Northern NY food plot with pics

[QDMAworks4me]

I just wanted to share a few pics of my new food plot. I have (and my wallett, what an expensive hobbie ) have been working on this food plot for about a month now. I started by planting 203 white spruce trees in an L pattern around the plot so that in about ten years, give or take, I will have a barrier so that the deer feel safe coming out in the field during the day and so that the neighbors can not see where they are not supposed to. The field is about 5 acres. There has not been anything done to this field in a long time, but I was happy to see when I got the soil sample back I had a ph of 6.7 and I only had to till it, fertilize it and plant it.

The first picture is a picture of one of the rows of trees.



The second picture is a picture of the food plot, I am standing in the same spot I just turned a little to the left. I have about 3 to 3 1/2 acres of clover and 1 to 1 1/2 acres of brassica.



The last picture is of the other row of trees and I have just turned all the way to the right and am still standing in the same spot.



I hope that we get a little rain and the next pictures I will have it should be green

Thanks for taking a look
QDM

[generallee]

looks like you got it figured out. Great lookin spot, and im sure it must have been rough planting 203 spruce trees....thats some hard work.

[QDMAworks4me]

[ QUOTE ]
looks like you got it figured out. Great lookin spot, and im sure it must have been rough planting 203 spruce trees....thats some hard work.

[/ QUOTE ]

The best thing I ever did when planting the spruce trees was borrowed a 3 pint hitch post hole digger for the tractor. I marked them out with marking paint and my dad and I drilled all 200 holes in about 3 hours. Much better than a shovel. Oh by the way I bet 203 sound like an odd number that is because they gave me a few extra when I bought 200 I figured what the heck and dug a few holes by hand. Let me tell you I am glad I did not have to do all of them by hand!

QDM

[AaronS]

Awesome job QDM, and way to think ahead by offering the deer the security of the trees.

[Tominator]

Wow! Looks great.

I hope all of those trees make it. Might want to start saving up for T-posts and chicken wire now to protect them from rubbing in a few years.

[wtnhunt]

That looks great.

[ QUOTE ]
Wow! Looks great.

I hope all of those trees make it. Might want to start saving up for T-posts and chicken wire now to protect them from rubbing in a few years.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yep, unfortunately I bet they take out a few.

[QDMAworks4me]

[ QUOTE ]
That looks great.

[ QUOTE ]
Wow! Looks great.

I hope all of those trees make it. Might want to start saving up for T-posts and chicken wire now to protect them from rubbing in a few years.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yep, unfortunately I bet they take out a few.

[/ QUOTE ]


HAHA yeah but if I catch them they will pay the price. I have already had to replace 2 of them due to the fact that they were getting real brown. Now that I have made the investment I will probably have to replace a few a year for awhile, but oh well.

[wtnhunt]

Problem is if the deer are anything like here, they will hit the trees in the middle of the night. Here, they wore out a couple pear trees I planted for them.

[Muff]

looks great

[QDMAworks4me]

[ QUOTE ]
Problem is if the deer are anything like here, they will hit the trees in the middle of the night. Here, they wore out a couple pear trees I planted for them.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah I am sure I will loose a few of them to rubs, we have a spruce tree on our property that is very large, to the point I never thought a deer could rub it and a deer trashed it, sometimes I think we should be talking about deer in the VARMINT room

[Tominator]

I've actually only lost a handful of maybe 100+ trees to rubbing, even though I'd say half of them have been rubbed. Seems the conifers are pretty durable to rubbing. I've even had a few snapped off, but the other branches continue to grow.

I have one tree that is rubbed every year, and it's still kicking. It's an ugly tree, but still alive!

[RangerClay]

Wow! Great Job!! Super pictures!!!!! I cannot wait to see it in person. Be sure to share some pictures when it turns green.

As for the rubbing topic. In my 20+ years of deer hunting I don't think I have seen more than a handful of conifers rubbed. I've seen some big cedars rubbed but not pine or spruce. They tend to leave them alone in my neck of the woods.

Ranger

[Born2Hunt]

It looks great Brian! I'll get over and check it out when it starts to grow. Can I use the quad with brakes this time? LOL

[craig mack]

[ QUOTE ]
I've actually only lost a handful of maybe 100+ trees to rubbing, even though I'd say half of them have been rubbed. Seems the conifers are pretty durable to rubbing. I've even had a few snapped off, but the other branches continue to grow.

I have one tree that is rubbed every year, and it's still kicking. It's an ugly tree, but still alive!



[/ QUOTE ]
Sound like you got some of those GIANT Oklahoma bucks in your area.

[craig mack]

Nice pics. It looks like alot of hard work was put in to that. Great job