About J. Wayne Fears

I really would like to have a couple of food plots in my woodlot, but I don’t have any openings that I can use,” my friend told me as we walked along an old logging road that ran through his 30-acre woodlot. “What’s wrong with planting this roadbed we’re walking in?” I questioned. It got his attention and he admitted that he had never given that any thought.

I have received many similar questions from members of Whitetails Unlimited. As an example, Ken R. of Wisconsin writes, “Is it feasible to plant food plots on roads that were built from logging operations over the past year and a half? What would you suggest trying to grow in this logging road system with limited sunlight exposure?”

Some of the most valuable food plots I have seen have been on little-used logging roads and fire breaks that run through wooded areas. Since most game animals are edge feeders, preferring not to venture too far out into the open to feed, the safety of food in a narrow strip, adjacent to cover, is attractive. Also, they don’t have to venture far to feed as opposed to large food plots located some distance apart. When you consider the amount of food available in a long strip, it can feed a lot of critters.

For old logging roads to be useful as food plots, traffic must no longer be allowed to use them.

Old logging roads or fire breaks suitable for planting in wildlife foods are called “linear openings” by many biologists. Considering that most white-tailed deer management programs call for 2%-5% of the habitat to be in food plots, planting logging roads or fire breaks is a good way to get the required acreage planted without having to cut and clear additional forestlands for traditional food plots. These linear openings winding through the woods can positively impact more deer per planted acre than traditional food plots. It simply puts more food closer to the animals.

Select the Right Roads

Old logging roads that are to be planted must not be in use any longer. If the road gets a considerable amount of traffic from hunters, farm managers, and other human traffic, it cannot be expected to grow a good food crop. Selected roads should be gated. All those who use the property should be notified that traffic is to be kept off the road. The same can be said for firebreaks. I have seen many hunting clubs plant fire breaks in late summer and then just as the crop was coming up, it gets ruined by use for ATV trails.

There Must Be Enough Sunlight

Logging roads or fire breaks that are to be used as food plots need to be wide enough to allow sunlight to reach the roadbed for plants to thrive. A minimum width is about 25 feet; however, wider is better. If your old logging roadbeds are not that wide or the edge timber is shading the roadbed most of the day, consider cutting the edge trees back. This is called “daylighting,” and it can be a good source of firewood. You can often get a logger that is cutting in the community to come in and cut the road covering back in order to get another load or two.

Determine What to Plant

	Goals for planting most logging roads are to stop erosion and to feed deer and other wildlife during the cold months.

Once you have selected a roadbed or firebreak to convert into a food plot, the first step is to determine what wildlife food species you want to plant. There are usually two goals in planting logging roads and firebreaks. The first is to stop erosion. Erosion from logging roads is a major problem in many forests due to the silt from a bare road washing into nearby streams. The second goal is to have forage available for deer and other wildlife during the fall and winter months when food is limited in woodlands.

First, let’s address the erosion problem. Reducing water run-off from logging roads and firebreaks is a priority for many landowners so they often plant the openings in warm-season grasses such as tall fescue and orchard grass. While these plant materials do a good job of holding soil and providing small game with cover, they do a poor job of providing food for wildlife, especially deer. A much better choice for deer and other wildlife are cool-season annual grasses such as winter wheat, oats, rye, and annual ryegrass. With adequate moisture they germinate and grow fast, providing a soil cover in just a few days. Most importantly, they provide forage almost instantly and last a long time during the cold months. In the spring their seeds provide food for a wide variety of birds, game, and non-game. During the warm months when the cold-season annual grasses have gone to seed and dried, naturally occurring forbs and grasses will grow and protect the opening from erosion while providing food for wildlife.

Planting old logging roads can be done with a hand seeder or ATV with electric seeder.

The ideal solution to planting linear openings is to plant a mixture that will control erosion and provide plenty of cool-season food. A good perennial mixture that you can mix yourself (per acre) consists of 50 pounds of winter wheat or oats, 4 pounds of ladino white clover, 2 pounds of birdsfoot trefoil, and 2 pounds of white Dutch clover. This mixture will provide your roads with several years of good deer forage while keeping erosion to a minimum. Provided it is planted according to soil test and gets some moisture when it is planted, the only maintenance it will need will be to mow it toward the end of summer to reduce competition and get sunlight to the lower growing clover. Also, you will need to keep the encroaching weeds and woody plants along the edge of the plot from taking over. An annual spraying of a selective herbicide will take care of this.

It is
always a good idea to get your Natural Resources Conservation Service agent, county agricultural agent, or state wildlife biologist to help you come up with the best mixture for your soil and climate.

Follow Your Soil Test

As with any crop, it is a good idea to take soil tests on your roadbed and firebreaks to get the best results from your plantings. Follow the soil test results to the letter. Liming, fertilizing, and seeding roadbed food plots can easily be done with an ATV using an electrical seeder, or by walking and using a hand seeder. Prior to seeding, you will probably need a small tractor to break up the roadbed for a seed bed. Logging trucks pack the roadbed so hard that a tractor is needed to break-up the hard packed soil and to establish a good seedbed.

	Food plot crops in old logging roads need to be planted with the same care as other crops. This starts with a soil test to determine lime and fertilizer requirements.

Once the seedbed is established, be sure to keep road traffic to a minimum. In fact, it would be a good idea to keep the road closed except for emergencies.

Many old logging roads have log-loading decks, sometimes called “log landings,” along them and these also make good small food plots that can be established and planted at the same time as the road.

Hunting or photographing deer along linear openings can be most productive by slowly stalking along these strips. In addition, portable stands located just inside the woods where the stander can see down the opening for a long distance can be rewarding.

If the forestland where you hunt doesn’t have food plots and the possibility of creating food plots by cutting timber doesn’t exist, then look for old logging roads or firebreaks and create linear openings to plant. Both you and the deer will be glad you did.