The posts above are correct, I can manage the land, not the deer. I could go on, you get the picture. 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. There are 3 base-robbing food plot factors that you should consider when, trying to maximize your available space to plant food plots: Your goal should be to create the highest volume of food plot plantings that you can produce, on the soil types that are available for you to plant on. Ive watched lots of 2yo bucks during early archery season that I see hanging at neighboring properties come rifle season. I bought a 63 acre piece last year and am loving it. Again, that’s dictated by the landscape. and there is one that has been for sale for a while that is 40 acres. 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. How many acres of food plots Discussion in 'Deer Management, Habitat & Conservation' started by archer66, Jul 29, 2008. I think im close to making an offer i tried to doctor up a better pic. Maybe next week. If there are deer around they will also be on your 40. An acre is an obsolescent unit of are equivalent roughly to 0.4 ha. How many food plots do you need? I bought 20 acres thirty yrs. I have hunted an area this big for the past 16 years. It happens alot in my area and is usually a good deal for both. i know i will not be able to hold deer on a property of that size. I haven't shed hunted yet as snow was too deep. However, we can't afford to lose any of those acres to being lazy or thru a poor planting strategy. However, this large number may be unrealistic for many land managers because of the high cost of installation and maintenance of high quality food plots. or save until a larger tract comes up. maybe 40 is a good start, get it the best i can, and maybe upgrade in the future. Found these two sheds withing 20 yards of each other in the larger plot (barely a half acre). Managing the 40 acres for deer/wildlife will keep you busy as you want. What you will want to do it manage each and every square foot of it to its fullest potential. Just my experience. The key is what is going on in the surrounding acreage, how hard it is hunted, and whether surrounding landowners are practicing quality deer management. 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. I bought for a majority of reasons business, investment, & hunting. Even in the best of scenerios, creating a Summer herd can literally destroy your necessary Fall base, before it even matures. You need to think about access roads, pathways , public places / parks / commercial area etc. While this may or may not be the amount of acres needed for your land, consider it a great balance between more food-needy northern wilderness regions, and … That spot looks really good depending on the genetics and hunting pressure in the surrounding bigger parcels. There is no CRP cost sharing for food plots. If we are lucky, we have an 80- or 100-acre lease. In Hickman County, Tennessee, 75 acres with 2.3 acres of food plots, 15 acres with 4 year old pine and the remaining in mature hardwoods. I went over last weekend to see the food plot. I live just 10 minutes from this property and have checked it out a couple times but have not pulled the trigger. i would love more but $$$ is always an issue and this 40 i would be able to swing it. People often overlook these smaller tracts. And in "investment", I don't necessarily mean monitarily. So if you have 1000 m² plots, you can get about 8 in 2 acres. Like most habitat consultants, he says there’s no magic number as to what percentage needs to be in food. I am a big proponent of owning your own land but I just get a sense you may want to slow down a bit. The IRS also allows (in certain cases) to transfer the gain to a new property without paying current taxes if you buy "like" property with the proceeds. 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. Ground blinds set up at strategic edges with the wind in your favor could produce some giants. Good Luck. I have 40 acres in Central Wisconsin that is an awesome piece of property, looks like yours. its something i can afford but i hope it isnt too small. If your goal is to create a quality herd, a quality hunt or both, your base isn't just a number on a piece of paper, it is a planting and food plot necessity. In the 5 years i've owned the 12ac, Ive killed as many 3yo+ bucks there as I have on the larger 160ac farm. A lot depends on what's going on at our neighbor's properties. As a general rule, if you need to increase your deer numbers - plant Summer food plots. The 1031 with property is really the icing on the cake, if its the land you really want; or a financial consideration in the over all deal. How successful you are may depend largely upon the surrounding land owners. Wish I could. Based on you rmap I would definitely buy it. 40 is plenty big. Check out our stories, videos and hard-hitting how-to's on food plots … I say go for it man. (the three that belong to me, right behind his house) :-). Doing these types of calculations creates the whole picture for me when deciding how many acres of food plots to plant each year. CPA, lawyer, and some assessments. I bought just over 11 acres outside a small town in Virgnia last year. Wondering if Buckmaster bought? It doesn't hold deer, but it is in a travel route just like yours would appear to be and I've got a 3ac food plot in it. Summer food sources and great Fall cover, attract Summer fawning acres. yes buy it the only problem i had with small tracts were they can get played out fast very limited stand placments, Buy it u can always sell it if it dosnet work for you. Neighbor disputes can ruin a great peice of land. I would definitely try to find out as much as I could about the surrounding landowners before signing on the dotted line. 