Whitetail News Vol 23.1

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FromThoughtto BoughtThe Backstory of Whitetail Institute ProductsPage 5

Managing SmallAcreages for aWhitetail ParadisePage 32

For the latest promotions, sales and news visit www.Facebook.com/WhitetailInstitute Vol. 23, No. 1 / WHITETAIL NEWS 3

In This Issue…

Features5 From Thought to Bought — The Back-

story of Whitetail Institute Products By Charles J. AlsheimerFor a company to be successful, it must come up with a high-qualityproduct, understand how to make it appealing, be able to formulate agreat game plan and have the dedication required to carry out themarketing plan. When all these factors come together, success follows.

8 Are You Looking Through a Glass Ceilingon Your Hunting Property? By Craig DoughertyMany of the property owners the author and his son work with areplagued with the same problem. They let young bucks walk in hopes ofturning them into old bucks with big antlers, but this never seems tohappen. Are these client’s expectations holding them back?

12 Understanding Protein and How it Fitsin Your Management Plan By Matt HarperProtein has become the magic ingredient that is to deer nutrition whatKleenix is to facial tissue. Without a doubt one of the least understoodterms in the deer nutrition world is protein.

16 30-06 Mineral Key to Shootinga 180-Inch 9-Point By Adam Hayes

20 Winter Peas Plus…You Make the Call By William CousinsThe Whitetail Institute is proud to announce its newest forageproduct: Imperial Whitetail Winter Peas Plus. Winter Peas Plus isdifferent from other “pea” food plot products in many ways.

22 What Mark Do You Want to Leave Behind By R.G. Bernier

28 Imperial Whitetail Alfa-Rack Plus…It’s All About the formula By Whitetail Institute Staff

32 Managing Small Acreages for aWhitetail Paradise By Gerald Almy

36 Pick Your Product — Institute Forages areDesigned for Virtually Every Circumstance By Whitetail Institute Staff

42 Imperial Whitetail Winter-Greens…The “Maximum-Attraction” Brassica Product By Hollis Ayres

44 30-06 Mineral Vitamin SupplementBreak-Away Block By Whitetail Institute Staff

46 Planting by the Compass Helps Ensurea Great Plot By Joe Byers

54 The Drought Dilemma By David Hart

58 Follow Instructions and Reap Big Rewards By Gerald Almy

64 Whitetail Institute ProductsHelp Produce the #1 and #2 Pope and YoungWhitetails in Wyoming By Mike Schmid

Departments4 A Message from Ray Scott18 Field Testers Report Stories and Photos

26 The Weed DoctorBy W. Carroll Johnson, III, Ph.D., Weed Scientist and Agronomist

30 Record Book Bucks Stories and Photos

39 Food Plot Planting Dates70 First Deer — Aiming for the Future

Whitetail InstituteOFFICERS AND STAFF

Ray Scott Founder and PresidentWilson Scott Vice President of Operations Steve Scott Vice President, Executive Editor

William Cousins Operations Manager Wayne Hanna, Ph.D. Agronomist & Director of Forage Research Mark Trudeau National Sales ManagerFrank Deese Wildlife Biologist Jon Cooner Director of Special Projects

Brandon Self, Kendrick Thomas, John White Product Consultants Daryl Cherry, Javin Thomas Dealer/Distributor Sales Steffani Hood Dealer/Distributor Analyst Dawn McGough Office Manager Mary Jones Internet Customer Service Manager Teri Hudson Internet and Office Assistant Marlin Swain Shipping Manager

Bart Landsverk Whitetail News Senior EditorCharles Alsheimer, Tracy Breen, Jim Casada, Matt Harper, Brad Herndon, Bill Winke, R.G. Bernier, Bill Marchel, Michael Veine, Dr. Carroll Johnson, III,

Ted Nugent, Dean Weimer, David Hart Contributing WritersSusan Scott Copy Editor George Pudzis Art Director Wade Atchley, Atchley Media Advertising Director

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4 WHITETAIL NEWS / Vol. 23, No. 1 www.whitetailinstitute.com

A Message from RAY SCOTTFounder and President of the Whitetail Institute of North America

As the Whitetail Institute turns 25 and the Bass AnglersSportsman Society (B.A.S.S.) turns 45 and I turn 80,

allow me to turn philosophical for a moment.My preacher is always saying to practice an attitude of

gratitude and as I look back on these past 80 years, I canonly be grateful to have been part of not just one but twogreat American outdoor traditions — bass fishing andwhitetail hunting; first, as founder of B.A.S.S. in 1968 and20 years later the Whitetail Institute of North America.

After all the inevitable struggles and eventual success,the sweetest success by far is being in a position to be ableto leave these sports better than I found them and helpleave a legacy for generations to come.

Some people think I have some sort of magic touch, butthat is not the case. I will tell anyone for every success, Ihave a graveyard of ideas that didn’t work.

That has been true at the Institute. Many WhitetailInstitute product ideas have not survived our gruelingproduct development and real-world testing. But the impor-tant thing is we all kept trying. For me the ultimate failureis not trying.

I was reminded of that just recently when I came acrossone of my favorite quotes of all times from Theodore

Roosevelt, not just one of our greatest presidents but one ofour greatest outdoorsmen as well. You’ve probably heard it,but it is timeless for all those out there working, struggling,creating, supporting a cause, devoted to an endeavor. Here’swhat Teddy had to say:“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out

how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of good deedscould have done better. The credit belongs to the man who isactually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweatand blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up shortagain and again, because there is no effort without error orshortcomings, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the greatdevotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at thebest, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, andwho, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daringgreatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold andtimid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

The Whitetail Institute has been in the arena these past25 years and that’s where we’ll stay, not just for our fieldtesters and customers but for quality deer management andthe future of our sport.

Ray Scott

In the Arena

Many WhitetailInstitute

product ideashave not

survived ourgrueling productdevelopmentand real-worldtesting. But theimportant thingis we all kepttrying. For methe ultimatefailure is not

trying.

There is anotion in oursociety that

says, “If you havea good product,you don’t have to

worry about sales,they’ll take care ofthemselves.” Frankly,the person who came upwith this line obviouslybelieved in the toothfairy. Very few things inlife just happen. For acompany to besuccessful, it must comeup with a high-qualityproduct, understandhow to make itappealing, be able toformulate a great gameplan and have thededication required tocarry out the marketingplan. When all thesefactors come together,success follows.

A Little History

In 1968, Alabama native Ray Scott walkedaway from a successful career to follow hisdream of bass fishing. At the time, manythought he was crazy, but through time hechased and caught up to his dream by found-

ing the largest sport-fishing organization inthe world, the Bass Anglers Sportsman Soci-ety (B.A.S.S.). In the process, his visionwound up creating an entire industry thatthrives today.

Though Ray is synonymous with bass fish-ing, he is also passionate about whitetail deer.His passion for bass fishing spilled over todeer in the mid-1970s, when his son Stevegot him interested in hunting whitetails. Atthe time, Ray wanted to attract deer to hishunting property, so he began planting oat,wheat and rye green fields.

One day in the 1980s, Ray stopped at alocal feed store to buy some grain seed toplant in his food plots. While there, thestore’s owner threw a bag of clover seed onthe back of the truck and encouraged Ray toplant it for his deer. That season, Ray cameup with the idea of planting a buffet of foodplots, using a variety of grains and the cloverseed he’d been given. When hunting seasonarrived, Ray was amazed to see how oftendeer would walk through the oats, wheat andrye he had planted to get to the clover plots.


From Thought to Bought —

The Backstory ofWhitetail Institute Products

By Charles J. AlsheimerPhotos by the Author

Being attractive to whitetail is one of the main research requirements in WhitetailInstitute product development.

This happened on several hunts. Otherhunters reported similar observations. Thisdrove him to find out what the clover seedwas all about. The trail led him to Dr. WileyJohnson, a professor and seed geneticist atAuburn University.

Ever the businessman, Ray challenged Dr.Johnson to come up with the best cloverproduct possible specifically for deer. Ray andDr. Johnson set up the goals to develop aclover blend that had seedling vigor, high nu-tritional content, drought resistance, winterhardiness and most importantly, was attrac-tive to deer. It took Dr. Johnson the betterpart of seven years to create the clover varietythat became the backbone of Imperial White-tail Clover.

During the time Dr. Johnson was engineer-ing the original Imperial Whitetail Clover,Ray was one of the first to encourage huntersand landowners of the benefits of food plotsas a nutritional supplement for whitetails. In1988, with the first Imperial Whitetail Cloverblend in his arsenal, Ray launched the White-tail Institute of North America. Since then,many new seed varieties have been developedby Dr. Johnson and his successor, Dr. WayneHanna, and these new varieties have helpedto continue to improve Imperial WhitetailClover and other Whitetail Institute food plotproducts.

Quality is No. 1

Anyone who has ever dealt with theWhitetail Institute knows that there is nosuch thing as second best with the company.I began using its products 17 years ago whenmy family developed a whitetail research fa-cility here on our farm. Dedicated to thestudy of deer behavior and whitetail nutri-tion, we set out to determine why deer dowhat they do and why they prefer certain for-ages, natural and human engineered. It hasbeen a fascinating journey; one that has al-lowed me to see firsthand the quality (or lackthereof) of certain products. From the get-go,our research deer showed a distinct prefer-ence for the various Whitetail Institute prod-ucts we planted in our 35-acre enclosure.

When I asked Steve Scott to comment ontheir company’s emphasis on the superiorquality of their products, he said, “The qual-ity of our products is what made us success-ful initially and is why we are thenumber-one food plot company today. Welearned a long time ago that repeat businessis the key to success because it costs a lot

more to sell a person the first time than thesecond, third or fourth time. When my dadbegan Whitetail Institute, his top priority wasto develop the best clover blend possible. Thisphilosophy remains in place today with allour products.

“That said, let me share a quick story aboutmy dad as it relates to the quality of our prod-ucts. Not long after the introduction of Im-perial Whitetail Clover, my brother, Wilson,and I thought it might be a great business de-cision to come up with a less expensive cloverblend to compete with the first cheaper ‘copy-

cat’ products that appeared on the market.Well, we ran our idea by our father, and heshot it down almost as fast as the words cameout of our mouths.

“He said, ‘If we are still here 20 years fromnow, it will be because of the quality of ourproducts, not the money we make. I’m notabout to sacrifice quality, so no we will notmarket a cheaper seed line. Our goal will al-ways be to offer the highest quality productsto our customers.’

“In retrospect, what our dad said that daywas one of the best business lessons I’ve ever


The author began usingImperial products 17 years

ago when his familydeveloped a whitetail

research facility on his farm.


learned and the cornerstone for the successwe’ve enjoyed for all these years.”

Identifying the Need

Attention to detail and the quality of theirproducts has been the lynchpin to WhitetailInstitute’s success. From its inception,Whitetail employees listened to their cus-tomers and closely analyzed the market be-fore introducing a new product to its line.When I asked Steve Scott how importantnew products are for them he said.

“New products are very important, butonly if there is a need or we have a hole to fillin our product line. It usually takes five yearson average for us to go from thinking abouta product to bringing it to market. For everysuccessful product we’ve had there have beendozens that never saw the light of day,” hesaid.

After Whitetail Institute determines theneed for a new product, research begins.Staffers look at all aspects of what will be re-quired for success — everything from educat-ing customers on something totally new towhether the product will provide the propernutrition and whether deer will be attractedto it and much more. After all aspects arelooked at closely, the process of selectingand/or genetically developing the seed begins.A critical aspect of Whitetail Institute’s offer-ings is that most of its seed products areblends rather than a single seed variety. Singleseed varieties typically have negative features,like an inability to be drought resistant orwinter hardy. Seed blends, on the other hand,can be formulated to minimize such nega-tives. In addition, blends can be developed tohave higher nutrition levels and last longer.

Meeting the Test

A critical step in Whitetail Institute’sthought to bought process is the unique way ittests prospective products. Steve Scott ex-plained the process.

“We test every seed offering vigorously indifferent parts of the country to make sure itwill grow and thrive in each region. We dothis through what we call satellite researchfacilities, which are some of our customers,”he said. “Our testers are folks who plant foodplots in what we call the ‘Real World.’ Theyconduct a fair test, work within our confi-dential guidelines and provide a prompt andthorough response to how the product per-forms. Basically, we provide them with a va-

riety of seeds to test and they give us theiropinion of which works best for them. Whenwe know which seed or blend of seeds worksbest, the marketing process begins.”

An important point of emphasis is thatWhitetail Institute continually strives to im-prove the blends it offers. By way of example,since Imperial Whitetail Clover’s introduc-tion in 1988, numerous improvements havebeen made through the years to this popularclover blend to make it more successful. Fur-ther improvement in the company's seedblends took place just recently with the addi-tion of Rain Bond to its seeds. This cutting-edge coating product can hold 200 times itsweight in moisture, which helps to improveseedling survival when drought conditionsexist.

The Art of Selling

When a Whitetail Institute product is de-veloped, it’s time to bring it to market. Oneof the first steps in the process is ensuring asmuch as possible that production will be ableto keep up with demand when the orders rollin. While production is gearing up, White-tail’s staff is busy with product naming, bag

design and developing advertising strategy.Since its inception, Whitetail Institute has ag-gressively marketed its products through ver-tical magazines and television (those that areprimarily whitetail in nature). As Steve Scottsaid, “We focus on the most serious end userswho have a passion for whitetails.”

However, the biggest way the companyreaches the whitetail public is through itsmagazine, Whitetail News, which waslaunched in 1991 and is published threetimes a year. Each issue is full of informativehunting, land management and food plot ar-ticles, with heavy emphasis on how WhitetailInstitute products can deliver the greatest re-turn to the deer and landowner. WhitetailNews ranks as the most-read magazine of itskind in the United States, and it is free toWhitetail Institute customers.

For more than two decades, Ray Scott’sprophetic words to his sons — that qualitywould be what makes them successful —have rung loud and true. Because of its prod-uct’s quality and customer service, WhitetailInstitute has become a true American successstory. Simply put, few do the thought-to-bought process better than Whitetail Insti-tute does. W

Are You LookingThrough a GlassCeiling on YourHunting Property?

By Craig DoughertyPhoto by the Author

f you think the glass ceiling effect onlyoperates in business or politics, thinkagain. The whitetail world is full of glassceilings, and there are thousands oflandowner/hunters out there with

bumps on their heads to prove it. A glassceiling in business generally refers to aninvisible barrier that prevents women orsome other class of individual fromattaining upper-level positions. Talentedindividuals, intent on promotion and acareer, clearly can see the upper rungs onthe career ladder but just can’t seem to getbeyond a certain point. They have hit aninvisible barrier so to speak.

Many of the property owners my son and I work with in our con-sulting business are plagued with the same problem. They let youngbucks walk in hopes of turning them into old bucks with big antlers,but it never seems to happen. They set management goals for them-selves but keep bumping their heads on invisible (to them) barriers.It typically kicks in when landowner/hunters try to transition fromtaking younger deer to mature deer in the 4 to 5-year-old range. Wesee it all the time in our consulting business, and here are some of themost common reasons why.

