The land I hunt is nothing but wooded hills with a few fields and clearings in the woods. The deer mostly rely on the mast crop each year...acorns, apples, persimmons, etcand then just whatever grass they can find once all that is gone. I was thinking of planting a few food plots in the wooded clearings because I don't have permission to plant anything in the fields.

The largest clearing size would probably be a 1/4 acre unless I ran them along some logging roads to make them larger. Would this be an adequate area to have any affect on the deer if I planted some plots this spring, or with that small size, would it be a wasted effort? Any suggestions on easy to plant spring/summer plots? The area I hunt is probably 200 acres but there are several other tracts of land that connect and surround it. Do you think I would be better off just planting some fall plots to attract and hold deer, since I don't have the large amout of land to supply them nutritionally in the summer months?

I found some good end of seasondeals on Biologic Green Patch Plus and Hot Spot. If I bought several bags of these for fall plots now, would the seeds still be good and grow as effectively, or would I be better off waiting and buying it later in the year?

Finally, there are a few wild apple trees and I was wondering what fertilizer or othermethods(pruning etc)would help them producemore fruit.