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. To grow record book bucks probaly, too enjoy great bowhunting, definitely not. Buy all the land that you can, they don't make any more. I know a few land rich good 'ole boys who paid for land purchases simply by timbering them. The date and time is wrong but there is no problem with a smaller lot in the right place. My buddy hunts a spot that the neighbor is an anti so it is like hunting off a refuge. Go for it, small affordable parcels are becoming harder to find. I hunt it by myself, and have had excellent results. Whitetail hunters and land managers have been playing around with the idea of food plots for nearly 40 years now. The biggest deer I ever saw in person was killed off 11 acres in Middlesex County (read "Nowhereville), VA. An abandoned home site, it is fallow and overgrown. Example: a 60-acre field is limited to no more than five acres of food … Have you hit your base yet? http://www.deeranddeerhunting.com Quick and easy tips on how to estimate the size of your area you want to plant to create the best food plot. There are many variables that determine how many acres of food plot there should be on any property. Let us know if it works out. We have had neighbor issues, trespassing (not a lot), sighting rifles in during the best time of the rut, loose dog running around, cutting wood along property lines while we are in a tree stand 100 yards away. Go for it! This land has a large number of 2-3 year old spikes and the buck to doe ratio is about 1 to 10. Summer fawning cover attracts does, fawns, doe family groups and leads to generations of a female army of deer that likely stick around the entire hunting season. by the way, about 12 years ago I got exclusive hunting rights to 32 acres of property, surrounded on 3 sides by large cattle farms, and by a large tract of second-growth hardwood timberland on the 4th side (mixed white/red oak, tulip poplar, hickory, ash, cherry, etc. That taught me 10 well placed slightly amended acres were more valuable than mediocre 100 acre plots. Go for it. You could recoup most of your cost if you did it right! Can't wait to set up for a week and get a little target practice in. Food plots on 40 acres Discussion in 'Whitetail Deer Habitat' started by Huntmich, Nov 5, 2015. It is about two and half acres. Attracting the local herd the entire season may seem rather obvious, but often I find that the focus of many food plot programs is more of a shotgun approach that includes a variety of random goals. Just do it, good luck. Its right on the river south of winnipeg! 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. I have 25 acres. Many people,including myself, would love to own 40 acres, if you can do it, I say go for it!!!! If it's not a family budget problem, I say GO FOR IT. in the area im at all the larger properties get snached up by farmers that push out all the trees they possibly can to farm and then pick up every piece of corn and soybean they can and leave nothing. get the palce to hunt on, but to think you could manage deer on that size land is a stretch. I think we overthink these things at times. Update? There is severe over browsing on anything we plant and understory browse is nonexistent (less than 4″ tall) in the hardwoods. Your quote above is a bit concerning. I learned alot while I was there I thought I knew alot about hunting & wildlife management until I went there. i think someone above nailed it by saying the right 40 is better than the wrong 160. this property has it all, cover, tillable and water. Both my boys shot there first bow deer on 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. We have a 180, which would be about 250 if flattened-out :-) One problem is that we have a house on one property line, and an outfitter on the other who buys his bait by the truck load. ;-), "I would love to get my own spot to manage just like everyone else". 40 acres in the right spot can be more productive than owning 200 acres in the wrong spot. Just about every club in the south has regular member dues and Food Plot dues. 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. I'd go for it. We are surrounded by huntingclubs. That depends on the coverage (draw) area of a food plot, which relates to deer travel distance. 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. I know if in the right area, forty acres is more than enough! Looks like an awesome piece to own and it has all the right draws. 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. CRP food plots are limited in size to 10% of the acres of a field not to exceed a maximum of five acres in any field, regardless of field size. 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). Forty acres and a mule is part of Special Field Orders No. Other option is get a friend or two who have the same goals as you and buy a. A total bedding sanctuary and staging areas for deer to head east each evening to thousands of acres of farmland. Looks like it's in a nice funnel. 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. Even if you normally go whitetail deer hunting with your gut as your guide, there are considerations you need to make in choosing a food … I can't stress enough how much weeds play a roll in destroying your opportunity to find your necessary food plot acreage base. Example: In the irregular plot shown on the right, the area is split up into two rectangular regions that measure off at 20 yds by 35 yds and 25 by 18 yds. It happens to be riverfront in a cottage area. 