Establishing Food Plots on Mountain Roads

By GrowingDeer,

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Question
Dear Dr. Woods,

I am writing with a question about planting old haul roads in mature woods with something to concentrate the deer on a very large piece of property in West Virginia.  I am dealing with literally many, many square miles of mature hardwood forest.  The mature timber canopy keeps much of the area in the shade throughout the day.  The deer are sparsely located in pockets.  However, there are some truly great bucks lurking in the remote parts of this land.

The property is very remote and very steep and rough.  The only agriculture for several miles would be a few small vegetable garden plots near the perimeter of the property.  It is located in one of our four “bow hunting only” counties.  It has some great deer but is very difficult to hunt.

I would like the benefit of your insight to determine what could be done in certain areas to enhance them and make them attractive for deer to use and for me to hunt.

Thanks in advance for your help!  I really like your new website.  I found out about it from Bill Winke’s Midwest Whitetail site.

Thanks again,

David

David,

I have worked a lot in very similar habitat and agree with all of your observations.  I have found that most white clovers are relatively shade tolerant and I have used them on haul roads in the mountains of North Carolina with great success.  I would suggest planting some North South strips on roads in your dryer site to capitalize on the shade that is available.  Then plant strips East West on your wetter sites to capitalize on the sun’s ability to evaporate soil moisture.

Have a soil test done to determine what nutrients are necessary to establish a healthy clover field.  Clover is relativity easy to establish in such situations, I simply remove the dust/debris and living vegetation from the road by raking, etc.  Then I proceed to broadcast the fertilizer and then the seed.  Try to pick roads with very little slope so the fertilizer will not be washed away during periods of heavy precipitation.  Fertilizer not only makes plants more nutritious but also more palatable for deer.  It will attract deer in areas with low-populations densities.

After going through the hard work, I know it is tempting to hunt there all the time but mountain deer tend to be very leery and overhunting will most certainly make them nocturnal.  It is better to have more locations rather than establishing all your food in one area as this will allow more hunting opportunities while spreading out the hunting pressure.

Growing Deer together,

Grant