Im fairly new to this site, but have been back through much of the info. available from past posts and have found alot of great stuff already. But I have a new project to work on so I may have some questions over the next few months for everyone to ponder and hopefully give some input.

Ive got 50 acres or so of my own ground Id like to make into a whitail heaven. Of which 23 acres is open field right now and is prime black Indiana soil. The rest is timber that I plan to cut 5 or 6 acres of to create a santuary on the down wind(west side). Right now I have one 3/4 acre clover food plot in the NE corner of woods that was put in when I purchased the woods two years ago. Luckily it has done very well as I did not perform a soil test, only fertilized and used a small amout of granular lime. This plot alone has really pulled in the deer as I had some super bucks move through this year. To be honest I was shocked to see these huge deer on my property--what a great feeling. Its amazing what posting your land and planting only a small food plot can do.

But now I have this additional 23 acres to work with and I am pumped and cant wait to get started this spring. Right now Im thinking about two 21/2 acre grain plots that will alternate between corn and beans. Then a 2-3 acre afalfa/clover field also. These would be situated to the east side to take advantage of the prevailing wind. The field I just purchased lies just south of the woods and runs east and west for about 850 yds. and is 150 yds wide in the middle. Then it narrows to a point at both ends and is bordered by a creek on the south side, which is the property line. The whole property is surrounded by creeks. A major creek to the west that the creek on the north and the one to the south empty into on the far west side of the property. This property sits in the dead center of the section so it is extremely difficult to see from the road as there are small hills surrounding. Our area is heavily farmed with beans and corn so agriculture surrounds it and the average size woods in this vicinity is 5 to 15 acres.

So my biggest question is what would you do with this 23 acre field? I was leaning toward the food plots mentioned above with a small orchard in the alfalfa, but I am more than open to suggestions. The other half of the field I would like to make into very diverse bedding area. Clumps of pines,berry brush of some kind, and maybe some native grass. Id like to get some cover up as quickly as possible in say atleast 5 acres or so.

Any help would be appreciated guys. Sorry for being so long winded.