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. If you draw a circle with a half-mile radius around a food plot, you encompass about 640 acres, or … Protect Your Food Plot Base At All Costs The land used in the video features less than 3 acres of food plots on roughly 40 acres of total land. It's like being married. 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. When given the flexibility, I recommend a combination of larger holding plots and smaller hunting plots. I guess the unit is 40ft x 60 ft 1 acre = 43560 sqft Wait … don't rush to divide them to arrive at the number of plots. My record for most deer in a 30 second trail camera was counted at 14! Even smaller tracts in the right place will be coveted in the future. I have less than 40 for sure but our deer are plentiful & doing just fine. I put my trail camera out for the first time 1 month ago and it is loaded. 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. Each year one-half of the grain food plots should be al- lowed to grow annual plants or be over seeded with a legume, while the other half is replanted to grains. What I am getting at is money was not the issue in my case (I was able to buy it through my company that I own as an "investment"). etc. 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. Here is a Google view of the area which shows why it is such a hot spot. Here is a picture for you to consider. ive included a image of it and surrounding properties. We have shot some decent deer off it, one made P&Y, 3 close, but that isn't the reason or my purpose in buying it. i would just like a spot to plant some food and ticker with a hobby farm i guess you could call it. Barn, pond, 2 waterfalls, many creeks. 40 is a very good place to start. We struck a deal, I keep an eye on and take care of the place for and get to hunt it … One buddy got a lood at him this fall but not close enough for a shot. I bet it would be a good piece of land. The amount of forage needed on your land, is the total volume of food that you need, to attract the attention of the local deer herd during the entire hunting season. Know what you are getting into and with who before you sign that dotted line. Many questions come up regarding what to plant in a small food plot. A plot is simply an arbitrary term used to describe any piece of land. Never hurts to ask! But, I have two 1/2 food plots on it and put in Brassica, which will not be touched until several hard frosts. You can do a lot with 40 acres. One grain food plot for every 40 acres is recommended. We shoot several deer per year and it has been a phenomenal place. 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 … Making sure that we hit our base amount of food plot acreage created some great November and December memories for us, in 2016! Killed a nice buck last year. It is vital that you understand that when it comes to a plot of land – there is no standard size. Brush up with these deer food plot tips for when the planting season arrives. There is a lot of good info on habitat enhancement. I bowhunted a relatives 40 acres also until it was sold out of the family-great Bowhunting. 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. By: turkulese. Messages: 756 Likes Received: 749 Location: East Tawas. I agree with Ollie, the right 40 can yield great hunting opportunities for a lifetime. If the hunting property is an area where corn and soybean crops are commonly grown then food plots, especially during the summer, are rarely necessary. Starting off with a 40 is a great way to get started. Update us when you can Buckmaster! Copyright © 2012 Bowsite.com. Can't even imagine hunting public land. 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. It looks like a sweet piece from the pic you posted. The deer flock to the cedar swamp which I leave as a sanctuary (I only enter that area in the spring to shed hunt and check things out) in mid November and even more so in December when crop land is snow covered. 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. Yes, you can have food plots on 6 acres; the question is, what size and how many. 40 acres is plenty, plant quality plots and mast trees (apple) and you will have a great hunting location. The piece you are talking about is bigger than any of the properties I hunt. If you don't hit your base amount of food for the season, you can expect your ability to grow and hunt a quality herd to be greatly diminished! You can do a lot with 40 as long as its not an open field and thats it. Budget, time, and hunting – or feeding – goals are the main factors I now consider when deciding what to plant in my plots. 40 acres will work if it is in a prime area. Buckmaster, did you buy the land? Basically, the north is still 15 years behind the south when it comes to Land Management and Food Plots. 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. 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. 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 … If it's within an hour of one of "major" cities you may be able to develop it, and flip it. I own 41 and have NEVER regretted purchasing it. I would love to have 40 acres in the right place. If the answers to all of those is yes then it may be a great investment in your future hunting opportunities. We don't know how long we have and if you can buy your own hunting land to call Heaven, who knows, you might even live a little longer! I hear you, by manage I should have been more specific, Manage the land to make it as disriable as possible. 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