Want to but don't know how many to use? You can make a case that each season matters when it comes to the growth and nourishment of whitetails however, no amount of health can overcome a deer herd that is attracted away from your land, during the hunting season. Again, that’s dictated by the landscape. Hey buck master, i bought 10 acres with 6 that are actually huntable. Neither, they are equal, so learning to place a priority on your base amount of food plot acres is often the missing habitat ingredient that will help you experience your whitetail dreams. 40 acres is plenty if you hunt smart - go for it. We struck a deal, I keep an eye on and take care of the place for and get to hunt it … If you have 40 acres to hunt in the middle of farm country or in the middle of town, you can increase the amount of time deer spend on your property if you are willing to do a little work. You can hunt and take deer on 40 acres and have some results on planting food plots and attracting deer to that 40 acres.But to manage and take mature buck you need at least 1500 acres + and alot will depend on the land that it is around, the hunting pressure,county and state. Attacking your base first, is the often overlooked but most important initial food plot strategy, that you need to consider for your land. Although everyone would love to own or manage 1,000 acres or more of whitetail habitat, Helin believes most properties range from 20 to 65 aces, with 40 being the norm. An acre is a product of any rectangular plot of land giving a total of 4,046sqm or 43,560sq ft. An Acre consists of 6 plots … Afterall, you can't hold, protect, build, shape or hunt, what you can't attract. Crawford Hollow Farm - 100 acres of food plots and Woods. There is a lot of good info on habitat enhancement. I paid almost $200K for it. That said, take to heart Charlie's advice. I know if in the right area, forty acres is more than enough! Not trying to be any kind of downer, but think long and hard before entering into any partnership. The best you could do is try to keep a few hanging around with the best food in the area, but that is not managing them. This weekend will be perfect. Purchase properties can be tough, trying to make it a swap just makes it harder. etc. Ive watched lots of 2yo bucks during early archery season that I see hanging at neighboring properties come rifle season. Learn what works and what doesn't. I have 3 food plots on it, a water hole, we run 3 trail cameras on it. There is no CRP cost sharing for food plots. You cannot hold a whitetail on 40 acres. The calculator on this page can give you a accurate estimate of the size. Haven't sent out a soil … An acre is an obsolescent unit of are equivalent roughly to 0.4 ha. I bought just over 11 acres outside a small town in Virgnia last year. Starting off with a 40 is a great way to get started. Go for it. i would love more but $$$ is always an issue and this 40 i would be able to swing it. The average deer lease in Georgia is about 500 acres, so as little as 7.5 acres will improve the deer herd and deer hunting success. mostly does, as I'm a meat hunter, but a decent 8 point as well. I bet it would be a good piece of land. If the land you hunt allows for it, you should install food plots because they are what deer are most attracted to, and bucks like bedding near attractive food sources. Now if that 40 is next to some land that nobody hunts it could be fantastic. As time and money compete for family and life commitments, I have become more of a planner with my whitetail work. Best buck I ever saw in my life was on a 25 acre tract I had permission to hunt bordering a 600 acre horse farm with absolutely no deer hunting allowed (my evil landlady owned the 600). I hear you, by manage I should have been more specific, Manage the land to make it as disriable as possible. Due to the very rocky terrain, food plots are out. Anger tract, good luck. Go to his website he has lots of info on there. However, if you figure out your base food plot acreage first, before ever planting your first seed, then I have experienced that every other planting goal slots into its appropriate level of priority. Ground blinds set up at strategic edges with the wind in your favor could produce some giants. I agree with Ollie, the right 40 can yield great hunting opportunities for a lifetime. In the 5 years i've owned the 12ac, Ive killed as many 3yo+ bucks there as I have on the larger 160ac farm. It depends what your expectations are, what your goals are, reasons for buying, etc.? BTW: My first land buy was 41 acres. Forty acres and a mule is part of Special Field Orders No. Very few people actually do what you are looking to do. Hunting plots, Summer plots and an overwhelming number of food plot choices, often leave the landowner with a confusing blur of need and want. I built a 12x16 cabin on it, no electricity or plumbing. Maybe next week. 40 acres will work if it is in a prime area. This has led to years of great hunting and camping, no state records but some of my best hunting memories. You'll have great Bowhunting is my guess. Yes, you can have food plots on 6 acres; the question is, what size and how many. The other areas i hunt are only 3 acre parcels that I have had insane sucess with. The maximum distance deer will dependably travel to a major food source is about a half-mile. I can hunt in my back yard about 75 yds from my house. If crops and forage are plentiful in the neighborhood, I would angle toward multiple smaller hunting plots (an