What to plant and where?

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Yearling... With promise
I have 120 acres in CNY that I recently purchased. I'm wanting to put food plots in and have 5 spots where I wanna put them. What do you guys recommend planting in them? How do you decide hat to put where? They are all old hay fields. And this will all be done by no til.. equipment i have is UTV ,at, pull behind 36 inch disc,cultipacker,10ft sprayer 50 gallon. Any help would much be appreciated
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If you can, Try to plant multiple strips of different foods in each plot. That way you can plant the same thing in every plot and don't have to worry about leap frogging around to different plots and trying to figure out what deer are keying in on and when.
 
Soil test each plot ( field) first and make sure you take several samples from each field. Don’t assume one field will be the same PH as the others. Spend the short $$ and amend properly. I also would lab test and not soil probe. I’d start there and get the pH as close to as neutral as possible if they already aren’t. I also would not try to plant a perennial plot in the Spring and would wait for the Fall. You will prob be anxious to put in a perennial clover, but I’d wait and plant it in last week of August to first week of September with Winter Rye.
 
Thanks for the input.. you really think planting the same thing in each plot would be effective?

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Thanks for the input.. you really think planting the same thing in each plot would be effective?

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It ensures that you will be hunting over (if that is your plan for the plots) something that they are keying in on. If you plant something different in every plot you will have to continuously monitor every plot you have during the season. What is the hot ticket food source can literally change over night. That's the thing about "sign", It only shows you were you should have been. It give no certainty that the deer that left it will be back anytime soon.

If you have/are able to run cell cams that could change things. I would never be able to run them. One reason is cost and the other is that there is no cell signal out where I hunt/plot.
 
I agree with what you guys are saying. I feel like there might be a better approach tho. It's kinda like saying let's go to the buffet every night for dinner. But I feel like the buffet gets old after awhile and you want steak or lobster. Anyone else have some input?

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Not saying what I mentioned is THE way to go about it. You could do it many different ways. I get the impression that you are going to do what you feel like anyway. (There is absolutely nothing wrong with that BTW) None of us know your property like you do. There is also nothing wrong with learning through trial and error. (Though your end result will more than likely take more time to reach)

Is there a good reason you cant have steak and lobster at your buffet?
 
I am sorry to hear you are a fellow NY'er lol
I am just south of Syracuse, there are a few other NY'ers on here, which is helpful when trying to get particular trees suited for our climate. I am a noob compared to some of the guys on here that I admire for their knowledge and accomplishments. But... 5 years ago I was where you are today feeling like an artist with a blank canvas and unsure what to paint. I probably took the hard route in my ideology but felt it was the right direction given my circumstances. I only own 30 acres so I lack the ability to have it all, ideally I would have things like a sanctuary but lack the acreage (and discipline to stay off an area of my property lol).

You have more to work with here so hopefully it will be easier for you to get where you want to go. Being a small land owner I made my principal ideology simple, grow things that none of my neighbors for miles around me have, I always tried to incorporate things that my family can eat as well (it never hurts to have a grocery store in the back yard). Things like Persimmon, Pecans, Pears, Chestnuts, Hazelnuts and Plumbs are things that certainly attract deer and will grow here in NY unless you are way up north. I also planted a bunch of different browse/berries that acts twofold and creates cover like dogwood and High bush Cranberry. I can't tell from your picture but a well rounded property also has some sort of thermal cover like pines that create shade in the summer and windbreaks in the winter. Although Oaks are native to NY, I only know of a few mature ones within 10 miles of my house/property so I also planted a bunch of those and have about 200 more northern varieties of acorns and Pecans in my fridge that will be planted this spring, I acquired those through a generous member on this site. After those are planted I will have pretty much planted myself out of room, I did leave a small area for a food plot but it will be less than 2 acres and I am surrounded by Ag fields so I am doing it to help with the diversity and "hoping" that I am creating a staging area for deer that are moving to/from the big fields. I also tried to tailor my plantings to drop times that align with Deer season, places like Blue Hill Nursery and a few others like Mossy Oaks Nativ Nursery help achieve that. But always bear in mind when they advertise drop time in October/November, that is the drop time for where the nursery is. Blue Hill is in Pennsylvania and I am in NY so sure the drop time in PA is Oct/Nov but 100 miles north is more like Sept/Oct.

I am aware that planting things like Persimmons, I am taking a risk that our late frosts wont kill the flowers every year or that our growing season might not be long enough to produce sizable nuts/fruits but for some things its worth the risk if it does pays off, I would be the only one in my area offering Persimmons. A great resource for us NY'ers is the DEC Seedling sale that starts taking orders the first week of January every year, I will look up the link ad post it in this comment. Their source is the Saratoga Springs Nursery that resides in a slightly colder region than I am in, so if they can grow it I can too and don't have to worry about grow zone compatibility. Technically the map says I am zone 5 but its more like zone 4 temps in the winter so when looking for things to order I shoot for zone 4 things to be safe. The DEC offers a pretty good variety from year to year, it seems to work in 3-4 year cycles with things like Allegheny Chinquapins that grow more like a tall bush or a small tree, but start producing a small nut closer to a Chestnut than an acorn in flavor but begin producing nuts in 5-7 years after planting. Where my Dunstan and Chinese Chestnuts will be more like 15-20 years before they ever produce so there are a few shortcuts so to speak, and the Allegheny's should be offered next year through the DEC.

 
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