Thanks for all your help in years past.
Last year I took 3,000 Sq Ft log loading deck (1/15th acre) in the pines and turned into a mini-kill plot.
Last year, I sprayed roundup, weed whacked, scalped with a lawn mower in August. In September I applied the fertilizer and lime per the recommendations from Virginia Tech Soil Cooperative Extension test. Then my clubmate disked the fertilizer into soil, and I use a push-spreader to spread 10lbs of Winter Rye and 2 Lbs of Durana Clover seed.
3 days of heavy rain followed, and within 2 weeks I had sprouts like crazy. Within 3 weeks I had black bears visiting daily to eat Winter Rye (lots of trail cam photos of it hanging out of their mouths), and many does and bucks stopping by. I killed a buck each of the first 2 Saturdays of Muzzleloader season (which was 5 weeks after planting). I saw deer almost every other time I hunted the rest of the season as well! It was a big success.
This year, I have that original log deck although of course now all that remains is the clover. I also just cleared the entire walking trail to this clearing, which was another 100 yards long x 3 yards wide, so now I have a straight view of 140 yards by 3 yards down to this clearing from where my ground blind location will be. This adds 3000 sq feet of plantable land to my plot, doubling my size from 1/15th to almost 1/8th of an acre.
I am retesting the soil I fertilized last year and the new path way although it ought to be the same as what I got last year.
My question is this:
Because I am interested in killing deer on this plot and it is probably too small to have a meaningful impact on herd health (ie, it is a "kill plot" more so than a "food plot"), Should i focus strictly on the Winter Rye? Maybe disc my clover under (some will recover and regrow) and plant Winter rye in the original plot plus the new plot and not even bother with clover?
My fear is that with the clover taking so much soil surface contact space up, that if I continue growing clover, next year (fall 2018) I will only have browsed clover available at the beginning of Muzzleloader, instead of nice juicy fresh winter rye shoots that I can replant every September.
As for extending the plot all the way to your blind. I guess that depends if you want animals in your lap. I would think that means you will be dealing with a lot more "faces and butts" if this is a long thin strip. Personally I wouldn't do it - but that's because of what you wrote. Go back and read how successful it was for you. Could you be over-thinking this a bit? I know I tend to over-think and plan my stuff.