eighth to a quarter of an acre or so in size), and I would try to offer forage … People often overlook these smaller tracts. And admittedly, a lot of folks have become quite proficient at planting food plot crops that rival the best farm crops out there. If not, it may not pan out. I put my trail camera out for the first time 1 month ago and it is loaded. Try finding your base amount of forage this season, and enjoy the strategic rewards of the proper balance between food and cover. I also need information on estrus cycles and need to know if the second and third cycle can degrade the quality of offspring. To grow record book bucks probaly, too enjoy great bowhunting, definitely not. You may not be able to shoot monsters every year but with the proper management from yourself and ajoining property owners you sure can take some nice ones on a pretty consistant basis. the rest of the land has some really nice future food plots for this upcoming season, somewhere around 25-40 acres. If there are deer around they will also be on your 40. 40 is a very good place to start. Barn, pond, 2 waterfalls, many creeks. i know i will not be able to hold deer on a property of that size. Lol. Now you can't expect to take your pick or maybe not even target one buck depending on pressure from other neighbors. My buddy hunts a spot that the neighbor is an anti so it is like hunting off a refuge. or save until a larger tract comes up. Nov 5, 2015 #1 . See if you can do a few things to enhance the area, does it have mast producing trees, bedding cover, areas you can put in food plots, what are the neighbor's like, does the area produce the quality of deer that would make you happy? I have 25 acres. It happens to be riverfront in a cottage area. All it offered was relative security and few untended apple trees. The piece you are talking about is bigger than any of the properties I hunt. If it's not a family budget problem, I say GO FOR IT. A plot can be used for multiple purposes including building a home or farming. maybe 40 is a good start, get it the best i can, and maybe upgrade in the future. Maybe try a little lower offer, they can always counter offer back. In general, a minimum plot size of a 1/4 acre should typically be used wherever food is needed, even on the smallest of parcels. Go for it, small affordable parcels are becoming harder to find. I have 40 acres in Central Wisconsin that is an awesome piece of property, looks like yours. I know a guy who feeds deer on 2 acres on our property line.... seems to draw them over just fine. :-), Seriously, if it's where you want, 40 acres would be a good investment. Calculate How Many Acres Your Deer Hunting Food Plot Contains. There is severe over browsing on anything we plant and understory browse is nonexistent (less than 4″ tall) in the hardwoods. The soil holds water and will not take a conventional perk. Even vegetable gardeners would have to be envious at the results seen […] What do you know about the sellers? its a catch 22 in my eyes. I hunt it by myself, and have had excellent results. There are soo many … Brush up with these deer food plot tips for when the planting season arrives. Trying to plan on food plots for next year. Depending on neighbor's and how they hunt it could be a good investment. But, I have two 1/2 food plots on it and put in Brassica, which will not be touched until several hard frosts. By: turkulese. Looks like a very nice spot. You may be able to get them to bed there and eat there, but they will wonder off of the property. about 40-45 years old), the property was a marshy stream, a low hayfield, a strip of steepish land grown up in red cedar, and a ridgetop hayfield ...about 20 acres open, 5 acres weedy/swampy/grassy, and about 7 acres in mixed cedar second growth stuff with a little thick swampy patch of 15 year old sugar maples and scrub pine. We cleared out some trees to encourage dense growth for bedding, then planted a couple of food plots close to a small pond. For example, let’s say a property has a 20-acre alfalfa field and 40 acres of woods. seth from asks, let me set the stage for you, I hunt 200 acres with some good wooded areas there are 2 lush fields normally planted beans to corn rotational 75 acres worth. We used to hunt a 70 acre spread of overgrown pasture south of McPherson that hunted like 200 acres because of the cover and what washappening on surrounding lands. Does all that activity hurt my/our chances of killing a monster buck - you bet it does but I don't care because of all the fun we have on it. (the three that belong to me, right behind his house) :-). Good Luck. "i would just like a spot to plant some food and ticker with a hobby farm i guess you could call it. One buddy got a lood at him this fall but not close enough for a shot. I can't stress enough how much weeds play a roll in destroying your opportunity to find your necessary food plot acreage base. That might eat up your entire 10% allocation on a 40 acre piece, and at over $300 per acre for the seed and fertilizer, it’s a $1,200 venture low end. ", The land will be the cheap part, then. Whitetail hunters and land managers have been playing around with the idea of food plots for nearly 40 years now. My record for most deer in a 30 second trail camera was counted at 14! Doing these types of calculations creates the whole picture for me when deciding how many acres of food plots to plant each year. I haven't shed hunted yet as snow was too deep. That spot looks really good depending on the genetics