dan, just an oddball question for you, you said that you have a huge cedar area close by, is it huntable, because i know down here, that is one of the first places that our deer head when the pressure is on. how many people hunt your property specifacally? and now the odd question, if you want to plant food, why not do it in a way to give yourself a side income, such as by planting a small orchard of say, apples, and if your laws are anything like ours, one bonus is that you can get a tax break for seven years, i believe, because it will take the trees at least that long before they start to produce anything. but, at the same time, you will be attracting deer, because of the trees, and if they start to cause damage, if you have them available, get damage permits for what they are doing to the trees, culling out the mature does as needed(or as many as they gov. lets' s you). when mature, the trees will also help attract deer, your qdm plan will take 3-5 years to show any kind of real results, which we can count as tree growing time, and you should have results starting to appear like you are aiming for. plus, you can get some good eating, apple flavored deer meat, lol. and don' t forget about selling any excess apples, the whole point of planting that particular crop in the first place. i suppose planting down vegetables would do the same, the trick in either case is to plant at least the minimum amount needed to qualify for any kind of destruction program, but not more than you wish to handle. heck, sell the apples/vegetables to the farmer up the road for feed, and also to the outdoor center across the road, i am sure that they would take fresh veggies for their guests.