S.T.Fanatic
5 year old buck +
I like the planting away from the bedding idea. Plant them down wind (dominant wind during "the rut") so if you're hunting the trees you're not busting the bedding area.
Bedding Area Orchard Design Ideas?
- Thread starter PoorSand
- Start date
bigbendmarine
5 year old buck +
My feedback wasn't out of concern whether the trees will make it and keep the deer well fed, but more so a question of driving traffic you can most stealthily hunt. Food too close to a bedding area could find them choosing to stay put and eat close during daylight hours only to then have then roam more in night time hours (that would especially be true for me in Hades-hot FL when evening temps bring relief -- Wisconsin maybe not so much! 
).
I dont think anyone here is for much delay planting trees, as many of us wish we had 10 year jumps on what we've already planted and are waiting to begin bearing heavily... more so a matter of picking the very best spot for hunting purposes and not possibly inadvertantly hurting ability to hunt, assuming hunting is one of your goals.
Planting trees once done's a bit more painful to reverse and see time lost, so just hopeful you find the spot that offers the most years of happy gain.
And ALL that said, you know your land best.
).I dont think anyone here is for much delay planting trees, as many of us wish we had 10 year jumps on what we've already planted and are waiting to begin bearing heavily... more so a matter of picking the very best spot for hunting purposes and not possibly inadvertantly hurting ability to hunt, assuming hunting is one of your goals.
Planting trees once done's a bit more painful to reverse and see time lost, so just hopeful you find the spot that offers the most years of happy gain.
And ALL that said, you know your land best.
I love planting apple trees, but I would keep them out of this area. The new pine growth will probably give you great bedding area and the bucks will continue to use it as they always have. You don't want to mess up a good thing.
A 10 acre property next to mine was sold 2 years ago and this property was formerly a great bedding area. The new owner is a hunter and I told him half the deer in the neighborhood bedded there and half bedded on my land. Sit downwind of that bedding area during the rut and you'll get a shot at a mature buck eventually. He wanted to go the food plot route and he tore out the thick areas and made food plots and now I see far fewer deer using his land than before he made any "improvements".
A 10 acre property next to mine was sold 2 years ago and this property was formerly a great bedding area. The new owner is a hunter and I told him half the deer in the neighborhood bedded there and half bedded on my land. Sit downwind of that bedding area during the rut and you'll get a shot at a mature buck eventually. He wanted to go the food plot route and he tore out the thick areas and made food plots and now I see far fewer deer using his land than before he made any "improvements".
Bigbendmarine: I hear you. An aerial photo would have been nice to post as a map, as I think everyone got a different idea of what I was trying to describe. I checked all the aerial photo websites I could think of and none had photos since the storm. Lesson learned for next time.
Ben: I agree. In this case, the cleanup crew already destroyed an acre or so in the center of it and there are no live seedlings in that area anymore. The last time that happened, it was many years before volunteer pines started to appear. Maybe I will order some evergreens to restock it.
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Maybe it would have been helpful if I had added that we have several other apple trees planted on that farm and I was just thinking of putting a few along the main midday trail on top the ridge to help persuade the bucks to focus on that trail during the rut. I don't know. We don't harvest any apples yet and yet I rarely find an apple on the ground midday. I didn't want to sound like I know what I'm doing. I just try hard.
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trampledbyturtles
5 year old buck +
That is a ton of apple of trees, one would think that at some point the law of diminishing returns would apply.
I wouldn't plant food in a bedding area, as then they don't have a reason to leave. I would want them to bed in one spot and feed in another so I could hunt the routes between the two. However, a tree here and there along the trail you want them to use the most would be intriguing. I'd try to choose disease resistant trees that drop when you'll be hunting that trail.
Mortenson
5 year old buck +
I guess it just boils down to what it is that you're trying to accomplish. Are you already killing great bucks in that spot? Is the spot further down the ridge that was planted years ago to apple trees better? Sounds like you're saying the other spot might be better and you can recreate it here in this new spot. If that's the case, then why not? I sure can't fault a guy for trying to make new and different spots to hunt, even if it means adding some food to a bedroom or near a bedroom. You say you've seen it work with your own eyes. Seems like you have plenty of acres to work with, and that part of the thrill for you is in the scheming. On a small property, with possibly a more narrow range of defined goals, I'd agree to leave well enough alone.