and hunting pressure in the surrounding bigger parcels. My goal is to allow the Summer deer herd to dine on the neighbor's ag land and food plots, and then move to my 100% fall offerings during late September and early October. CPA, lawyer, and some assessments. Wish I could. A great base food plot strategy is totally incomplete without making sure that the acres of soil that you are planting into, are as fertile as can be. A lot depends on what's going on at our neighbor's properties. another plus is some of the nicest deer in the county seem to be killed every year within a 5 mile radious of this farm. It happens alot in my area and is usually a good deal for both. Many people,including myself, would love to own 40 acres, if you can do it, I say go for it!!!! Join the club and you will never regret the purchase! There are many variables that determine how many acres of food plot there should be on any property. You will definitely want some professional help. A plot is simply an arbitrary term used to describe any piece of land. Plant some switchgrass next to your foodplot, keep pressure to a minimum and you will be shocked at your results. A poor choice can lead to a lot of heartache. you get larger and it gets out of my price range. If you develop it properly and take good care you could sell it in the future, add more money and buy a bigger piece. If it's within an hour of one of "major" cities you may be able to develop it, and flip it. After I made a comment. Me and a hnting buddy bowhunt only. There's a science to establishing the best food plot for deer that you can, and it all starts with finding the perfect place to plant it. Land parcels are only going to get smaller. Are you a hunter wanting to learn how to accomplish your goals? Here is a picture for you to consider. If it's a "no doubt" go ahead. Update? We have found that about 2.75 acres of food supplies enough forage to cover the entire hunting season, with a little leftover for nearly the entire month of January. When looking to buy land, the first question you should be asking a developer or an agent is “what is the size of the plot”? Food plots on 40 acres Discussion in 'Whitetail Deer Habitat' started by Huntmich, Nov 5, 2015. But as you delve deeper into habitat and wildlife management, it becomes clear that there are plenty of other improvements that need to be made to the habitat if your goal is to attract and … Other option is get a friend or two who have the same goals as you and buy a. These numbers in addition to many memories of successful hunts over plots like this throughout the years, has me annually loading the truck with seed and fertilizer. You just need to draw them in make them want to come to your land. Which one is more important? I learned alot while I was there I thought I knew alot about hunting & wildlife management until I went there. I would park a long ways from it though because all it takes is a few times of spooking the deer and they will start to avoid it. after looking at it, i want it even more just havent taken the next step. Now many of us end up hunting on 50 acres or less. I bought for a majority of reasons business, investment, & hunting. Based on you rmap I would definitely buy it. 40 acres in the right spot can be more productive than owning 200 acres in the wrong spot. Make it a sanctuary. What's a 10 acre food plot that is filled with 50% weeds? Good area. If the answers to all of those is yes then it may be a great investment in your future hunting opportunities. Let us know if it works out. Since the benefits of food plots is on a sliding scale, 5% would be even better (25 acres in our 500 acre example) if resources and finances permit. plus it connectes with nearly 300 acres of timber. Know what you are getting into and with who before you sign that dotted line. Addressing ph concerns is the most important first step and after you have corrected the ph, make sure that you follow the recommendations of a soil test to get your food plot forages the food that they need to thrive. It all depends upon what surrounds it and how that land is managed! I say go for it man. When given the flexibility, I recommend a combination of larger holding plots and smaller hunting plots. We squirrel hunt on it, turkey and deer. I see you live in Kansas It would really depend on the land that can hold deer out side your 40 acres.And yes you could make food plots to help draw deer into your 40 acres.Bucks in my area ( Tennessee) will travel as far as 3 to 5 miles in the fall and winter.We know this by sighting and trail cam pictures. When your Fall plantings are beginning to germinate during August and September, you can expect any resident deer to hammer them quickly when they emerge. Make sure you can access stand sites quietly without spooking deer, Spring is a great time to look for sign, walk it, scout it. This allows my base amount of food plot acreage to experience nearly 65-75% of it's potential volume, before 90% of the deer even arrive. 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Pressure in the wrong spot your Summer plantings 6 that are actually huntable and buddies we 3... May cap acres of food plot sizes alot while i was there i thought i knew alot hunting! Never looked back cameras on it rule, if it 's not a family budget could do a timber! Of my best hunting memories cutting brush etc. and i bought just over 11 acres outside small! Crops that rival the best i can, they ’ re generally measured in hectares, public places / /...