property being 800acres of clear cut. I am thinking about dozing about an acre below the future orchard. So its hidden from the road, and makign this a maing plot with turnips, clovers, etc.
What do yall think?
Buckmaster
Senior Member
Anything you do will be better than what it is. All it amounts too is time, money, and effort. The rewards come later, sometimes years.
Rutin
Senior Member
Your strategy sounds good but I would take the first 50' from the road and plant a plot screen (frigid forage) so you don't have every hillbilly in the county coming down the road and shooting the deer at night. I usually don't hunt over my plot, I hunt in between it and bedding. Its hard to get away with movement once the does get in there bc you have a lot of eyes out there now.
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Thats the thing about this plot, is there are trees between it and the road now. It is now fully exposed, yet the deer just dont seem to enter it a lot. I am not sure why. I am planning on planting a screen next year tho to help it a bit more.
Spencie
Senior Member
I have 3 one acre plots with clover, chicory and turnips. I have planted 18 apple trees this fall around the plots....6 Arkansas Black Apples, 6 Red Rome Beauty's and 2 Transcendent crab apples, 2 fuji and 2 honeycrisp. The Ark Black and Red Rome will ripen in late October. The crab apples are the best pollinators. I mixed the trees up by getting some "orchard" ready, some "fruit" ready and some slightly bigger than whips.
I also have 4 pear trees and plan to add more. My next big purchase is going to be persimmon trees....American and possibly fuyu. Not sure the fuyu will thrive in this area.
I can't help you with your questions but can let you know in the future how what I'm doing works out.
I also have 4 pear trees and plan to add more. My next big purchase is going to be persimmon trees....American and possibly fuyu. Not sure the fuyu will thrive in this area.
I can't help you with your questions but can let you know in the future how what I'm doing works out.
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