cavey,
You aren't kidding about the wealth of knowledge around here.
Here's a little rundown of what I'm working with, maybe it will help you guys give me a more informed opinion.
My property is really small. Just a little more than 20 acres including where my house is, and the space between my deck and a river. The property runs from just below the top of a hill down to the river. There are a ton of ridges that run down the hillside, so I think access will be somewhat easy to hide, but I am restricted to accessing it from only two sides, I think. The very vast majority is as I described in my above posts. Mostly logged, with what appears to be all of the slash left behind, and EXTREMELY rocky. I've spent most of my life in the Granite State, and my land is rockier than just about any other property I've seen.
I have several chainsaws, a pole saw, a brush saw, backpack sprayer, shoulder seed spreader, and rakes basically. I have an ATV, but it's a 2wd 250 that I got for free because it wasn't running, and I have yet to successfully get it running. If/when I do get it running I'm hoping to use it to carry equipment, lime, seed, etc. I can't imagine it's a big enough to do much beyond that. I'm also essentially working alone. I occasionally get some help from my Dad or a friend, but for the most part it's all on me. My wife is dying to help, but we have an 18 month old, so if I'm in the woods, she has to be back at the house with the little man.
I've seen and (in one instance shot) deer that were working the edge of my property right were the tree line borders the logged area. My plan was to get a small area of winter rye near the middle of my property, so when it gets cold and everything else is dead I have the best food around, and they have to use the path I cut, or the area below the food plot that wasn't logged that makes somewhat of a pinch point between the logged area and the old railroad bed that runs about 80 yards down hill from the logged area. I'm hoping that creates some consistent day time travel. The new growth that I cut the path through is very thick, about neck height on me, and has a ton of raspberry bushes mixed in. I have to figure that makes for good browse and security while they're theoretically walking the path I cut. It sounds from what you and Livesintrees have said that just cleaning up and spraying the ground clear will be more than sufficient for my path's purposes.
I like to think my plans are realistic and obtainable. The area I'm planning on planting is riddled with stumps and rocks, so I'll likely never have the sexy food plots I see on here all of the time, but everything I read seems to suggest that winter rye wont mind growing in my acidic soil that I can't get any real equipment to. I'm figuring on rotating winter rye and buckwheat because my soil is so acidic and my resources are so limited. I'm going to throw some ladino and red clover in with the winter rye, but I don't expect much out of the clover with exactly zero soil amendments yet. The space is so small that the cost is insignificant, so i figured it wouldn't hurt to try. If the clover does well, I guess I would rethink the buckwheat in the spring. Also I'm planning on using my brush saw to "mow" around the stumps and rocks as needed. Certainly not ideal, but i figure I can ballpark the 6-8" height I would have to cut the winter rye back to in the spring.
If you're feeling generous with your time please feel free to pick apart my plan and give me feedback. If something I said above doesn't sound logical or wise I'm all ears. I grew up hunting like a hack, and I have this website and Steve B's youtube videos to thank for making me at least realize how little I know and how much I was doing wrong. I don't expect to be shooting Booners, but I'd be thrilled to fill my freezer most years, and have a decent place to get my son into hunting when he is older. Hell, I'd be happy consistently seeing deer, shooting one or two a year would only be a bonus.
Thanks again to all of you for taking the time out of your day to give me some much needed advice.
edited to add: apple and pear trees are in my 5-10 year plan. I'm not ready for them yet.