Great Expectations

One of the most common problems my son and I encounter is un-realistic expectations. Landowner/hunters are covered up with imagesof world-class whitetails. It’s all you see on TV, on magazine coversand on the internet, and some of it is bound to rub off. Manylandowner/hunters ignore local norms and conditions and are boundand determined to raise and hunt magazine-cover bucks. If you’re in-

tent on taking 160-180 inch whitetails like you see on TV, you hadbetter start hunting where the TV stars do. And trust me, that is notAlabama, Massachusetts or even Pennsylvania. It’s Iowa and Illinoisand a handful of additional midwestern states that are known for pro-ducing monster bucks.

The Quality Deer Management Association publishes a nifty mapshowing exactly where the record-book bucks are coming from. Youguessed it — Midwestern states such as Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsinare right up there. Overlay a soil quality map, and you see howstrongly correlated good soils are with big buck production. Don’tmake yourself crazy by trying to grow Iowa-caliber bucks on a SouthCarolina property. Except for those occasional freaks it just isn’t goingto happen. But trying to get bucks into older age classes and providingthe best food possible can help you start killing the best bucks in yourneighborhood.

But the glass ceiling effect is about much more than setting realisticexpectations. In fact, it is more about hunting than goal setting. Mostof my clients know the difference between growing deer in Iowa andNew Jersey. They know that good antlers come with age and nutri-tion, and they know what the top bucks in their area look like. Theyare doing everything right: passing young bucks, planting food plots,providing cover and security and hunting hard, but they still are hav-ing trouble breaking through the glass ceiling. For the most part, theycan get two and even three years on a buck, but when it comes togrowing and killing 4, 5 and 6-year-oldbucks, that is where they start bump-ing their head. A closer look willstart to answer why.

Size Matters

At one time, deer experts weretelling us that you couldn’t man-age deer on anything less than



1,000 acres. Happily, that is old information, and plenty of managersare doing quite nicely on considerably smaller properties. It all de-pends on how the property lays out and what surrounds it. My sonand I have seen successful older-age deer management occur on prop-erties of 200 acres and more. We do nicely on our 500-acre New Yorkproperty, but we take extreme measures to keep the deer close tohome. We have laid out the property so the critical feeding and bed-ding areas are at the center of the property and as far from our bound-ary lines as possible. Most of our acreage is off-limits to humans, andwe have numerous access roads and trails around the property so wecan always approach from the downwind side of wherever we aregoing to hunt. Most important, we practice low-impact hunting to theextreme. We disrupt the property as little as possible, which meanselectric carts only, evening hunting only (until the rut), resting theproperty between hunts, only hunting the outer perimeters and adozen other practices designed to keep the deer where we want them.

Hunters having 100 acres or less are going to have difficulty man-aging for age or antlers. They can have great deer hunting, but if theythink they are going to control deer straying from their property, theyare kidding themselves. If their 100 acres is in a neighborhood full ofQDM properties, they are in luck. The same goes for small-propertyowners who are lucky enough to own property in a state that protectsyoung bucks. They can focus on creating the best 100 acres for milesaround and attract deer with food, cover and security. Short of high-fencing them in, you just can’t consistently keep bucks contained onsmall properties. If you are lucky enough to get the occasional slammeron your small property, use extreme caution when hunting him. Toomuch pressure, and the neighbors will have him.

Neighborhood Watch

When it comes to setting your sights on big bucks, your neighborsmatter as much you and your hunting buddies. Unless you are work-ing with a large chunk of real estate of, say, 200 acres or more, yourneighbors can make you or break you. The worst situation is tryingto manage deer in a neighborhood full of poachers. They trespass,shoot deer illegally and do everything else under the sun to underminethe principles of hunting fair chase and sound game management. Ihate to say it, but in some parts of the country trespassing and poach-ing is the norm, not the exception. Poachers and trespassers are ascourge and often a good reason to pull up stakes and pull out. Morethan one property with real potential has been ruined by the wrongkind of people.

Neighbors who do not share your management views can often beconvinced to get with the program. When we first started to managefor age 25 years ago, our neighbors thought we were nuts. “That willnever work,” and, “We hunt for meat not horns” was heard moreoften than not. And then they started to see older deer on their prop-erty and even started killing a few. Before long, they were passing upyoung bucks and waiting for that nice 10-pointer they got on camerathe previous summer. Sure, it’s great if all your neighbors buy intoyour program, but don’t give up on them if they don’t. That is, unlessthey are confirmed brown-and-down guys and you are surrounded bythem. If that’s the case, and if you are managing less than a few hun-dred acres, it is going to be very tough to get any age on your deer. Youwill be lucky to see a 3.5-year-old buck every so often.

Some areas are notorious for their inability to produce older-agedbucks, and it can generally be placed at the feet of hunters who killevery buck they see. No matter where the property is located, if every-one in the neighborhood is shooting young bucks and you are on asmall property, your dreams of growing big bucks are just that —dreams. If your sights are set on taking mature bucks, your optionsare to convince your neighbors to pass young bucks, find propertysurrounded by like-minded neighbors or wait for your state to passlaws protecting young bucks (most are there or headed that way).

Ground Rules

Some properties have good soils, and some don’t. It’s about that sim-ple. Sure you can amend poor soils with lime and add the right kindsof fertilizers, but some soils are just chock-full of great minerals thathelp bucks grow large antlers (assuming that is your goal). The White-tail Institute produces a full complement of food plot forages that canmake significant nutritional differences on almost any property youshould have. But remember, a good portion of what a whitetail eats isnative vegetation, and here is where good soils make a difference.Good ground grows good deer, provided they live long enough.

But soil quality is only part of the story. Aspect to the sun (groundslope) is important, too. In the North, a property that slopes in anortherly direction (away from the sun) will be colder and wetter inspring and summer, and will stop producing food and freeze up earlierin fall than south-facing slopes, which gather sun more efficiently. Wehave one major north-facing slope on our New York property, and itis a dark, damp place. Bucks love it in summer, but food productionshuts down early in fall, and by mid-hunting season, deer are generallyfeeding elsewhere. If your hunting property is in the North and youonly have north-sloping ground to contend with, you are at a distinctdisadvantage as far as keeping deer happy all season. You will be fight-ing Mother Nature by trying to grow fall forages in areas that get littlefall and no winter sun. We combat this by planting Tall Tine Tubers,which grow well in the cold, and attract and feed a lot of deer, but weare definitely working against Mother Nature on north-facing slopes.

In the South, it is pretty much the opposite. North slopes are bettergrowers than hot, dry southern exposures. Deer don’t spend muchtime around hot, dry side hills with midday temps that will pop thetop off of a thermometer. Ideally, the property you are working willhave multiple slopes of every orientation, providing you with the bestof all worlds in terms of growing deer foods.

Landowners found out years ago that planting quality food plots forwhitetails really can make a significant difference. If you can get someage on a deer and are able to provide top-of-the-line nutrition, you re-ally can grow healthier, heavier and larger-antlered bucks. Start withsome good soil and some favorable locations, and the sky is the limitas far as nutrition goes. And good nutrition usually means older-ageddeer and good antlers. Start with a poor piece of ground, and you’lleventually be bumping your head.

Huntability

It’s one thing to grow a big mature buck but another to kill him.The vast majority of our glass ceiling clients have photographed goodbucks on their property but can’t seem to find them when huntingseason rolls around. Indeed, the question most often asked of us inour day-to-day consulting business is, “Now that I have grown him,

how the heck do I kill him?” The answer to this question will have agood deal to do with how you hunt, but it will also depend on howyour property hunts. Some properties are a dream to hunt, but othersare almost unhuntable. Three hundred fifty acres of our 500 are un-huntable because of poor wind conditions. Our property is plaguedwith uneven terrain, and covered up with dropoffs, ups and downs,and benches and points, any of which will make the wind hook, swirland up-sweep, and any of a dozen other tricks that will tell a maturebuck that it’s time to get out of Dodge. It is almost impossible to kill amature buck with a bow during irregular wind conditions. Some prop-erties are almost impossible to hunt because of constantly swirlingwinds. It took us years to figure this out, but it has been proven to betrue time and time again.

We always look for properties with clean air when shopping forhunting land. Clean-air properties have gradual, sweeping slopes thatallow air to pass smoothly over them. If you own a 200-acre piece ofhunting ground and 100 acres is relatively unhuntable because ofdirty, swirling air movement, you are looking at a partial glass ceiling.You wind up hunting the same places again and again, and that isnever good when you are after big old bucks.

Some properties simply hunt better than others, and getting beatenby the wind every time out is one of those glass ceilings you don’tknow is there until you start lighting smoke bombs or releasing windfloaters to truly understand what is really going on in the air

Access

How you access a property for hunting is also a make-or-break issue.The best properties can be accessed from multiple locations and inevery kind of wind. The worst have a single access point, and by thetime you are in position to hunt, every deer on the place knows youare out and about. You might grow them, but you will rarely, if ever,kill them if they know every time you are in the house. If your scentblows over your entire property on your way in or your truck’s head-lights light up every buck on the North 40 heading out, you are at adistinct disadvantage when hunting mature deer. During the past 25years, we have gradually developed complete network access roads thatallow us to get in and out of our hunting locations without being de-tected. Through time, we have closed off all the old roads (that didn’twork) and replaced them with a network of roads built with huntingin mind. This is one glass ceiling that usually can be shattered.

Stealthy hunting is a critical ingredient in hunting mature deer, andyou can’t be stealthy if you can’t enter and exit a property withoutevery deer on the property knowing they are being hunted. But itdoesn’t end there. You neighbors can also screw up your deer huntingby tipping off all the deer in the neighborhood that the hunt is on. Youcan’t do much about your neighbors, but sometimes you can fix accessissues on property. Boundary lines and/or carving in new roads orbuilding crossings can often be a solution. Physical limitations suchas lakes, rivers and vertical fall offs can seldom be fixed.

There are all kinds of reasons for hitting the glass ceiling as far asage and antlers go. Unrealistic goal-setting is obvious, but mostlandowners are able to see their way around this issue and get real ina hurry. More common are the invisible ones that truly are holdinglandowner/hunters back from growing or killing mature bucks. Theones mentioned above are ones we commonly see. It can be tough, butyour job is to put a plan together to overcome these issues. W


requently, when someone receives a small piece ofknowledge, it makes them a semi-authority on the subject.

No doubt, the information age we live in has proliferatedand expanded this condition. Often, the information youreceive is inaccurate, but if you read it online or via old-

fashioned print, it has to be gospel, right? Even if what you haveread or been told is true, it might be only a small piece of a muchbigger picture and might contribute to using the informationincorrectly.


Understanding Proteinand How It Fits In Your Management Plan

By Matt Harper

Photo by Matt Harper

Case in point. About three years ago, I tookmy youngest daughter to watch a high schoolfootball game. By the time the third quarterended, our high school team was gettingslaughtered. A couple of ladies behind us hadbeen yelling advice most of the game, and be-cause it was the third quarter and the teamwas behind by three touchdowns, the advicewas growing to a crescendo.

During one play, the quarterback droppedback to pass, scrambled and ended up tuck-ing the ball and taking a sack. “You got to getrid of that ball,” and, “Throw the darnthing,” were the comments tossed at theyoung quarterback. Those statements couldhave hit on the right idea, but not when therewas no one open and throwing the ballwould have probably ended up in an inter-ception. I know that because I played quar-terback in high school. I had tried bothoptions and threw my fair share of picks.

I turned to my daughter and said loudenough for several rows of folks to hear me,“You know what sweetie, I have always feltthat if you have never experienced first-handwhat you are giving advice on, your advicecounts for squat. I mean, I have never givenbirth, so I would not give an opinion on howto deal with a contraction.”

My daughter looked at me like I was in-sane, but I didn’t hear any more commentsfrom behind me the rest of the game.

The whitetail world has no shortage of in-formation on any number of topics. TV, mag-azines, blogs, websites, trade shows — youname it, and there are plenty of places to giveand receive deer knowledge. For the mostpart, it is good information that, when ap-plied correctly and under the right circum-stances, will produce good outcomes. Badresults are a derivative of improper applica-tion or not realizing how this information fitsinto a bigger picture. For example, I heard aguy on TV say you should follow up a deerright away after a shot because the coyotepopulation was increasing so much that thedogs would scavenge your future deer steaksbefore you get to it.

Well, if you know you have a great hit andhave a lot of coyotes in the area, maybe that'strue. However, if your shot was so-so, I wouldsuggest waiting even if you have coyotes inthe area. Jumping a wounded deer that hasnot yet expired will most likely leave youwith nothing to take home.

I have also heard people say that a particu-lar food plot variety is the absolute best onthe market. Even if it is “the best,” there are

other factors to consider. Imperial WhitetailClover is the best food plot product on themarket, but if you try and plant it in a sandy,low pH soil, you will not get the results youare looking for. But without doubt, one of themost used but least understood terms in thedeer nutrition world is protein.

Protein has become the magic nutrient thatis to deer nutrition what Kleenex is to facialtissue. If there is a conversation about deernutrition, protein will certainly lead off thechat. But what do you really know about pro-tein? What is it, why is it important and howdoes it fit into your management program?

What is Protein?

Protein is defined as naturally occurringcomplex combinations of amino acids thatcontain carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitro-gen. Most protein values you see or hearabout are given as crude protein. Crude pro-tein is the total protein value of a plant orsupplement. However, protein can be furtherbroken down into amino acids such as lysine,methionine, threonine, leucine, cystine, argi-nine and so on. Each one of these aminoacids has a specific function, and the config-uration of these amino acids varies betweenfood sources. In other words, two foodsources might have the same crude protein

value, but one might have more lysine thanthe other. The importance of amino acid pro-files in feed stuffs has been studied far morein mono-gastric animals such as pigs andchickens than it has in ruminant animals.Most swine and poultry diets are not formu-lated based on crude protein but rather arebalanced based on specific amino acid levels.

Ruminants have the ability, because ofrumen microbial populations, to produce aprotein in the rumen called microbial pro-tein. Of course, to produce this protein, therumen microbes feed off of the food ingestedby the animal. Highly digestible protein feedstuffs are needed by the microbial populationto produce high levels of microbial protein.

In fact, digestible protein, or DP, is a com-monly used value when formulating rumi-nant diets. In simple terms, DP is the valueof protein used by the animal when measur-ing the amount of protein ingested versus theamount of protein found in the feces. Rumi-nants also have the ability to convert non-protein nitrogen, or NPN, into microbialprotein via the rumen microbial population.Although NPN is not true protein, the nitro-gen component is used by the microbial pop-ulation to produce protein. In addition tomicrobial protein, certain protein sourceswill not be broken down by the microbialpopulation and will exit the rumen intact.


