Fruit as a destination source, kill plot, staging???

Mattyq2402

5 year old buck +
In regards to getting opportunities at mature bucks, how do you go about ot set up? I've heard it everywhich way. Do you set up fruit trees as part of your destination plot? Do you put them in a staging plot or corridor plot leading to larger food source? Do you carve small kill plots with fruit say in-between bedding? Is there too much of a good thing when it comes to fruit trees, do you only want one primary food source of fruit? From a hunting standpoint what's the go to reccomendation for fruit tree placement?

I'm working on a new piece and have an abundance of various fruit trees, probably 30 to 35 to be planted. The property has a large unplanted destination field and has long broken up hayfields from west to east that all can support fruit across 100 acres. I'm trying to decide if I want one source, a couple sources, couple major sources with additional kill plots, etc....

Whats your reccomendations for whitetail attraction and mature buck harvest? What works best from trial an error?

I've attached a pic of the family properties I have access to, highlighted in red is just an idea of tillage I am thinking about planting.
 
First, no pic attached.

Fruit trees will need at least 6-8 hours of sunlight. They will also need at least 20-25' around them with no tilling for protecting feeder roots.

I would go multiple sights for planting.

Regarding mature bucks, the best strategy is not a stand on the plot but stand sites in transition areas off the plot to intercept them before reaching the plot.
 
On two of my places I’ve done centralized orchards I’m not saying it’s the best or only way to go only what I’ve done.
 
I have hundreds and hundreds of apple trees in all kinds of scenarios. Small kill plots with 25-30 apple around the perimeter with a couple in the plot., Large destination plot with 20 or more apples around it with a few in the middle. Also apples along trails and apples in isolated pockets of cover. Here’s my observations. Deer in general will have a preference tree or trees that they will hit harder at different points in the season. They will however stop at all the trees at random. Observation is the only way to figure out which ones and usually it’s patterned year after year so set up stands accordingly. On the trails they will just walk by and /or take a few and keep moving. I see no difference between the doe and the bucks in this general behavior. If I had one scenario that I could set up exclusive for mature bucks it would be a small group of the right trees in the right place, isolated not far from buck bedding and in good cover. If you ever find an old abandoned orchard that’s now overgrown and in good cover you’ll know what I mean.
 
Sorry, here's the pics. First 2 are the western portion of property
 

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Here's the eastern section. The highlights are potential plots.
 

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First, no pic attached.

Fruit trees will need at least 6-8 hours of sunlight. They will also need at least 20-25' around them with no tilling for protecting feeder roots.

I would go multiple sights for planting.

Regarding mature bucks, the best strategy is not a stand on the plot but stand sites in transition areas off the plot to intercept them before reaching the plot.
Just attached pics, thanks....
 
There are many factors to consider and these can change with time.

What time frames are you looking at for buck harvest? Pre rut, rut, post rut?

How many hunters and wind direction do you want to be set up for? Number of hunters does vary as family and friends change.

Each apple and each year has different peaks of attractiveness. Some apples rest a year.

Are you looking at apples only for attraction or for added nutrition or for survival during a long winter?
 
There are many factors to consider and these can change with time.

What time frames are you looking at for buck harvest? Pre rut, rut, post rut?

How many hunters and wind direction do you want to be set up for? Number of hunters does vary as family and friends change.

Each apple and each year has different peaks of attractiveness. Some apples rest a year.

Are you looking at apples only for attraction or for added nutrition or for survival during a long winter?
Eventually I'm looking for attractiveness all season. The trees I've ordered and grafted so far have me covered from late September thru winter but id like to get some fruit dropping earlier. The majority of the trees are bluehill, whitetailcrabs, and midwestdeertrees. They were selected to drop throughout Oct Nov dec. I currently only get to hunt a week in the rut but this will be my future home.

As far as winds things Def set up for the east winds. I am looking to get setups in play for the norths and w/sw that frequent the area during hunting seasons. My projected plots show in the above pics could allow for these winds in a few locations if I put in blinds along screening.

Currently I'm the only archery hunter, it's possible my cousin may gun hunt it. In the past its been open to locals but will be working to eliminate the access.
 
Eventually I'm looking for attractiveness all season. The trees I've ordered and grafted so far have me covered from late September thru winter but id like to get some fruit dropping earlier. The majority of the trees are bluehill, whitetailcrabs, and midwestdeertrees. They were selected to drop throughout Oct Nov dec. I currently only get to hunt a week in the rut but this will be my future home.

As far as winds things Def set up for the east winds. I am looking to get setups in play for the norths and w/sw that frequent the area during hunting seasons. My projected plots show in the above pics could allow for these winds in a few locations if I put in blinds along screening.

Currently I'm the only archery hunter, it's possible my cousin may gun hunt it. In the past its been open to locals but will be working to eliminate the access.
I will add that soil can be another factor. I have places where it is not worth planting fruit trees as it is blow sand. 150 yards away can be good soil along the edge of a wetland/ flow age.

I planted strings of fruit trees along the wetland edges. High enough to not dry out, but low enough to not cause me loss of ag rental acres. Through the years these have grown to 2-3 rows of trees and clusters of trees in different locations.

I can see they do much better on the best soils.
 
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