Need ideas on planning out my land

I bought 18 acres a year ago. Finally got the house finished and am starting to work on the land. I have a '67 Ford backhoe, a Massey Ferguson 135, tiller, disk, 2 bottom plow, box blade, bush hog, and spreader when it comes to equipment. Also have a sprayer that I can mount on an ATV, but it only has a wand.

The picture shows what the place looked like in the summer. There is a trail cut around the western and southern perimeter about 8ft wide. The large purple box on the eastern side is my future range. It's about 20' wide. The land there is high on the ends and low in the middle, where the stream runs through during the rainy season. The big yellow area in the middle is a spot that I started clearing with the plan of parking my tractor, backhoe, etc. It's a little soft, so I might just use it as a garden. The other yellow area is a spot we started clearing this past weekend. As far as the areas around me, there's very little activity. Across McLean Chapel Church Rd is a field just as it appears. To the west is over grown land with briars, tall grass, etc - about 6-7 feet high. There's a small pond just north of the stream that is surrounded by tall trees. To the east is the future site of my neighbor's house, but he hasn't started building yet. He has been hunting out there, but not seen anything. To the south is land that belongs to the chicken farm. Saw a huge corn pile, but that's about it. The land is on the side of a hill, with the general sloping direction to the south east.

Section off a corner 4 to 5 acres and let the NC forestry service do a controlled late winter burn. They will put in burn lines and you can plant those plowed burn lines in a fall planting of crimson clover and wheat/oats. Clear off another acre for a warm season foodplot next to the section to be burned. Plant roundup ready soybeans in your newly cleared 1 acre foodplot. Continue to burn 4 to 5 acre section every 2 years. You will see LOTS of wildlife I guarantee!
Sounds like you got all the equipment to get started and keep it going.
Good LUCK!

What is your long term goal?

I would plant a wide variety of soft and hard mast trees that drop their fruits and nuts at various times. It's tough to beat the draw of soft mast at certain times of the year.
Look at fruiting understory plants and vines as well.
Position them on the edges of fields where you plan to plant game attracting food.

The NC Forestry site is full of info on becoming a certified burner, but nothing on how to contact one. Do I just call up the local forestry office?

My long term plan with this land is to set it up for hunting deer and turkey. I would love to acquire the land to the west, but that's probably a pipe dream until everything else is paid off - about 15-20 years. At that point, I'll be 60. Not sure how much work I'll want to put into it. My kids are 2 and 8 mo, so maybe they will be interested in messing with it by then.

I was thinking about planting some mast trees. The entire area is sand with some clay hidden underneath in certain areas. I haven't been able to check out everything due to the dense pines. Found an oak the other day with acorns around it and fresh deer droppings.

Call Buren the county forest ranger. They can do the burning. Get on next years list. 910 893 4391
I personally would not waste time planting mast trees . 1 acre of soybeans can do a lot more than an acre of oak trees. You have the equipment to produce some high quality foodplots. Use it to your advantage. Nothing draws and keeps deer in Harnett county better than a soybean field. Turkeys will hit a unpicked soybean field in January and February. I have learned that since I moved here in 1993.
A prescribed burn on 5 acres will produce a lot of forage. You can do the burns yourself once the firelanes are put in after the first initial burn is done. I use to do mine in the evenings late February.

I've also heard that the deer here will tear up sweet potatoes.

Soybeans are easier to plant and deer don't always eat sweet potatoes. Turkeys could care less about a sweet potato. Soybeans is king here in Harnett county.

One good part of having 18 acres is that you do not have to follow a production oriented forestry plan to keep a reduced property tax rate. A food plot will provide a good opportunity to attract and see game, but not sure how well one acre of soybeans will sustain much deer pressure. I would spend some more time exploring. Identify oaks, persimmons and blackgums that you can release (fell surrounding trees) to produce more mast. Burning will help if the canopy is opened up to allow sunlight to hit the ground. If you burn put in extra wide fire breaks and plant for shooter plot in the fall.

NC Forest Service does conduct burns for landowners. Minimum fee is $350. Some county staff are overwhelmed with burning requests. There are several private burners in the area. There is a by county search feature at the below website.
http://ncforestservice.gov/Managing_your_forest/pb_vendors.asp Contract Burners

More info on prescribed burning can be found at.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaHt6ZLYd3o Video of Sandhills Prescribed Burn Association
http://ncprescribedfirecouncil.org NC Prescribed Fire Council