Bill Winke shows off a monsterbuck he harvested. He uses food

plots to increase the protein levelsfor his bucks. This will help these

deer grow larger antlers.

These proteins are called bypass proteins, asthey bypass degradation in the rumen. By-pass protein can then be used and digestedfurther down the digestive system. Althoughmicrobial protein is typically sufficient for av-erage growth and maintenance, high-produc-ing ruminants can benefit from bypassprotein. For example, a high-producing dairycow will often be fed a certain percentage ofbypass protein because the microbial popula-tion might not be able to produce enough pro-tein to sustain the higher level of production.

What Does Protein Do?

Protein has many functions, but chiefly itis the building block of the muscle and bone.Protein is also found in many other organsand is a major component of blood. Essen-tially, protein is needed to grow and producethings, with muscle and bone being two prin-ciple structures. However, protein is also vitalfor lactation/milk production, as the mam-mary system will not produce maximumamounts of milk without enough protein inthe diet. Aside from growth, protein is alsoneeded for body maintenance.

For example, weightlifters increase musclemass by first breaking muscle down (viaweightlifting) and then let the body build themuscle back up to a larger size. A crucial part

of this regimen is the consumption of largeamounts of protein to supply the body whatit needs to rebuild the muscle. In terms ofbone growth, large amounts of protein are re-quired during the growth and developmentof the skeletal system. In fact, young growingbone is composed primarily of protein.

Protein in a deer’s diet will contribute toall the aforementioned functions, includingmuscle growth, bone growth and lactation.As with all young, growing animals, proteinplays a major part in a fawn’s diet. Fawns aregrowing muscle and bone, both of which re-quire large amounts of protein. Fawns re-quire as much as 26 percent or more in thediet the first few months of their lives. Mostof this protein early in life is found in themilk supplied by the doe.

Thus, does require a great deal of proteinto produce this protein-rich food supply totheir fawns. A doe’s protein requirements areconsidered to be around 18 percent duringlactation. If protein is limited in the doe’sdiet, she will produce less milk, and thereforethe young fawn(s) will receive less proteinfor growth. It is important to note that mal-nourished fawns have less chance of surviv-ing, and those that survive might be stuntedthe rest of their life.

Protein’s role in a buck’s diet is probablythe most unique within the deer herd.Antlers are grown and shed each year, andbecause antlers are basically growing bonethat is outside of the body, a high proteinlevel is needed in the diet to maximize thisgrowth. A velvet antler is approximately 80percent protein in the early growth stagesand a hardened antler is 45 percent protein.Further, when you consider that protein isneeded for other functions in the body, suchas maintenance, and that these functionstake precedence over antler growth, it be-comes apparent that a lack of protein in thediet will likely result in stunted antlergrowth.

Putting this Knowledge to Use

So with that being said, how do you use thethings we have discussed or derive any rele-vance from it? First, I think it is valuable togain knowledge and understanding of a topiceven if not all of it is applicable. You mightnot study the amino acid profile of a particu-lar food plot forage, but knowing that thereis more to protein than just the crude proteinvalue could be beneficial. For example, whenyou look at a protein value, you might ask

yourself what the protein digestibility is.That might be difficult to ascertain, but on apractical level, if a food plot forage is highlydigestible, the protein in that food plot forageis more than likely highly digestible. So if thegoal is to get protein to the deer herd, look atthe characteristics of the forage.

Heavy-leafed, thin-stemmed forages likethose in Imperial Whitetail Clover and Alfa-Rack Plus tend to be highly digestible to deer,thus the protein found in these will be readilyavailable to the animal. If you see the wordsbypass protein, you know that protein es-capes rumen degradation to be used fartherdown the digestive system and could providegrowth benefits. However, you also knowthat microbial protein is vital, as it is themajor protein source to the animal, so it is aneed that must be taken care of first beforethere is any need to worry about bypass pro-tein.

There is little wonder why the word pro-tein has become so popular in the deer hunt-ing and management world. Protein plays acrucial role in all segments of the deer herd.A lack of protein in the diet will undoubtedlylead to a poorer quality deer herd. In manycases, protein is lacking in the natural envi-ronment, especially if you look at protein lev-els over time. Protein is highest when plantsare young and growing and drops along withdigestibility as the forage matures. However,deer require high amounts of proteinthroughout the entire spring and summer.The protein level found in natural foodsources has been shown to average 8 percentto 12 percent, far lower than the 16 percentto 18 percent needed for maximum antlergrowth and doe lactation. Thus, a dramaticresult can be seen when a highly digestible,high-protein food plot is added to supplementthe deer’s diet — especially, if that food plotmaintains a high protein level throughoutspring and summer.

Conclusion

It might be nearly impossible to knoweverything thing about a given subject, butmore knowledge is always better than less.Knowledge leads to better actions and, prob-ably more importantly, leads to better ques-tions. Although we know that protein isimportant in a deer’s diet, knowing the de-tails on why, what and how can help you inyour decisions on how to best use protein inyour management plan. W


Photo by Bill Winke

30-06MineralKey toShooting a180-Inch9-Point

By Adam Hayes, OhioPhotos by the Author

his story beginstwo seasons ago,

when a giantwhitetail showed upat one of my 30-06

mineral sites during latesummer. I had no ideathe buck even existedbefore that Septemberday, but by the looks ofhis enormous cage, Iknew he was an animalworth concentrating myefforts on. His typical 9-point frame looked to beworld class, and with acouple of sticker pointsand triple brows on bothsides, I guessed the buckto be in the 180-inchrange. I saw him one timethat season, but it wastoo dark to video him.

Fortunately, I found out the buck sur-vived that season after I saw him in lateFebruary. That was my first look at himduring good light, and he was still carryingboth sides, but what really caught my at-tention was the lack of white hair on hishead, and that is how he got nicknamed“Dark Horse.”Just like a lot of hunters, I don’t own my

own land, so I have to get permission orfork out money for leased ground. Thismakes it difficult when it comes to havingany room for establishing food plots, butit’s perfect for providing nutrition by estab-lishing 30-06 mineral sites. I’ve been usingstrategically placed mineral sites for years,using them to provide nutrition but also tomonitor the giant bucks I have hunted al-most year round. I get started in March

and will monitor these sites right up to theday that the bucks in my area shed theirantlers. 30-06 Minerals have been a criticalingredient in my success in learning howto kill some world-class animals.One of the coolest parts of using mineral

sites is watching a buck grow throughoutsummer, and the Dark Horse was no ex-ception. As he grew throughout summer, Ibegan to notice the buck's rack had oddlygrown cleaner that year, losing his stickersand his triple brows. One thing didn’tchange though: He was still a world-classanimal, and it looked like he might evengrow a Boone & Crockett 8-point frame.I was out of state for the first few weeks

of September, but one week before theOhio opener, I was back and anxious tocheck my trail cameras in hopes Dark


The author with Dark Horse.

Horse was still in the area. In the threeweeks I was gone, my cameras were full ofpictures, but none of Dark Horse since hehad shed his velvet. Uh oh.That was concerning to me, because I

know how a mature buck can vanish whenhe sheds his velvet. So my plan was to hopefor a good wind, slip into an observationstand on the edge of the property and get alook at him before season opened up.When I finally got the wind I needed, threedays before season, I slid into my stand andhoped for the best. Right before dark thatevening, I saw him rise from the beans.Fortunately, he fed off in the opposite di-rection which allowed me to leave the areaundetected.For the next couple of days I watched

him get up in nearly the same spot almostevery night. Unfortunately, on opening daythe wind was wrong for that stand andthere was no way I was going to risk amorning hunt right in the middle of hisfood source or chance getting to my origi-nal stand in the afternoon again with himbedded within 30 yards of it. Well, if Icouldn’t get close to where he was comingfrom, I was going to have to concentrate onwhere he was going to. That’s when I tookadvantage of a mid-afternoon rainstorm tohang a stand in the area where he was ex-iting the field.Late in the afternoon on my first sit in

the new stand, Dark Horse followed asmall 6-pointer into the field. It was gettingdark fast, and at that pace, the pairwouldn’t cover the 200 yards in time for a

shot. When I had just about given up hope,the bucks quit feeding and began moving alittle quicker, closing the distance to my po-sition. When they reached the point in thefield where they had normally turned andcut into the creek bed, they continued rightdown the middle of the field, leaving 60yards between me and my trophy. WhenDark Horse came as close as he was goingto get, I hit him with the range-finder: 62yards. Fortunately, he stopped again tofeed. I came to full draw, rested my 60-yardpin on his chest and released. When myarrow disappeared in the giant buck, mytwo-year quest for Dark Horse — and hisluck — finally came to an end. W



My main hunting land is 169 acres but only 8acres of that is wooded. Since planting Imperial

Whitetail Clover, PowerPlant and Winter-Greens I’veseen bigger and healthier deer year round. I shot mybiggest buck to date over a Winter-Greens food plot.He had 15 points and field-dressed 220-plus pounds. Iowe this buck to Whitetail Institute and hope for manymore to come.

Ryan Gearheart — Indiana

My tale begins back in December two seasons agowhen I saw this buck for the first time. I was sitting

on a 5-acre food plot on a power line planted with Extremeand Imperial Whitetail Clover. We had a lot of rain lastyear and we had great results with the food plots. In factour results were so good with the combination of Extremeand Imperial Whitetail Clover we have planted them in allour food plots.

It was just before dark when this deer came out of thepines about 20 yards from my stand. I got a good look athim and decided since it was the last week of the seasonthat I would pass on him and hope that he could evadeneighboring hunters for just a few more days and make itto next year. He did indeed make it as I began getting pic-tures of him as soon as I put my trail cameras out this pastJuly. There were several other good bucks on the propertybut this deer was definitely ruling the roost.

Once deer season opened I saw him for the first timeon Nov. 1 on a food plot but couldn’t get a good shot. Ihunted the deer nearly every day for the next seven days.I saw him again while in my climber just 100 yards fromthe food plot on Nov. 8th but he was chasing a doe and Icould not get him to stop. Nov. 12 was my last day of vaca-tion (the last 30 minutes of daylight) and he finally cameout into the plot at 5:30 p.m. He immediately ran off twospikes from the plot and then I got the crosshairs on hisshoulder and squeezed off the shot. It was 5:38 p.m. Hedropped right where he was.

I was shaking so bad and my heart was pounding sohard that I could not believe I had made a 209 yard shotthat hit exactly where I had aimed. I know this buck is noteven close to scoring like a Kansas or Illinois deer, but formiddle Georgia, this is a dang good deer. My taxidermistgreen scored him at 142 3/8. There is no way I could haveharvested this buck without Whitetail Institute productsand a whole lot of patience. Thanks Whitetail Institutefor having such great products that allow hunters like my-self to achieve maximum potential for our Whitetail herd.

Ben Davis — Georgia

Iam 28 years old and have been hunting whitetails for ap-proximately 10 years. Two years ago our family purchased

160 acres in Rice County, KS. This ground is known as theSand Hills and as the name suggest it is not the best soil togrow crops on. We knew there were a lot of deer in the areabut we really didn’t have much on our ground to give them areason to cross the fence from the neighbors and hang out onour ground. That was until we burned some ground, workedin some lime and planted Tall Tine Tubers! Even thoughthere was an extremely high content of sand in the soil theturnips grew great! There was an amazing amount of forageand the deer could not get enough. It was nothing to see 20deer hitting our small 2-acre plots during an evening hunt.Thanks to the Whitetail Institute for a wonderful productthat has given our family some great memories already. En-closed is my deer (photo 1) and my older brothers deer (photo2) (his biggest to date) both shot over our Tall Tine Tubersplots.

Brian Kramer — Kansas

REAL HUNTERS DO THE TALKINGabout Whitetail Institute products…

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Six years ago my wife and I were fortunate enoughto purchase a small 50-acre farm in south central

Ohio. It was approximately 25 acres of wooded areasand 25 acres of pasture. I had dreamed my whole lifeof being able to hobby farm and manage my own hunt-ing area. I immediately scouted it and hung stands.

Five years ago I planted three Imperial WhitetailClover food plots and have harvested nice bucks everyyear. The first and second seasons I shot two up-and-coming 2-1/2-year-olds by accident. (Bottom two deerin photo.) Three years ago I harvested a nice 10-point(upper left in photo). Two years ago I killed a huge 8-point (upper right in photo). Last year I killed themonster in photo 2. He scored 162 4/8 inches. Thebucks just keep getting bigger.

I just want to say thanks Whitetail Institute for allthe help and a great product that lets guys like me whoare doing everything on a shoe string budget be able tohave a true hunting paradise.

Pat Harm — Ohio

We started planting Whitetail Institute products 8years ago on our 200-acre northern PA property.

We planted Imperial Whitetail Clover, Chicory Plus, andWinter-Greens. We have been consistently harvesting Popeand Young bucks for the last six years.

Winter-Greens have been consistently effective and re-warding, providing a food source through late winter.

Chicory Plus has served as an early season food sourceand in dry years the chicory provides green attractionwhen the clover goes dormant. “Keeps the table set!”

Enclosed is a picture of a bow-kill taken on the edge ofan Imperial Whitetail Clover field.

W.R. McClintic —Pennsylvania

(Continued on page 66)

Because a warm front had moved in and shut downsigns of the pre rut, I did not hold out a whole lot of

hope of seeing a mature buck when I brought my daughterAlyssa down for her whitetail hunt. But a cold front wasmoving in and I could tell things were going to be differentright from the start of our hunt and sensed that my daugh-ter had brought “lady luck” with her, as we immediatelystarted seeing many deer including some younger bucks.

They were trading back and forth from their beddingarea to a 3-acre food plot that we planted with ImperialWhitetail Clover mixed with Whitetail Oats Plus in earlyAugust. We were seeing more deer than ever with thisplanting! After several hours of watching many deer andseeing some chasing going on, Alyssa spotted a nice 10-pointer coming in. Alyssa said, “Daddy I’m shaking” (Yep,that’s what we call buck fever honey!).

I got the video camera ready and was ranging the dis-tances that I thought her shot might be if he kept comingon his course. He did finally get within shooting range buthe was behind some brush. He ended up standing therefor several minutes until he finally just turned and walkedoff. That’s how big 10-pointers get to be big 10-pointers,

they just have that sixth sense! Over the next two days we saw very large numbers of

deer passing back and forth from the bedding area to thefood plot, and had seen many bucks chasing does, but notthat 10-pointer. On Alyssa’s last evening of hunting weagain started seeing many does and fawns. I told her notto be discouraged since the bucks were chasing does andwe had plenty of does heading to the food plot.

