Food plot question

[agr_hunter]

I need advice on what to plant in my food plot. I have already disced up a quarter of an acre within the middle of an orchard that is full of apple, peach, pear, persimmon, and cherry trees. Around the orchard there is woods and alfalfa hay fields that also have red and white clover within them. Nearby there is also a corn field so there is no need to plant in the plot corn, alfalfa, or clover. Also I want something that will last from now through bow season and be browse tolerant. What would you all plant? Thanks.

[cnc]

sounds like all you need to do is hang a few stands any way good luck with what ever you decide to do.

[DixieBoy22]

Wow. I would plant a ground blind.

[Mudbone]

I'd plant a couple of trail cams, shooting house and a good route in for opening morning. Sounds like you already have a sweet(no pun intended) setup. Best of luck. Some of these fellas on here will lead you in the right direction.

[agr_hunter]

I already have a stand there and it is already a sweet spot with probably no need for a plot. But I won't something that will help for nutrition and an added attractant. I don't want to plant corn, alfalfa, or clover since the area I am in is plentiful of those three.

[KHILL]

I Would Plant Soybeans For The Protein And Early Bow Season Then Disc In Some Oats, Wheat Or Rye In Early Fall So You Will Have Some Thing That Will Be Green The Rest Of The Season.the Only Problem You Will Have Is Deciding Is Which Field To Hunt Over.

[bigpuddin43]

the only thing i can think of that would possibly draw deer away from everything else that you have would be oats. oats is possibly a favorite food of deer you have all the nutrition that the deer need possibly soybeans for a summer high protein source but really you have all you need oats may do the attracting you want for a hunting plot though.

[Al]

I already have a stand there and it is already a sweet spot with probably no need for a plot. But I won't something that will help for nutrition and an added attractant. I don't want to plant corn, alfalfa, or clover since the area I am in is plentiful of those three.
Are the trees producing well and during season, or are they young?
Are they in rows and you disked in between the rows?
How close is the other ag 100 yds or 1/4 mile?
If the trees are producing well and during hunting season I dont think you will find any better attractant. Mabey you should think more in the line of cover something that will make bucks feel comfortable walking from tree to tree during the daylight.
I pretty much plant the same thing every year. Corn next to soybeans. I let the corn stand till spring and the beans I replant to WW late Sept.
Before I mow the beans down they get waist high and the bucks are all through them and sometimes deer bed in them. But after I mow them down (end of sept)and plant WW the bucks dont show themselves.
Last yr I had a cam set up over a corn pile on the edge of tall soybeans I got tons of pics of 8 different bucks almost daily on this one cam. Then I mowed them and replanted WW in the fall. My pics went to 1 or 2 bucks every 2 or 3 days.
Later I moved my cam(again over corn) 100 yds next to a powerline thicket and almost immediately buck pics again and many daylight.
Im convinced, cover is king.

[longtimegone]

I think Al is dead on. Go for cover...I would throw in some tall native grasses Big Blue Stem, Indian Grass and Switch Grass.

[agr_hunter]

The trees are all older and produce plenty of fruit. The area I disced up was a 200 by 50 foot rectangle that is in the middle of the orchard that seperates two groups of fruit trees. All and all there is probably 40 some fruit trees. There is 30 acre alfalfa field right across the fence on one side of the orchard; on the other side there is an alfalfa field about 100 yards away. On our own farm we aren't planting any corn this year but our neighbor who joins us planted corn about 50 yards from the orchard last year. This orchard is situated about 2 miles from civilization, and far wise as cover there is thickets situated all around where the bed and a 50 acre group of woods about a 1/4 mile away. In the past they usually browse the alfalfa field which is between the woods and the orchard as they head to the orchard and usually end up there about at dark. My plans with the food plot is to give them some attractant that will hopefully get them there before dark. Also the alfalfa stand hasn't been planted in about 7 years so it is on its way out and there is little alfalfa left in the field.

[longtimegone]

How about a feeder?

BTW if you do decide to do native graases it would have to be done in the next week...sounds like youve got decent cover so maybe tall soybeans or peas.

[Al]

My plans with the food plot is to give them some attractant that will hopefully get them there before dark.
I have had very little luck using any attractant to get bucks to show up at a place before dark.
In my opinion you need to find the areas where they are bedding and hunt as close as you can to them, taking the wind into consideration.
If they are not bedding on you then mabey you could try creating some bedding areas. I have a 7 ac field where I sprayed the fescue last year and it is really growing up nicely this yr with weeds and blackberry etc and the deer sign has quadrupled there this yr. I have an imaginary line that I wont cross, to give deer privicy, hoping they will bed on me rather then just feed in my food plots at night.
I have a small orchard of 21 trees I planted on the edge of this field this spring. I tilled the ground there over the winter before I planted it. I have a 5 ft circle around each tree that is mulched and clean of weeds, but the rest of the orchard is really growing up with weeds and I only intend to mow it once this yr and mabey not at all till next spring.
This little orchard will probablly be chest high in weeds by the end of the summer. Perfect buck territory( I hope).
This orchard is ugly as sin compared to the one at the house, which I keep perfectly manacured for my wife, but I bet when I put my cam over corn in this orchard Ill get plenty of daytime buck pics.
Im finding out that tilling the ground and letting natural vegetation come up, often is more attractive than food plots. They get forage and cover.
Its amazing to me how I can let an area grow up and the deer just start showing up.
Now Im hearing it from my wife though, telling me how beautiful the fescue fields are and how ugly the areas I sprayed are.

[agr_hunter]

Thanks for the help guys. I split it up and planted Tecomate clover mix in one half with a brassica, chicory, and soybean mix in the other. Next year I am gonna plant native grasses through out the orchard area since that not only produces cover but will allow a good habitat for the quail to.