About a half hour before dark we spotted a buck with14-inch spikes that we had affectionately named “TexasLonghorn.” Because of the unique head gear, I was toyingwith the idea of letting Alyssa take him. When Alyssa saidwith a very excited voice, “there’s a big buck!” I did notsee him at first as he was behind brush and out about 100yards. I finally spotted him and was watching him throughbinoculars when I saw him turn away from a doe andangle our way. He got to 43 yards, easily within Alyssa’saccurate shooting distance but I told her to wait to see ifhe gets closer before taking that shot. He did! He came to33 yards and turned and exposed his vitals. I then said“shoot.” There was no hesitation at all! I heard the shot ofthe crossbow, the arrow/bolt found its mark and the restis history. It wasn’t until I walked up to the buck that Isaw how big he really was. I have taken many large bucksin my time but never an 8-pointer of this caliber. His G2measured 12 inches alone and the mass of the rack washuge! No doubt the Whitetail Institute products providegreat nutrition and are helping us grow them big.

I don’t know how Alyssa fought off the buck fever onthis one, but I am very proud of her. This was Alyssa’sthird buck, though she had never taken one of this caliber!Being a father and seeing the “night before Christmas”type of excitement in Alyssa’s eyes makes my personalhunts secondary to me.

My father and I have been using Whitetail Instituteproducts ever since I can remember. They have alwaysbrought us success. However, this marked the first yearthat we mixed Whitetail Oats Plus with the Imperial White-tail Clover and planted in August. The deer absolutelyLOVE it. I have never seen so many deer in a food plot be-fore! We will follow this model every year now. Thankyou Whitetail Institute!

Greg Abbas — Michigan

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You MakeThe Call

By William Cousins

The Whitetail Institute isproud to announce its newestforage product: Imperial

Whitetail Winter Peas Plus. Putsimply, Winter Peas Plus isdifferent from other “pea” food

plot products for fall and winter —very different. In this article, I’llexplain why, but I’m not going tosuggest that you try Winter Peas Plusbased solely on what you’ll read here.That’s because if you know what tolook for, you’ll reach that decision onyour own.

Check Out Other Fall/Winter “Pea” Products

Most hunters know that winter peas generally grow quickly andstart attracting deer as soon as they sprout, and that some keep doingso through winter. That’s why there are so many products on the mar-ket with “winter peas” on the package. Have you ever considered,however, what percentage of those products is actually representedby peas?

Winter Peas Plus is more than 80 percent peas. When you’rechoosing a “winter pea” food plot product to try next fall, keep inmind the old saying, “You can’t judge a book by its cover.”

Nowhere is it more true than with fall/winter“pea” products for deer. Believe it or not, somesuch products actually contain less than 10percent peas. And to make matters evenworse, some make up the difference withlower-quality forage components that don’tadd much to the plot in the way of attraction.The good news for consumers is that federal lawrequires that all food plot seed products carry an ingre-dient tag on the package. That’s the first thing you should look at tomake sure the product really is what its name implies.

What’s in Winter Peas Plus?

The peas. There are two pea varieties inWinter Peas Plus. Bothvarieties are sugar rich,high protein and coldtolerant. In side-by-side

cafeteria tests acrossNorth America, these va-

rieties consistently provedthemselves many times

more attractive to deer thanany other variety the White-

tail Institute tested.Even so, the Whitetail Insti-

tute continued research and test-ing of the pea varieties itselected in combination with

other, complementary forages toensure the new product wouldproduce up to the Whitetail Insti-

New From the Whitetail Institute —



®

The Whitetail Institute239 Whitetail Trail • Pintlala, AL 36043

Research = Results™

Call 800-688-3030

tute’s relentless expectations. One reason the Whitetail Institute researches blends so heavily is

that it’s rare for one type of forage plant to provide optimum perform-ance in all the categories for which the Whitetail Institute tests. That’swhy most Institute forage products are blends of multiple forage com-ponents, which are painstakingly selected and then combined in op-timum ratios as shown by Whitetail Institute testing.

The pea varieties the Whitetail Institute selected for Winter PeasPlus are so highly attractive — attracting deer to them as soon as theysprout out of the ground — that they can suffer from early overgrazingwhen planted alone. Accordingly, the Whitetail Institute added thePlus components to act as a cover crop for the peas to help reduce thelikelihood of overgrazing and add even more early- and late-season at-traction.

The Plus components

In addition to the pea varieties, Winter Peas Plus contains smallamounts of three other forages: Whitetail Oats, a winter lettuce anda specially selected radish.

Whitetail Oats are included to increase fall attraction even furtherand to act as a cover crop for the peas. Whitetail Oats establish veryquickly and, like the pea varieties in Winter Peas Plus, are cold toler-ant and have proven themselves extremely attractive to deer. The twoother Plus components in Winter Peas Plus, a winter lettuce andradish, also act as cover crops to help protect the peas from early over-grazing, and they provide additional forage for deer later into the coldmonths. Each Plus component has been carefully selected and com-bined in optimum ratios with the other forages in Winter Peas Plusto maximize the initial and long-lasting performance of the stand as adeer forage.

Other Performance Considerations

As mentioned, Winter Peas Plus contains more than 80 per-cent peas, consisting of two highly attractive pea varieties, Plus White-tail Oats, a winter lettuce and radish that act as cover crops for thepeas and add forage variety and attraction. Even though that’s likelyenough information to convince you to try Winter Peas Plus, don’tforget that when you’re talking about Whitetail Institute forage prod-ucts, what’s on the bag is as important as what’s in the bag: specificallythe Whitetail Institute’s name.

The Whitetail Institute has been providing folks like you with in-dustry-leading forage products for a quarter century and relies on re-peat business. That’s why we put maximum effort into research,development and testing to make sure that every Whitetail Instituteforage product is the very best the Institute can make so that cus-tomers get the results they expect. That includes using only those for-age components that outperform all others tested by the WhitetailInstitute in a wide range of categories. The most important are attrac-tiveness to deer, nutritional quality and sustained palatability. Otherperformance categories include how rapidly the stand establishes andgrows, tolerance of heat, cold and drought, resistance to disease andother factors. That’s true of all Whitetail Institute products, includingWinter Peas Plus.

Winter Peas Plus is available in 11-pound bags that plant 1/4-acre.If you’d like more information about new Winter Peas Plus, call theWhitetail Institute’s in-house consultants at (800) 688-3030. W

Indeed, I had unspoken aspirations ofbecoming the best whitetail deer hunterthere ever was. This egocentric notion canbest be understood by a conversation thattranspired in the baseball movie The Nat-ural. Roy Hobbs, talking to his boyhoodgirlfriend Iris Gains, said, “My life didn’tturn out the way I expected. I could'vebeen better. I could’ve broken every recordin the book.”Iris responds, “And then?”“And then? And then when I walk down

the street, people would’ve looked and theywould’ve said, ‘There goes Roy Hobbs, thebest there ever was in the game.’”


“It’s nothow you’re buried;

it’s howyou’re remembered.”

— John Wayne

What Mark Do YouWant To Leave?

By R.G. BernierPhotos by the Author

o know a man is to know what activitieshe chooses to pursue and the manner inwhich he pursues them,” Lee Nisbet

wrote. It wouldn’t take anyone very long todiscover my love for and passionate pursuitof the whitetail deer. However, there was a

time early in my deer hunting career that, because ofpoor judgment, immaturity and selfish ambition, Ibelieved my deer hunting conquests would besomething of value to be left in my wake. Iromanticized this and was of the opinion that it reallymattered. I had bought into what deer historian RobWegner glamorized in his prose of yesteryear's deerslayers: “ … nostalgic memories of their daring featswill linger on; memories of their endless pursuits ofmammoth bucks, their victorious conflicts with thehooves and horns of their wounded quarry and theshattering effect of their deer kill statistics.”

The reality to that conceit is summed up rather glaringly in the bookof Peter: “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flower of grass.The grass withers, and the flower falls.” Iris was spot on when shetold Roy, “I believe we have two lives.” “How…what do you mean?”Roy asked. Iris said, “The life we learn with and the life we live withafter that.” Nisbet continued from the opening line: “It is through ac-tivities that our character is formed, deformed and reformed. In re-flecting on our activities, we recognize who we are and what kind ofperson we’re becoming.”

I asked myself if I were to succeed and come to complete fulfill-ment of all of my illustrious deer hunting dreams, then what? Whathave I actually accomplished beyond self-realized goals, braggingrights, influence and perhaps someone one day saying as I walkdown the road, “There goes R.G. Bernier, the best deer hunter thatever was?” Is that the mark I want to leave? Is that a legacy that willhave any effect on my children, grandchildren or future generationsof hunters?

Perspective

Thankfully, those idolatrous aspirations have long since been putto death. Yet, it doesn’t take much of a look to realize that many ofthe same non-endearing qualities that I once personified plague fartoo many like-minded hunters in some form or fashion. After all,what’s another giant whitetail killed at your hand if it came at the ex-

pense of your children wondering why their daddy is gone again?How significant can even the largest set of antlers be if a lonely wifeis left home counting the financial cost and smarting from feelingcheated by an animal? Regrettably, we live in a culture that nowglorifies records rather than character, achievement instead of nobility,and seeks immediate gratification regardless of how little the investmentto attain it. Gen. George S. Patton, despite his vanity, was intuitiveenough to recognize this: “All glory is fleeting.” The people that wetry hardest to impress, those whose applause echoes in our mind andshores up our insecurities ultimately become as fickle as a thermalbreeze when we fail to live up to the unrealistic hype. Where willthose people be when you take your final breath?

Family

Although I continue to pursue whitetails with unbridled passion,let me assure you that there’s not a deer walking the planet that cancompete with my love for my family. My sweetie-pie (wife of 33 years)is my best and most cherished friend. My children are gifts that I treas-ure. And my grandchildren, well they are just the greatest, period. Ifyou want to see me get genuinely excited, it won’t be as a result of abig deer — not that that won’t quicken my pulse. But to really get meenergized, just tell me my grandkids are coming to visit.

In his poignant hunting film Searching For West, Western big-gamehunter Mark Seacat engages the viewer through his own emotionalstory about his journey that has taken him from hunting high in theMontana forests, which consumed many days a year, to a much dif-ferent perspective on his personal pursuits.

Seacat, facing internal conflict between his personal hunting goalsand his desire to be with his newborn son, West, makes a decisionthat undoubtedly will have a lasting impact on his legacy.

In the narrative, Seacat said, “In 10 days, archery season opens, andpeople are expecting me to be hunting.” Yet as the battle within con-tinues, he reminds himself, “Commitments are more important thanhunting. Like the birth of a son.” He goes on to lament, while fullyimmersed in the hunt, “I’m missing this time with my newborn son;time that I’ll never get back.”

As the season wears on without success, having switched fromarchery to a rifle, he is a man alone in the wilderness facing harsh el-ements, the possibility of an empty game pole and the continual men-tal battle waging within. Mark then asks himself, “Do I continue tohunt like this? Do I go after these personal goals that may or may notbe important to my family?” I can easily relate to those internal strug-gles. A few years ago, facing a decision as to what was most importantto me with but three days left of a deer season, while still holding anunfilled tag, I asked myself, “Do I continue to hunt or leave to be homein order to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with my family, especiallymy one-year-old grandson, who traveled down from Canada with hisparents for the occasion?” This was yet another landmark momentfor a very goal-oriented guy who desperately wants to succeed. With-out looking back and certainly having no regrets, I hurriedly packedmy hunting gear, said my goodbyes and hastily left deer camp to spendthree priceless days with those who loved me most.

Mark came to that conclusion: “I then realized those goals were be-coming detrimental to the experiences I could be having back home.It’s crazy how life changes, how your priorities can change soquickly.” A newborn son or even a one-year-old grandson can defi-nitely change the way a man thinks. Mark continued: “It was this mo-



ment that taught me that I needed to be better at being a father, thatI needed to be better at being a husband and hunting was somethingin my life that could wait.”

Contributions

It is never easy to recognize the impact that you might have on an-other life. Sometimes, that influence doesn’t fully mature until yearslater, after you’re gone. All you can ever truly give someone is yourself,which encompasses your time, wisdom, influence, know-how, loyalty,love and generosity.

I smile inwardly as I watch my hunting partner, a man in whomI’ve invested seven seasons of teaching, unravel a complex trackingsituation and be standing within 30-yards of the unsuspecting buck.I’m pleased when I receive notes from readers thanking me for sharingwith them what I believe to be the best week to hunt — and they suc-ceed. It’s gratifying when those you’ve invested in ultimately find deerhunting success as a result of those efforts. It’s fulfilling to learn howappreciative countless hunters are of shared behavior insight and cap-tured deer images that I’ve brought out of the wild and into their lives,all to help them better understand an animal I’ve had the good fortuneto be intimate with for a good portion of my adult life. It’s humblingwhen your daughter kisses you on the cheek and whispers in yourear, “Thank you for being a great dad.” And it is heart-melting whenyour three-year-old grandson says, “I’m Gramp’s buddy boy.” Noneof these or any other such instances would have ever come to fruitionhad my chief end been to selfishly drag another buck out of the bush.

Epitaph

The 14th century Scottish hero William Wallace voiced an inspiringrally cry to his fellow Scotsmen: “Every man dies. Not every man re-ally lives.” Death is indeed final, and however you and I are ultimatelyremembered, beyond gracious platitudes respectfully offered by grave-side mourners, has everything to do with how we lived.

It’s inevitable that upon my passing I will leave a bunch of stuffeddeer heads, antlers and hunting mementos. But if that is all — if thatis all my life amounted to — it sure wouldn’t be much. After all, de-spite those trophies being meaningful to me as a result of the memo-ries they engender, I’m realistic enough to know they will probablybe wrangled over, sold, given away, relegated to a dusty attic, placedin a yard sale or destroyed. No, I want my mark to count for morethan just dusty old deer heads.

The question was asked of me, “If today was your last day, how wasyour mark left?” Although I could attempt self-aggrandizing prose re-garding the significance of the life I’ve led, I won’t. I cannot. This judg-ment will be left to historians, reviewers and those whose lives I’veaffected — friends and loved ones. I can only hope that their memorieswill be generous. Perhaps surprisingly, despite the whitetail deer beingsuch an integral part of my life and livelihood, I’d not wish any men-tion of it on my tombstone. Here is what I desire to be etched in myfinal remembrance:Loved the Lord his God faithfully Loving husband Benevolent dad and granddad Loyal friendIf I live up to that inscription, the mark I aspire to make will have

been securely left as a legacy meaningful to those who loved me. W

A Division of Great Plains Mfg., Inc.

Salina, Kansaswww.landpride.com

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The WEED DOCTORBy W. Carroll Johnson, III, Ph.D.,, Weed Scientist and Agronomist

Site Preparation Weed Control:When Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures

ike everybody else,professionally I had to “paymy dues.” In 1984, I was the

newest and youngest bya substantial margin inmy department which

meant that I was assigned theduties that nobody else wanted.For the weed scientists, thatmeant crop assignments onwhich to conduct weed scienceeducational programs. One of myearly hodgepodge of unrelatedcrop assignments was weedcontrol in Christmas treeplantings. At that time, weedscientists typically viewed weedcontrol strictly as whichherbicide to use and I was nodifferent in that regard. Nobodywanted Christmas tree weedcontrol since there were veryfew herbicide choices andsuccessful weed control in thatsystem did not rely on a simpleapproach. That attitude wasembarrassing and the commoditydeserved more scientific supportthan it was given. Nationwide,Christmas trees are planted onmore than 300,000 acres andmore than 17 million trees areharvested annually. In NorthCarolina alone, Christmas treeproduction is worth more than$100,000,000.

In many ways, weed control in Christmastree plantings is very similar to weed controlin food plots — complex. Complexity is dueto no single approach to weed control will

work and successful weed control dependson a broad-based strategy. Weed control inChristmas tree plantings begins months be-fore trees are planted and this is termed sitepreparation weed control. Considering thatChristmas trees are often planted in remoteand marginally arable sites, it is easy to seeanother interesting parallel with weed con-trol in food plots.

Food plots are often established in newlycleared sites in forested areas. Food plot sitescan be along old logging roads, ramps, or anyclearing in the timber large enough for a foodplot. Regardless of the previous land use,there will certainly be a proliferation ofperennial plants that refuse to surrender andbe easily controlled. Common perennialplants that may be encountered include bri-ars, blackberry, vines, trumpet creeper, anddozens of species of deciduous tree saplingssprouting from old rootstock. Of course, there

will be the typical perennials like commonbermudagrass, quackgrass, johnsongrass,broomsedge, and nutsedges. Weeds in thenewly cleared sites defy normal control ef-forts and require aggressive mowing, tillage,and herbicides to achieve any reasonablelevel of success.

Tillage and Mowing

Mowing, which includes the heavy-duty‘mulching’ using tracked vehicles, is a logicalfirst step. Mowing or mulching rough areaswill not kill saplings or any other perennialweed. We all know that. Mowing weakensperennial weeds which greatly improves sub-sequent weed control efforts. Mowing alsoenhances tillage by shredding the tops of tallplants which improves the operation of anytillage implement. Mowing stimulates succu-lent re-growth, which is often more suscepti-

Food plots in remote sites are often the best locations for hunting purposes, but can bedifficult to manage for successful perennial food plots.


ble to herbicide uptake than older, tougherfoliage. This is an essential step for successfulherbicide performance, which is discussedlater.

Initial tillage of rough non-improved sitesis a nasty job and must be carefully con-ducted to prevent damage to equipment. Thisis a case where large (heavy-duty) disk har-rows are the preferred choice. Harrow size isnot necessarily the width of the implement.In this context, harrow size subjectivelyrefers to diameter of harrow blades and ro-bustness of the frame. Site preparation tillageis typically the site’s first tillage in manyyears. This takes substantial horsepower anda heavy implement to cut through vegetativematerial and compacted soil. One tillage passis rarely sufficient for site preparation weedcontrol.

I have observed in my recent weed controlexperiences that tillage during dry periods isfar more effective in controlling perennialweeds than tillage during rainy periods.Damaged perennial weeds can survive iftilled when soils are wet or if it rains shortlyafterwards. I am a hobbyist food plotter likea lot of Whitetail News readers and fully un-derstand that scheduling conflicts and logis-tics heavily influence when I work on foodplots. Those real-world considerations oftentrump working around ideal weather condi-tions. However, this is one of the rare situa-

tions when drier conditions are better thanwetter conditions.

Herbicides for Site Preparation

This is the best role for non-selective her-bicides in food plots and the focal point is cer-tain formulations of glyphosate (Roundup,Accord and others). Glyphosate is wellknown and highly versatile. For site prepara-tion uses, glyphosate must be applied at veryhigh rates to control perennial weeds andwoody saplings. Steps must be taken to en-sure maximum efficacy; applying glyphosateat a high rate suitable to control perennialweeds and when environmental conditionsare ideal. Use of an appropriate adjuvant isalso a wise investment. Refer to theglyphosate label for guidance.

In site preparation when woody species areoften targeted, glyphosate should be tank-mixed with systemic broadleaf herbicides liketriclopyr (Garlon 3A) and/or 2,4-D. Thesechemicals are powerful broadleaf herbicidesthat are synergistic with glyphosate, withamine salt formulations preferred due to im-proved mixing qualities. Triclopyr and 2,4-Dsignificantly improve brush control overglyphosate alone, with triclopyr being the su-perior tank-mix partner in terms of efficacy.In addition, glyphosate controls annual andperennial grasses that are not controlled by

triclopyr and 2,4-D.None of these herbicides have appreciable

long-term soil activity at common use rateswhich makes them ideal for site preparationprior to planting food plots. That said, thereis always the disclaimer that confuses thematter. Under certain conditions, triclopyr,2,4-D, and (to a far lesser extent) glyphosatecan persist in the soil and injure desirable for-ages if seeded too soon after application. Thisis not a certainty, but still warrants caution.A good rule of thumb is to apply combina-tions of triclopyr, 2,4-D, and/or glyphosatefour to six weeks prior to seeding the forageto minimize chances for injury. This is not asrestrictive as it may seem on the surface.These herbicides, alone or in combination,need time to control woody species. Thedelay between treatment and seeding the for-age to ensure crop safety basically equals thedelay needed for optimum weed control.

When everything proceeds according toplan, these herbicide combinations are typi-cally applied late-summer prior to plantingfall food plots and will provide outstandingweed control that is noticeable for about 12months. Re-growth of deciduous saplings andother perennial weeds will soon become evi-dent and retreatment may be needed. Re-treatment can be spot sprays or broadcasttreatment at lower herbicide rates. Given thislikely course of action, initial forage plantingsin these sites should be annuals with retreat-ment between plantings. Avoid plantingperennial forages until adequate control ofthe woody perennial weeds has beenachieved.

It should be noted and emphasized that di-rect applications of triclopyr, 2,4-D, andglyphosate will kill forages. These herbicidesare used for site preparation weed control fora reason — they are very active on broadleafplants and unfortunately that includeslegume and brassica forages. There is ab-solutely no ambiguity in that statement.There is little chance of injury when theseherbicides are applied four to six weeks be-fore seeding the forage.

Site preparation weed control is anotherexample of the need to be proactive. Huntingland often changes hands on a yearly basisand site-preparation weed control may not befeasible in those cases. If land is owned or atleast available long-term, site preparationweed control is a worthwhile investment anda significant step towards establishing high-quality food plots in rough areas that areoften highly desirable for hunting. W

Heavy vegetation often requires mowing, tillage, and systemic herbicides to controlperennial weeds.


Imperial WhitetailAlfa-Rack Plus…It’s All About theFormula!

By Whitetail Institute Staff

If you’re looking for a high-protein perennial forageproduct designed for top performance and versatility ingood, well-drained soils, look no further than ImperialWhitetail Alfa-Rack Plus. Although Alfa-Rack Plus hasa lot in common with other Whitetail Institute forageblends, it’s very unique in other ways. In this article,we’ll look at what characteristics Alfa-Rack Plus shareswith other Whitetail Institute forages and what makesit so distinctive.

Look for the Brand

One thing Alfa-Rack Plus shares with every otherWhitetail Institute forage product are the words ImperialWhitetail, right on the front of the package. That’s theWhitetail Institute brand, and the Whitetail Institute didn’t choose itby chance. Quite the opposite: Whitetail speaks for itself, and Imperialdefines the nature of all Whitetail Institute products, including Alfa-Rack PLUS. You’ll understand why if you look up imperial in a dic-tionary. When I checked several dictionaries, I found one definitionof imperial they all had in common: “In the nature of supreme qual-ity.” That definitely describes Alfa-Rack Plus. Like every WhitetailInstitute product, Alfa-Rack Plus is the result of the Whitetail Instituteprocess; true scientific research, development and real-world testingon free-ranging deer across North America, followed by detailed prod-uct preparation to ensure top performance.

Components and Product Preparation

Perennial Clover.Whitetail Institute forage products contain plantvarieties available only in Institute products. An example is the peren-nial clover in Alfa-Rack Plus, which was scientifically created by theWhitetail Institute through repeated cycles of cross-breeding and goal-oriented selection for traits such as attractiveness to whitetails, proteincontent and sustained palatability.

Forage-Type Alfalfa. Alfa-Rack Plus also contains alfalfa — butnot just any alfalfa. The alfalfas in Alfa-Rack Plus are true forage al-falfas (a/k/a grazing alfalfas), which are different from ordinary hay-type alfalfas in some important ways. Perhaps the most importantdifference is that the grazing alfalfas in Alfa-Rack Plus grow more leafrelative to stem than ordinary hay-type alfalfas. Why is that so impor-tant? The answer lies with the small-ruminant digestive system ofdeer.

Cattle and deer are ruminant animals, meaning in simplest termsthat they chew cud and have four-chambered stomachs. When cattle

and deer take in food, they go through a process of chewing, swallow-ing, regurgitating and re-chewing it (cud) until it’s sufficiently brokendown for the animal’s stomach to digest it. There, digestive organismsuse the cud to provide nutrients for the animal.

There’s a very important difference, though, between the ruminantdigestive systems of cattle and deer: Unlike cattle, deer are small ru-minants, which means they can’t effectively use tougher, stemmierforages like cattle can. Accordingly, forage for deer must be highlypalatable (of the most tender, succulent sort).

If you’ve ever seen deer grazing in agricultural alfalfa fields plantedand harvested for hay for cattle, you’ve likely seen the proof yourself.Through time, you might have noticed that the deer were attracted toit soon after planting when the plants were young, less attracted afterit started to get tall, and then attracted to it again soon after mowingas the plants put on new growth. The reason that happens is one of

the best examples you’ll find of how important palatabilityis to deer.

The grazing alfalfas in Alfa-Rack Plus havebeen selected by the Whitetail Institute throughreal-world testing on free-ranging deer for their

sustained palatability over all other alfalfa varietiestested by the Whitetail Institute.WINA-100 Perennial Forage Chicory.Alfa-Rack

Plus also contains WINA-100 chicory. This speciallyselected chicory variety is superior to other chicory va-

rieties traditionally planted for deer in one very importantway: Unlike other chicories, which can become stemmyand waxy, WINA-100 chicory remains tender and highlyattractive to deer even as it matures.Annual Clovers. In addition to its perennial forage com-

ponents, Alfa-Rack Plus contains specially selected annualclovers to fill a specific role: rapid stand establishment. Generally,when a perennial seed germinates, it begins building its roots and hasto get part of that process done before it pushes a shoot above the sur-face. The perennials in Alfa-Rack Plus are designed to establish andgrow quickly, exhibit early plant vigor and begin attracting deer rightaway. Because annuals generally have smaller root systems thanperennials, they appear above ground even more quickly in mostcases. The difference might be so slight that you won’t even notice it.Even so, the Whitetail Institute took the extra step of adding the an-nual clovers to ensure that your Alfa-Rack Plus plot can establish asrapidly as the Whitetail Institute could achieve.

Rainbond Seed Coating.To the Whitetail Institute, product qualityisn’t measured just by how much effort goes into selecting and com-bining forage varieties. It’s not about what the Whitetail Institutedoes, but what the customer sees for himself. It’s about results. That’swhy the Institute is never satisfied with just making sure a forageproduct contains only the finest forage components in the best ratios.It makes the same effort to ensure that each product is prepared forplanting to help customers get the thick, lush, attractive food plotsthey want in the real world. A big part of that is the Whitetail Insti-tute’s Rainbond seed coating.

Rainbond isn’t just any old seed coating. It’s very high-tech andpacked with features that serve several functions, all of which maxi-mize the ability of the seeds to survive and grow vigorously.

An especially important function of Rainbond is to protect theseedlings from dying from lack of water. Like human infants, plantsare at their most vulnerable to death from lack of water when they’revery young. Uncoated seed can germinate when exposed to very tiny



amounts of water, and if there isn’t enough moisture in the soil to sus-tain the seedling, it can die. Rainbond protects the seeds from germi-nating when there’s insufficient moisture in the soil. When there isenough moisture, it penetrates the coating and the seed germinates.

But Rainbond doesn’t stop there. It also contains polymer beads thatabsorb up to 200 times their weight in water and keep it right next tothe seed as it germinates. And as the seedling uses that moisture, Rain-bond continues to replenish itself by drawing more moisture from thesoil, giving the young seedlings a better chance to survive and flourish.

Inoculant. Some seeds require soil bacteria to grow and thrive. Ex-amples are clover and alfalfa. These bacteria are specific to the planttype. It’s so important that seed stores sell these bacteria as inoculant,which must be mixed with raw seed before planting. Whitetail Insti-tute seed coatings take care of that for you. They contain the correctinoculant for the product and keep it right next to the seed.

Protein Levels. When it comes to delivering protein for deer, Alfa-Rack Plus is in the top category of forage products for deer. One reasonis protein content. Alfa-Rack Plus can produce tons of forage withprotein levels as high as 35 percent. And remember, because Alfa-Rack Plus is highly palatable and attractive, it gets that protein whereyou need it — into your deer.

Variety and Versatility

We’ve talked about some of the quality and performance goals theWhitetail Institute set in its research, development, testing and prod-uct development for Alfa-Rack Plus, such as attractiveness, diseaseresistance, high protein content, rapid stand establishment, and heat,cold and drought tolerance. There are additional benefits that youmight not have thought of, even though the Whitetail Institute did.

For example, like most Whitetail Institute forage products, Alfa-Rack Plus is a blend of multiple forage components. That’s becauserarely will a single plant variety perform as well as the Whitetail In-stitute demands in all categories (attractiveness to deer, rapid estab-lishment, cold-tolerance). Blends of complementary forages can makethat a non-issue, provided, of course, that the forages are carefully se-lected and then blended in the optimum ratios like Alfa-Rack Plus.

No matter how tasty our favorite dish is, all of us like somethingdifferent once in a while, and deer are no exception. That’s why hav-ing a variety of complementary forages in the same plot can boost at-traction to deer even more.

Another unique characteristic of Alfa-Rack Plus is that it’s ideallysuited to sites with varying soil types and slopes. The clovers tend togrow best in flat areas with good soil, and the alfalfas and chicory tendto prefer better-drained conditions. That’s why Alfa-Rack Plus is theperfect choice for a perennial in plots with some areas that are flatand others that are sloped. I have used Alfa-Rack Plus many timeswith great success in food plots that roll with rises and dips through-out the plot. Generally, the clovers establish in the valleys, and the al-falfas and chicory dominate on the sides and tops of the rises. Theresult is a thick, lush stand with no gaps in coverage.

Alfa-Rack Plus is designed for good, well-drained soils. For best re-sults, soil pH should be at least 6.5 at the time of planting. The White-tail Institute’s recommended planting dates, and planting andmaintenance instructions, are provided on the back of the productbags as well as at www.whitetailinstitute.com.

If you have any questions about Alfa-Rack Plus, give the WhitetailInstitute’s in-house consultants a call at (800) 688-3030. The call andthe service are free. W

www.brillionfarmeq.com

Set Your Sights on Brillion Farm Equipment

Brillion, WI 54110855.320.0373©2012 Brillion Farm Equipment

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Brett Neal — IllinoisFour years ago, my

father and I started hunt-ing a piece of property.Though there were de-cent deer on the prop-erty, we just weren’t get-ting the results we hadexpected. So three yearsago, we decided to plant6 total acres of ImperialWhitetail Clover, Dou-ble-Cross, Winter-Greensand Tall Tine Tubersthroughout our 300-acreproperty. The results

were immediate. Deer literally started piling onto our property and it has increasedevery year. We now get thousands more trail cam pictures every year and the bucks justkeep getting bigger! Ikilled a 150-inch 9-point 2 years ago (pho-to 1) and my latestbowkill is a 147-inch,270-pound giant (pho-to 2). The bucks justflock to these plotsduring the rut. ThanksWhitetail Institute forthese amazing prod-ucts!

Gary Brickl — Wisconsin

I started using Whitetail Institute products more than 20 years ago. My first purchasewas Imperial Whitetail Clover. It attracted many does and fawns and higher caliberbucks like I’ve never seen before. Also tried Alfa-Rack Plus with the same results andenjoy the longevity of both of these products. What can I say about the Winter-Greensother than its unbelievable. It’s almost too good the way deer feed on the plot, especiallyafter a hard frost. I’ll have to expand the acreage I plant to accommodate all the dinnerguest (deer from surrounding area.)

These products make checking our trail cameras an obsession almost year-round, be-cause of the way they attract the deer. Photo is the 15-point I took this fall with my bowwhich scored 172. Thanks for great products and your friendly customer service.

Kevin Harris — OhioWhitetail Institute products are truly amazing. Some of my bucks are putting on as

much as 30 inches from 3.5 to 4.5 years old and 4.5 to 5.5. Simply unbelievable. WhitetailInstitute products are performing so well I’m able to grow bucks 40 minutes from homethat I used to have to drive nine hours to my farm in Pike County, Illinois to hunt. Mywife probably likes them even better than me because it will probably allow me to sellmy Illinois farm and just concentrate on Ohio.

Here is a picture ofa 5.5-year-old buckwith 21 inches insideand 24 inch beamsthat I took with mybow this past year.Gross score as an 8point 157 7/8 and hewas around a 120-class the year before.He’s my best Ohiobuck to date. Thanksagain Whitetail Insti-tute for your greatproducts. I’ll use themforever.

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RECORDBOOK

BUCKS…


Danny Terril — Indiana

On our property my wife and I prefer Imperial Whitetail Clover and Alfa-Rack Plusin the spring and summer and the early hunting season. For late season we depend onWinter-Greens. Whitetail Institute products along with good deer management equalssuccess. Enclosed is my bow kill from this past year that scored 172 3/8.

Dale Gilman — New York

Finally Oct. 21 arrived. I worked until 1 p.m., came home and got ready to hunt. Onthe way to the property where I was going to hunt, I stopped and showed a friend thepicture of the buck I wanted to get. I told him I was going up that afternoon to try andget him. This stand was located on the edge of a group of hardwoods, overlooking a fieldof goldenrod. We had worked up a part of the field and put in a small plot, maybe 20yards wide and 80 yards long. We hand seeded the area with Winter-Greens.

As things began to grow, we put up a ladder stand that was perfect for winds comingfrom the south or the west.

That afternoon the wind was coming from the West. I climbed into the tree standabout 4:10 p.m. The food plot was already heavily browsed but there was still plentythere to attract the deer. I saw a doe and fawn about 4:45 a.m. and at about 5:10 a.m. Inoticed a deer in the woods in front of me. I looked at him with the binoculars andrealized he was a big buck, maybe the big tined buck I was hoping to see. For 10 days Ihad hoped I would see him and now maybe he was coming in range. I stopped lookingat the antlers and focused on getting a good shot. In 41 years of hunting this is the nicestbuck I have taken. The taxidermist green scored him at 140 with a 3.5 inches ofdeduction for irregularities. I was very happy with a 136.5 point total score. He is onlyan 8-point but the difference is the 8-1/2-inch brow tines. I have shot many deer in mylifetime of hunting and I have several 8-point bucks on the wall, but when I comparethem to this big tined buck there is no comparison. The longest brow tines on any of theantlers I have taken are only 3 inches tall!

Getting a deer like this with my bow is a dream of a lifetime.

Chris Williams — Ohio

I have planted food plots for years and never have I seen deer come to a plot like theyhave to the Tall Tine Tubers. It’s like a deer magnet. I shot a 142-inch 11-point in routeto the Tall Tine Tubers in my home state of southern Ohio on Nov. 8. I won’t use any-thing else. These plots get better the later the season gets. I took my dad there on oursecond gun season last week and we saw deer for four hours coming in and out of thatTall Tine Tubers field. He killed his first deer in 13 years out of it. It was pretty awesome.Thanks a lot Whitetail Institute.

Send Us Your Photos!Do you have a photo of a buck that qualifies for the Pope & Young, Boone and Crockettor your state record books that you grew or took with the help of Imperial products?Send it to us and you might find it in the Record Book Bucks section of the next issue ofWhitetail News. Send your photo and a 3 to 4 paragraph story telling how you harvestedthe deer and the role our products played to:

Whitetail News, Attn: Record Book Bucks, 239 Whitetail Trail, Pintlala, AL 36043


After more than 35 years of visiting deerhunting properties throughout the country,I’ve seen the benefits proper managementand habitat work can bring even on smallparcels of land. And for the past two decades,I’ve put many these principles to work on the117 acres my wife and I purchased and liveon in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.

Along the way, I’ve developed a set of guide-lines for improving what I call the three H’s— the herd, habitat and hunting.

Sound boring? Believe me, it’s not. One ofthe things I’ve found through the years is thatmanaging the deer and the land and workingon the habitat are immensely rewarding ac-tivities. In fact, lately I enjoy them as much,if not more, than hunting for the qualitybucks and does that are the fruits of thislabor.

Don’t own land? Don’t worry. Perhapsyour hunting club leases a tract you couldwork on, or maybe a friend or relative has afarm or piece of property where you can putthis program in place. Most landowners aremore than willing to have improvementsmade on the property to help wildlife. Andmake no mistake about it, although youmight be managing for deer and trying to im-prove the herd, other species such as quail,rabbits, turkeys, ducks and songbirds willalso benefit.

It’s important to realize that managingsmall acreages for better deer hunting doesn’tjust involve work on the habitat and the land.It’s a two-part equation and the other half in-volves managing people and where, whenand how the hunting is done.

It’s challenging, for sure. But the rewards

of putting this program in place are many,and they don’t just come during hunting sea-son. Watching the land evolve into a modelof habitat improvement, the deer herd be-come healthier and the bucks get older andbigger is a payback you reap anytime youvisit the property — or every day if you’relucky enough to live there.

Results you can expect in the whitetails in-clude an increase in the body size of all thedeer, larger antlers on bucks, an older andmore natural age structure, a better sex bal-ance in the herd, a more intense rut andhealthier fawns. Hunting will be more excit-ing because more large bucks will be chasingfewer does during the breeding period, andmore of that activity will take place in day-light.

As you start your improvements, keep inmind that managing deer on small acreagesis a continually evolving process, one thatnever really ends. New challenges will al-ways arise, and they come in many forms.You will become a farmer, logger, laborer,dam builder, wildlife manager, recreationplanner, game warden and yes, a hunter.What you won’t become is bored.

Here are some of the steps I’ve found thatare vital for successful deer management onsmall acreages. About half are directed atpeople and their actions, and the other halfworking the land to better the habitat. Onecannot succeed without the other.

Pass Up Young Bucks

A one-year-old buck might have spikes orit might have four to eight light, spindlypoints. In any case, it should be passed up toreach more of its genetic potential. Somebucks are late bloomers, starting out withtiny racks and growing into magnificent an-imals later. Others start out on a higher leveland improve more slowly. A one-year-oldbuck generally has a rack 1/10 the size it’s ca-pable of growing as a mature animal. Suchdeer are easy to harvest, but unless they arepassed up, a management plan cannot suc-ceed.

Two-year-olds are slightly more developedthan yearlings, but these bucks, too, shouldbe allowed to grow another year. At threeyears, a buck’s rack will generally reach morethan half of its full potential, and in someareas you might choose to harvest such deer.A lot depends on the hunting pressure sur-rounding the land you’re managing and theattitudes of neighboring property owners. In


Managing SmallAcreages for aWhitetail Paradise

By Gerald AlmyPhoto by the Author

any people believedeer management andhabitat improvementare projects best leftto the State’s wildlife

management division andlarge landowners withthousands of acres andexpensive farmingequipment. But dramaticimprovements in the deerherd, the habitat and thequality of hunting can bemade even on small parcelsof land by individuals orsmall groups of sportsmenworking together.Improvement of the landand the herd takes place oneacre at a time and one deerat a time, no matter the sizeof the property or howmany whitetails it holds.

an ideal situation, pass these animals up, too,because bucks need five or more years togrow their best racks.

Harvest Enough Does

A tract of land can only hold so many deer.That could be nine does and one buck, orsomething closer to a 50-50 ratio; perhapsthree or four bucks to every six or seven does.The greater the percentage of bucks in theherd, the more likely some will survive toolder age classes.

A lower percentage of does means morecompetition among bucks for breeding rightsand a more intense and exciting rut. Anotherreason to harvest does is that it keeps youngbucks on your property. Studies show thatdoes chase their yearling male offspring awaywhen they give birth to new fawns, and thoseoutcasts often travel long distances before set-ting up a new home range — probably off ofyour small hunting property. Harvest the doe,and the yearling buck will be more likely tostay put.

Establish No-Hunting Zones

You need at least one major sanctuary areanear the interior of the property that’s off-limits to hunting. A location with thick coveror rough terrain where bucks feel secure isbest. Try to make it off-limits to virtually allactivity, even hiking.

On my sanctuary area, I go in only onetime a year. That’s in spring, when antlershave dropped, to look for sheds. If you breakdown and hunt an off-limits area when deerget hard to find late in the season, you’ve de-feated its purpose.

Sanctuaries are especially important onproperties of 50 to 200 acres. Bucks certainlywill wander off parcels of this size at times,but if you have an area where they have coverand feel secure during daylight, they’ll tendto return there. Deer from surrounding prop-erties might also pile in when pressurebuilds.

Limit the Amount and Type ofHunting

Even if it’s just a matter of hiking a fewhundred yards in to a tree stand and watch-ing for a morning, deer — particularly olderbucks — can sense this pressure. If you getfour or five people doing this, with a few oth-ers choosing to still hunt or rattle occasion-

ally and this activity goes on every day, you’llwind up with one of two outcomes. Buckstwo years old or older will most likely be-come nocturnal, or they’ll move off the prop-erty to find less-pressured ground.

Restrict the number of people on the prop-erty, schedule rest days when no one hunts— do whatever it takes to limit the pressureso that mature bucks don’t flee or becomenight roamers.

Restrict the Type of Hunting

Stand hunting is best, with a limitedamount of still hunting acceptable. Avoiddeer drives. Yes, they are fun and productive.But if you want to create a whitetail paradiseon a small parcel of land, they’re inappropri-ate. Save them for public land or large tractsof private land.

Cooperate with SurroundingLandowners

This might be a challenge, but you have totry it. Use a low-key approach, asking ques-tions such as whether they’re seeing as manyor as good a quality of bucks as they’d like.Tell them some of the things you’ve been try-ing to do and some of the goals you have.Teach by example, offer to help, and justmaybe they’ll see the wisdom of harvestingdoes, passing up young bucks and improvingthe habitat.

Plant Food Plots

A one-acre food plot can provide more for-age than 100 acres of mature woods. Notonly that, but it can be high-protein food richwith the calcium, phosphorous and otherminerals deer need to thrive. Food plots cantake the pressure off native vegetation so it isless likely to be over-browsed. Food plots alsoattract deer into the open where you canevaluate antlers, judge the age of bucks andmonitor the buck-to-doe ratio.

The more plots you can plant and main-tain, annual and perennial, the better. Threepercent to 10 percent of the land devoted toplots is not too much. Good crops to considerinclude clover, chicory, brassicas, lablab, for-age soybeans and oats. You can use generics,but a much better bet is to buy carefully de-veloped mixtures from the Whitetail Instituteof North America. The company carefully re-searches which seeds do best in each regionof the country and mixes them in just the

right proportions so the plants complementeach other and are available at different timeframes so deer always have something thatattracts them to your land. Whitetail Institutealso has specially engineered plants that weredeveloped not for cattle but specifically to ap-peal to the taste preferences and nutritionalneeds of whitetail deer.

Don’t overextend yourself, though. Plotsrequire time and care for site preparation, soiltesting, fertilizing, planting and weed control.Better to have five acres in high-quality plotsthan 10 acres poorly prepared and crowdedwith weeds. Be sure to plant two kinds offood plots, though. Plant some larger parcelsthat are designed exclusively to improve thenutrition of deer. Never hunt over those. In-stead, plant a few smaller, irregular-shapedplots tucked away along the deer’s travelroutes and close to bedding cover that youcan hunt over lightly, skipping days in be-tween sessions. If you hunt over the mainlarger food plots, mature bucks may stayaway from them entirely or use them only atnight. You can hunt trails leading to them,but don’t hunt over the plot itself.

Create Cover

Your food plot might attract a buck. With-out cover he will not stay. All wildlife needsfood, water and cover. Deer need cover fortwo reasons: thermal protection in winter andsecurity needs year-round. You can create ittwo ways: by planting appropriate vegetationor by manipulating existing vegetation.

Planting evergreens such as pines is a goodplace to start. Place them in clusters in areaswhere deer might naturally bed if cover waspresent. They’ll not only offer visual securitybut also thermal protection. Low, bush-typeplants are also valuable not only for cover,but also food in their leaves, stems and fruits.Plant bushes as hedges along a stream or atthe edge of woods where they border a field.Planting warm-season grasses such asswitchgrass, Indian and big bluestem is an-other option. These grow 5 to 7 feet tall andprovide great sanctuary areas for bucks.

Open forests can be devoid of cover, but bytaking a chainsaw to them, you can createcover quickly. Cut old, poor value, misshapenor pest-infested trees. Leave some of them, orat least the tops, on the ground. Clearcut afew small, irregular-shaped areas and thebrush and low saplings that grow back willmake wonderful, almost jungle-like cover ina few years.



Construct a Pond

A deer needs an average of 1½ quarts ofwater a day. Some of this they get from vege-tation, but during dry periods, having wateravailable might mean the difference betweenbucks staying on your property or going tothe neighbor’s.

Study the topography and you’ll see lowspots that drain surrounding hillsides or hol-lows that would make good pond sites. Theydon’t have to be large. A quarter-acre pondwill serve the water needs of an entire herdusing a small property. You can even makesmall dams by hand on wet-weather streamswith rocks, shovels and logs that can helphold water during summer.

Take Advantage of GovernmentPrograms

Biologists, foresters and agricultural special-ists that know far more than you and I aboutwildlife and timber management, crops, soil,dam construction and other habitat topics areat your fingertips. Consult the U.S. Depart-ment of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Con-servation Service, the State forestry

department, your local agricultural extensionagent and the Wildlife Resources Commis-sion. Some of the services I’ve taken advan-tage of are an on-site analysis and long-rangeforest plan, a walk-through and habitat-im-provement plan by a senior wildlife biologistand the development of a cost-share WildlifeHabitat Improvement Plan that called forplanting acres of native warm-season grassesand shrubs along a stream lacking cover.

Cost? Nothing. In fact, the WHIP planhelped pay some of the cost of purchasing thewarm-season grasses and shrubs. And thosestands of warm-season grasses, mostlyswitchgrass, have turned out to be some ofthe best mature buck cover on the property.

Collect Data and Keep Records

Through time, you will see dramatic im-provements with the steps outlined here.They will come gradually, though, and thebest way to monitor them and see where youcould make further improvements is to keepthorough records. Keep track of how manydeer are harvested and their age, weight andsex. Measure the racks for antler circumfer-ence above the burr and beam length, and

also keep complete gross-score measure-ments. Make notes on the productivity ofvarious food plots, when it’s best to plantthem, how well deer use them, dates whenrutting activity begins and ends, number offawns with does and other important data.You can’t store all this in your head, but withthorough records, you can see ways to changeyour approach and improve as you work onthe constantly evolving process of creating awhitetail paradise.

It’s a project that never ends, but if youhave as much fun with it as I do, you’ll neverwant it to.

Keep Your Expectations in Check

It’s crucial not to have unrealistic goals asyou work on improving the three H’s: habi-tat, herd and hunting. Don’t expect everydeer you see scouting or working the land tostay on the property or every buck you passup as a youngster to live to a ripe old age. Butthe more effort you put into the program, thegreater the rewards will be. Just knowingthere are 3- and 4-year old bucks out thereand that does and fawns are healthier is re-ward in itself. W

Ensure the success of your food plots.The Whitetail Institute line of herbicides protect your investment by making sure that the plants you have socarefully planted can compete with grasses and weeds for nutrients and water. Arrest kills most grasses, but

won’t harm clover, alfalfa, chicory or Extreme. Slay eliminates broadleaf plantsand weeds, and is designed for clover and alfalfa. Both herbicides areextensively field-tested and can be easily applied by 4-wheeler or tractorsprayer. Easy and effective protection for your crop.

TREATED UN-TREATED

The Whitetail Institute — 239 Whitetail Trail, Pintlala, AL 36043

Research = Results™®

800-688-3030whitetailinstitute.com

question theWhitetail Institute’sin-houseconsultants areoften asked is,

“Which of the WhitetailInstitute’s perennial forageproducts is the best?” Theanswer is, “All of them arethe best they can be, andyour own circumstanceswill dictate which willwork best in a specificplot.” Each WhitetailInstitute product is the verybest the Whitetail Institutecan make to meet specificplanting circumstanceshunters and managers faceacross North America. Themain difference is reallyjust what plantingcircumstances each isdesigned to meet.

In this article, we’ll help you identifywhich Whitetail Institute perennial is “best”for each of your food plot sites. The first stepis understanding the process the WhitetailInstitute follows in developing new forageproducts.

The Whitetail Institute Process

So, what do we mean when we say thateach Whitetail Institute product is “the best”the Whitetail Institute can make? We meanthat the Whitetail Institute does everythingit can to ensure that its forage products canattract, hold and grow bigger and better deerin a broad variety of soils and climates acrossNorth America. The process involves takingideas and bringing them to reality throughsomething called scientific method.

Ideas

By now, most hunters and managers areaware that the Whitetail Institute and its firstforage product, Imperial Whitetail Clover,

Pick Your Product —Institute Foragesare Designed forVirtually EveryCircumstanceByWhitetail Institute Staff

PerennialsPhoto by Charles J. Alsheimer


started with founder Ray Scott’s idea thatjust as plant varieties had been scientificallydeveloped specifically to meet the needs ofcattle, grain production and other agricul-tural purposes, new plant varieties could alsobe scientifically developed specifically to at-tract and improve the quality of whitetails.Scott started the Whitetail Institute with thatgoal in mind more than a quarter centuryago, and because of continuous improvementin varieties included in it through the years,Imperial Whitetail Clover remains the No. 1food plot planting in the world and the onlyclover product ever scientifically developedand specifically designed for whitetail deer.

Since 1988, most of the Whitetail Insti-tute’s new product ideas have come from cus-tomers. Imperial Whitetail Extreme, forexample, started when the Whitetail Insti-tute’s in-house consultants spotted a trendamong customers asking for a perennial for-age that would rival the attractiveness andnutritional content of Imperial WhitetailClover, tolerate lower soil pH and be able totolerate lower rainfall amounts.

Scientific Method

One thing that makes Whitetail Instituteproducts unique is how the Whitetail Insti-tute goes about turning ideas into reality: bystrict adherence to something called scientificmethod.

When it comes to developing food plotproducts specifically to attract, hold and growwhitetail deer, the various definitions of sci-entific method found in several dictionariescan be condensed as follows: reaching con-clusions based on facts, measurement and ob-

servation that are objective, meaning thatthey allow reality to speak for itself.

The process the Whitetail Institute uses totake ideas to reality is structured to adhere tothat principal, without exception. And that’sperhaps the biggest reason for the successWhitetail Institute customers have enjoyedwith Whitetail Institute products for morethan a quarter of a century: The Whitetail In-stitute develops and tests its products accord-ing to practices that ensure real-world results.

Facts

As mentioned, scientific method relies onfacts, measurement and observation. Thefacts on which the Whitetail Institute basesits forage research include specific traits eachproduct must exhibit — traits that relate toforage attractiveness and quality specificallyfor whitetail deer, and to grow in a variety ofsoil and climactic conditions across NorthAmerica. These traits include rapid stand es-tablishment, early seedling vigor, high andsustained nutritional content, heat anddrought tolerance, cold tolerance, disease re-sistance, and of course, attractiveness to deer.These traits weigh heavily in all phases ofWhitetail Institute research, developmentand testing.

Measurement and Observation

As also mentioned, true scientific processrequires that testing be conducted in a waythat “allows reality to speak for itself.” Con-sider the traits the Whitetail Institute looksfor when selecting and breeding plant vari-eties for its food plot products. Examples in-

clude how quickly and well they establishand grow in a wide variety of climates andhow attractive they are to deer when youngand also once they mature. What better wayto determine both than to plant them acrossNorth America under real-world conditions,observe how well they grow and let wild,free-ranging deer show you which ones theyprefer?

And that’s exactly how the Whitetail Insti-tute tests forage components, individuallyand when blended with other compatible for-ages: by planting them at certified researchstations and with field testers across theUnited States and Canada.

That’s why you can be sure that a productthat says Whitetail Institute on it takes theguesswork out. All Whitetail Institute prod-ucts share that same quality. Now, let’s lookat how the Whitetail Institute’s perennial for-age products differ from one another and theconditions each is designed for.

Which Perennial Forage isOptimum for Your Food Plot Site?

All Whitetail Institute forage productshave been painstakingly developed by theWhitetail Institute for a particular set ofplanting conditions or factors. When decid-ing which Whitetail Institute forage productto plant in a particular site, you need to knowwhat conditions each is specifically designedfor. Because these factors differ from site tosite, you should go through all the factors forone food plot site at a time. To assist you indoing that, the Whitetail Institute has an on-line Forage Selector on its website,www.whitetailinstitute.com.

Generally, there are two categories of fac-tors to consider: physical factors relating tothe site itself, and timing factors — whetheryou want a forage designed to last for multi-ple years from a single planting (a perennial)or one that’s designed to last for part of onecalendar year (an annual). Because this arti-cle is about Whitetail Institute perennials(we’ll cover annuals in the next issue), we’llassume that you’re looking for a multi-yearforage and move on to the other category:physical factors relating to the plot.

All Whitetail Institute perennials shouldbe planted in seedbeds that have been pre-pared by disking or tilling and smoothing.Accordingly, make sure you can access thesite with appropriate equipment. Beyondthat, the perennial selection decision shoulddepend on two things: (1) minimum annual


Jason Say from Pennsylvania in an Imperial Whitetail Clover plot.


PLANTING DATES FOR DOUBLE-CROSS, PURE ATTRACTION, SECRET SPOT, WINTER PEAS AND BOWSTAND� Call for planting dates

� Call for planting dates

� Aug 1 - Sept 15

� Coastal: Sept 1 - Oct 15 Piedmont: Aug 15 - Oct 1 Mountain Valleys: Aug 1 - Sept 15

� Aug 1 - Sept 30

� Aug 15 - Nov 1

� North: Aug 1 - Sept 30 South: Aug 15 - Oct 15

� July 15 - Sept 5

Aug 1 - Sept 15

Aug 1 - Sept 15

� Sept 15 - Nov 15

� North: Sept 5 - Nov 15 South: Sept 25 - Nov 15

Sept 1 - Oct 30


� Coastal: Sept 15 - Oct 15 Piedmont: Sept 1 - Oct 5 Mountain: Aug 25 - Oct 15

� North: Sept 25 - Nov 25 South: Oct 5 - Nov 30

� Aug 1 - Sept 15

� Aug 20 - Sept 30

� July 1 - Aug 15

� June 15 - July 15

� July 15 - Aug 31

� July 1 - Aug 15

PLANTING DATES FOR WINTER-GREENS™ AND TALL TINE TUBERS™



� July 1 - Sept 10*

� Coastal: Aug 15 - Sept 30 Southern Piedmont: Aug 1 - Sept 15 Mountain Valleys: July 15 - Sept 15


� Aug 1 - Oct 1

� North: July 15 - Sept 30 South: Aug 1 - Oct 10

� July 1 - Aug 30

July 1 - Aug 30

July 15 - Sept 15*

� Sept 15 - Nov 15

� North: Sept 5 - Nov 1 Central: Sept 15 - Nov 15 South: Sept 25 - Nov 15

North: Aug 15 - Oct 1 South: Sept 5 - Nov 1

� North: Sept 5 - Oct 30 Central: Sept 15 - Nov 15 South: Sept 25 - Nov 15

� Coastal: Sept 1 - Oct 1 Piedmont: Aug 15 - Sept 20 Mountain Valleys: Aug 5 - Sept 15

� North: Sept 15 - Nov 15 Central: Sept 25 - Nov 15 South: Oct 5 - Nov 30


� Aug 1 - Sept 30

� July 1 - Aug 15

� June 15 - Aug 1

� July 15 - Aug 31

� July 1 - Aug 15

* Earlier (spring) planting dates may be ap-plicable. Call Whitetail institute for moreinformation.

** For northern Pennsylvania, earlier (spring)planting dates may be applicable. CallWhitetail Institute for more information.

Food Plot Planting Guide…


� Apr 1 - July 1

� Apr 15 - June 15 Aug 1 - Sept 1

� Coastal: Feb 1 - Mar 15 Sept 1 - Oct 15 Southern Piedmont: Feb 15 - Apr 1 Aug 15 - Oct 1 Mountain Valleys: Mar 1 - Apr 15 Aug 1 - Sept 15

� Feb 1 - Apr 1 Aug 1 - Sept 30

� Feb 1 - Apr 15 Sept 1 - Nov 1

� North: Mar 15 - May 1 Aug 1 - Sept 15 South: Mar 1 - Apr 15 Aug 15 - Oct 15

� Apr 1 - June 15 July 15 - Sept 5

Apr 1 - May 15 Aug 1 - Sept 15

Mar 20 - May 15 Aug 1 - Sept 15

� Sept 15 - Nov 15

� Feb 5 - Mar 1 North: Sept 5 - Nov 15 South: Sept 25 - Nov 15

Feb 15 - Apr 1 Sept 1 - Oct 30


� Feb 1 - Mar 1 Coastal: Sept 25 - Oct 15 Piedmont: Sept 1 - Oct 5 Mountain Valleys: Aug 25 - Oct 15

� North: Sept 25 - Nov 25 South: Oct 5 - Nov 30

� Mar 1 - May 15 Aug 1 - Sept 15

� Feb 1 - Apr 15 Aug 20 - Sept 30

� Apr 15 - June 15 July 1 - Aug 15

� May 15 -July 1

� May 1 - June 15 July 1 - Aug 15

� May 15 - July 1

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PLANTING DATES FOR IMPERIAL CLOVER, ALFA-RACK PLUS, EXTREME, NO-PLOW, CHICORY PLUS, CHIC MAGNET AND EDGE

rainfall, and (2) drainage (soil type andslope).

Minimum Annual Rainfall. Rememberthat Whitetail Institute perennials are de-signed to last for multiple years from oneplanting. That’s why you should be sure youconsider not just the current year’s rainfalllevels but also historical rainfall data.

Drainage (Soil Type and Slope). For ourpurposes, soil type will be one of two things:heavier or lighter, and which it is depends onhow well or poorly the soil in the site can re-tain moisture. Slope means exactly that:whether the plot is flat or sloped, and ifsloped, whether the slope is gradual or some-thing steeper.

For forage-selection purposes, determiningsoil type is very easy: If you were to takesome soil from the plot a few days after arain, ball it up tightly in your hand and thenopen your hand. It will do one of two things:(1) If it falls apart into a few big chunks, we’dcall it a good soil, meaning that it has the abil-ity to retain some moisture when it receivessome rain. (2) If it falls completely apart intograins, we’d call it a lighter soil, meaning itdoesn’t retain moisture as well.

Determining slope is even easier. You don’thave to measure it in degrees. Just eyeball itto determine whether the site is flat, slightlysloped, moderately sloped or steep.

Because soil type and slope affect the for-age’s access to moisture, they must be consid-ered together when selecting a perennial fora particular site.

Imperial Whitetail Clover

Imperial Whitetail Clover is the No. 1 foodplot planting in the world, and the standardby which all other food plot products in theindustry are measured. Imperial WhitetailClover includes the only clover varieties ge-netically developed specifically for food plotsfor deer.

Imperial Whitetail Clover requires a mini-mum annual rainfall of 30 inches per yearand should be planted in flat sites with goodsoils that hold moisture.

Double-Cross

Double-Cross is one of several Whitetail In-stitute perennial forage products that includeImperial Whitetail Clover as a component formaximum attraction, high protein levels,longevity and variety. In addition, the White-tail Institute’s highly attractive annual bras-

sicas are added to boost tonnage even furtherin the early and late season the first year andprovide deer with a much-needed carbohy-drate boost during the colder months.

Double-Cross should be planted in the latesummer or fall on flat to slightly sloped sitesthat have loamy, light clays to heavy soils,and that receive a minimum of 30 inches ofrainfall per year.

Chicory Plus

Chicory Plus also features Imperial White-tail Clover as a perennial forage component.The Whitetail Institute’s WINA-100 peren-nial forage chicory is also included as a com-ponent to boost heat and drought toleranceeven further.

Chicory Plus requires a minimum of 30inches of rainfall per year, and it should beplanted in good quality, heavy soils that holdmoisture or that are moderately drained.

Alfa-Rack Plus

Alfa-Rack Plus contains three perennialforage groups: Imperial Whitetail Clover, X-9 Technology grazing alfalfas, and WINA-100 perennial forage chicory. It’s specificallydesigned for sites that receive at least 30inches of rainfall per year and that have goodsoils that are well drained and/or are moder-ately sloped. It’s also an excellent option forgood soils in sites that are flat in some areasand sloped in others. In such cases theclovers tend to establish most heavily in theflatter areas of the plot, and the alfalfas andchicory most heavily in the sloped areas, pro-viding a thick, lush stand of highly attractive,high-protein forage across the entire plot.

“Chic” Magnet

“Chic” Magnet is the Whitetail Institute’sWINA-100 perennial forage chicory. Unlikeother chicories planted for deer, WINA-100chicory remains highly attractive and palat-able to deer because it doesn’t get tough andstemmy like other chicories sometimesplanted for deer. “Chic” Magnet is one of themost versatile forage products the WhitetailInstitute offers. It can be planted by itself,added in with other seeds you are planting oroverseeded into established food plots toboost the attraction, tonnage, drought toler-ance and nutritional content of the stand.

A highly attractive, drought-tolerant forage,WINA-100 chicory can grow roots as deep as

two to three feet into the soil to find mois-ture, can tolerate rainfall levels as low as 15inches per year and adapts well to a wide va-riety of soil types. When planting “Chic”Magnet by itself, select a site with heavy soilsor soils that are moderately well drained.

Edge

Edge is the Whitetail Institute’s newestperennial forage product. Designed to pro-vide up to 44 percent protein for up to fiveyears from one planting, Edge includes fourperennial forage components that comple-ment each other, providing superb attractionand nutrition in sites with moderately welldrained to medium/heavy soils in areas thatreceive at least 30 inches per year in rainfall.Perennial components include highly attrac-tive, deeply rooted X-9 Technology grazing al-falfas, Persist™ forb, and WINA-100perennial forage chicory as well as a sainfoinvariety specially selected for its preference bydeer.

Extreme

Extreme is a revolutionary forage productdesigned to attract, hold and grow bigger deerin areas with soil pH as low as 5.4 and withannual rainfall as low as 15 inches per year.(Note: Although Extreme is designed to “tol-erate” low soil pH and low rainfall, it per-forms even better when soil pH and rainfallamounts are higher.) The perennial compo-nents in Extreme are Persist forb and WINA-100 chicory, which are exceptionallypalatable, sweet forages that are also highlydrought resistant. Extreme is specifically de-signed to tolerate a wide variety of soils, fromgood to lighter, as long as the site is welldrained.

Coming Soon

In the next issue of Whitetail News, we’lltake a similar look at the Whitetail Institute’sfull line of annual forage products. If you’dlike to know more about any of the WhitetailInstitute’s industry-leading forage products,you can find lots of information atwww.whitetailinstitute.com. And if you haveany questions, remember that the WhitetailInstitute’s highly knowledgeable in-houseconsultants are just a phone call away at(800) 688-3030. The call and the service arefree. W


FREE TRIAL OFFER! OFFER 1 — ONLY $9.95 (SHIPPING AND HANDLING)

OFFER 2 — ONLY $19.95 (SHIPPING AND HANDLING)SAME AS OFFER 1 — PLUS:

Imperial WhitetailWinter-Greens…The “Maximum-Attraction”Brassica ProductBy Hollis AyersPhoto by Charles J. Alsheimer

Let’s face it: Ifyou’re going toconsistently bring

deer to your foodplot during hunting

season, you have to offerthem the most attractiveforage you can. If you’relooking for a brassica foodplot product that’sspecifically designed toprovide maximum attractionfrom early fall intowinter, look no fartherthan Imperial WhitetailWinter-Greens.

When it comes to brassica food plot products, no competingbrassica product the Whitetail Institute has ever tested haseven come close to matching Winter-Greens for sheer attrac-tiveness. The reason lies in the unique type of brassicas in-cluded in Winter-Greens.

Lettuce-Type Brassicas

The Whitetail Institute has included brassicas in some of itsmulti-variety forage blends for over two decades. (As a matterof fact, the Whitetail Institute has been researching and mar-keting brassica varieties for longer than the other “food plot”companies have even been around). Generally, brassicas tend

to reach their most attractive stagelate in the season, when frostscause starches in the leaves to

convert into sugars. Thiswindow of highest attrac-tiveness is the reason whythe Whitetail Institute hasused brassicas for manyyears as a timing elementwith other non-brassica for-age components in some ofits blends. Until the introduction of

Winter-Greens, though, theWhitetail Institute had decided

not to offer an all-brassica productbecause of the high performancestandards the Whitetail Institute setsfor all Whitetail Institute products,which include early- and late-season at-

traction. The Whitetail Institute’s decisionto not offer an all-brassica product changedonly after Whitetail Institute testing re-vealed an all-brassica blend that met thesestandards. That blend is Winter-Greens,which contains especially attractive let-tuce type brassicas — brassicas with avegetable genetic base. When it comes to attracting whitetail


deer, all brassicas are definitely not the same. Whitetails require verytender forages because of their smaller digestive systems and any foodplot product has to take that into account, at least if it is going to max-imize attraction to whitetails. And because of the type of brassicas inthe blend, side-by-side cafeteria tests have repeatedly proven that deerprefer Winter-Greens over other brassica products by a huge margin.

Tall Tine Turnips

And lettuce-type brassicas aren’t the only unique thing about Win-ter-Greens. In addition to the lettuce-type brassicas, the Whitetail In-stitute also now includes a small amount of Tall Tine Turnip, a newturnip variety the Whitetail Institute developed specifically for deer.Tall Tine Turnips boost late-season attraction and tonnage even fur-ther, as an additional forage from late fall into winter and as the tubersremain available through the coldest months.

Most food plots begin to lose attractiveness to deer when tempera-tures get cold and snow accumulates. Winter-Greens does just the op-posite — and again, because of the nature of the brassicas.

Nutritional Considerations

In addition, consider the nutritional benefit Winter-Greens offersyour deer — especially carbohydrates.

It takes a lot of energy for deer to just survive cold winters, let alonesurvive them in good health. In fact, a buck can lose up to 25 percentof his body weight during the rut and in winter when food is scarce.When the next antler-growing season rolls around, he will have to re-cover his winter health losses before he can devote nutritional re-

sources to antler growth in earnest.Winter-Greens is rich in the carbohydrates deer

need for energy and healthduring fall and win-ter. By helping bucksbetter maintain bodyweight and overallhealth during winter,you can shorten theamount of time theyspend recovering winterhealth losses in spring andhelp them devote substan-tial resources to antlergrowth as early in the antler-growing process as possible. For hunting whitetails in

the early season and especiallyin the late season, attract themwith the nutritionally enhancedand balanced vegetable-basedbrassicas found only in Winter-Greens from the Whitetail Insti-tute — the leader in the food plotindustry since 1988.

Winter-Greens is designed forlate summer or fall planting in

good quality soils that drain well. For more information, visitwww.whitetailinstitute.com, or call (800) 688-3030 today. W


If you’ve wished theWhitetail Institutewould offer itsfamous 30-06Mineral/Vitamin

supplement in blockform, your wait is over.The Whitetail Instituteis pleased to announcethe availability of itsnew 30-06 Break-AwayBlock.

Because the Whitetail Institute’s 30-06Mineral/Vitamin supplement in granularform continues to be a mainstay of so manymanagement programs, you might wonderwhy the Whitetail Institute has gone to thetrouble of creating the same supplement inblock form. The first reason is simple: TheWhitetail Institute has always been cus-tomer-driven, and customers requested it.Another reason is so that you can give yourdeer exactly what they want. Deer are verymuch like humans in that each is an individ-ual with unique likes. Some deer might pre-fer 30-06 in granular form, but others mayprefer the block. If you haven’t tried 30-06before, try the granular and block forms in

sites that are close to each other, and let yourdeer tell you which they prefer.

Either way, though, 30-06 in granular orblock form isn’t just another glorified saltlick like some other so-called “mineral sup-plements” on themarket, and thenew 30-06B re ak -AwayBlock is not acattle block. It’sa true mineral/vitamin supple-ment that’s spe-cifically formu-lated for theunique mineral,vitamin and di-etary needs ofdeer.

The threebiggest nutri-tional compo-nents affectingdeer during springand summer are pro-tein, minerals and vitamins.Many minerals are necessary for deer healthand maximum antler growth during springand summer — but not just any minerals.They must be the correct minerals in thecorrect forms and ratios if they are to providefull benefit to deer. The 30-06 Break-AwayBlock is designed to optimize digestibility,and it contains the correct minerals in the

right ratios for deer, as well as the necessaryvitamins for antler growth, pregnancy andlactation, including vitamins A, D and E.

Of course, no supplement will work if thedeer don’t find and eat it. That’s why theWhitetail Institute has included multiplescent and taste enhancers in 30-06 Break-Away Block, including the Whitetail Institute’sproprietary Devour, an attraction componentthat can be addictive to deer. By approachingattraction from multiple angles, the WhitetailInstitute has made sure that deer will use30-06 products more quickly and more con-sistently. Whitetail Institute tests on wilddeer showed deer love it so much they willdig huge holes in the ground to get to it.

And the 30-06 Break-Away Block is de-signed so you’ll love it too because it’s so ver-satile and easy to use. Each 30-06 Break-Away Block is ready to go right out of thepackage, weighs 25 pounds and is even pre-scored so that if you want to use it for morethan one location, you can easily break it upinto four 6.25-pound segments.

If you want to maximize the results yourdeer get from a mineral supplement, makesure it’s one that’s specifically and scientificallyformulated for deer. The 30-06 Break-Away

Block is highly at-tractive, and itprovides deerwith the essen-tial minerals andvitamins theyneed to realizemore of their ge-netic potential.One note of cau-tion, though: 30-06 Break-AwayBlock containssuch powerfulattractants thatsome states con-sider it bait, soconsult your lo-cal game laws

before using it. If you’d like additional

information about the Whitetail Institute’snew 30-06 Break-Away Block, go towww.whitetailinstitute.com, or give our in-house consultants a call at (800) 688-3030.W


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Planting bythe CompassHelps Ensurea Great PlotDeer naturally browse by thecompass. Year-round, and multi-directional plantings maximizeplant growth and help mitigateextremes in moisture fluctuation. It’s not a bad hunting strategy either.

By Joe ByersPhoto by the Author

e’ve all been there in scienceclass. A teacher holds up aglobe (or basketball) anda flashlight (simulating

the sun) and demonstrateshow solar rays strike the earth(yawn, yawn). Had the teachermentioned that deer predictably feedon plants according to the sun’s angle,you’d probably have aced the class —right? Luckily, it’s not too late forDeer/Earth Science 101 as NeilDougherty enlightens and informshundreds of clients each year.

“Everything in a deer’s world revolves around its stomach,”Dougherty said. “And the more you know where the food is, the moresuccessful you will be. Not just where an apple tree is dropping, butpeeling the onion back to determine where the best forages can befound on a property and its food production potential.”


Doughertysmiles behindhis 140-classbuck that hestalked on a verywindy day andshot at eightyards as thebuck walkedtoward him.

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Dougherty, operations manager at North Country Whitetails, be-lieves no matter how small or large a piece of property, the more directlight it receives, the hotter it becomes. The sun is a critical factor insoil temperature and moisture retention, knowledge he capitalized onwhile hunting late this past fall.

Spot and Stalk Whitetails

“I was seeing some really good deer on my trail cameras as the rutbegan to wane,” said Dougherty, switching from consultant to preda-tor mode. “Deer were getting back to a feeding pattern, making ob-servation a key element on a particular property that had three mainfeeding areas: perennials (primarily clover), brassica and CRP grass.”As he pondered hunting one of the three, he kept the compass princi-pal in mind and headed toward the field facing the southwest.

This property had one very high tree stand used primarily for ob-servation, so a hunter could observe the actions of a particular deerand then plan a stalk or ambush. As dawn broke, Dougherty spotteda very large deer, barely visible in the dim light as it moved along theedge of a crop field. The animal was 400 yards away, and its rack dif-ficult to judge, yet the body size was impressive. As the sun rose, andthe morning progressed, Dougherty waited patiently before makinghis move. Finally, around 9:30 a.m., the buck emerged from the timberand began moving through a CRP field searching for does. Afterbumping a couple with no success, it bedded in the tall grass, a signalfor Dougherty to take action.

He climbed from the stand and moved toward an ambush point, an-ticipating that the buck would soon begin cruising again and head hisway. The other option was to stalk the bedded animal, like a Westernmule deer, yet the 3- to 5-foot-high grass was very arrow-unfriendly,even at close range. Soon, the buck emerged but moved directly away.

“I glassed him and believed it was a 4-year-old as it went into a thickpocket of brush,” Dougherty said.

He figured it would emerge a few minutes later. The hunter quicklymoved along a drainage ditch next to a small stream that created afunnel and a likely travel route for the deer. Using the drainage ditchfor cover, he slipped within 70 yards of the buck and planned to in-tercept it there.

“Completely concealed by the drainage ditch, I believed the buckwas directly in front of me and hurried farther downwind to circle inthe likely path of the deer. Unfortunately, I was a few minutes toolate,” Dougherty said.

Big Buck: Incoming

Again, Dougherty ducked into the drainage ditch and raced to getahead of the buck as it searched for does in the CRP grass.

“Sneaking from the ditch I spotted the buck headed right towardme at about 80 yards. A 25 mph wind whipped the grass and madelots of noise, helping to conceal my movements,” Dougherty said. “Asthe buck approached steadily, I came to full draw at about 40 yardsand I expected it to pass broadside at 20. Instead, it veered in my di-rection as if on a collision course. The impending point-blank en-counter nearly broke my concentration, but at eight steps, I releasedand watched the arrow bury deeply into its chest. The deer whirled,ran 80 yards and piled up.”

Dougherty was delighted with the heavy, 250-pound buck, whichscored right at 140 P&Y, and the style of the hunt was equally if not


SOIL TEST KITSWhitetail Institute

Soil testing is one of the most important things you cando to ensure the success of your plantings — of anykind. The Institute is pleased to now provide soil test kits andresults for all Imperial products or any other type seeds. (Com-plete instructions and all related information will come with kits.) Testresults include pH, phosphorus (P) and potassium (K). Fertilizer and limerecommendations for maximum performance from your plantings will be provided.The average turnaround time is 24-48 hours after our lab receives the sample.

The charge for the kit and results is $10.95. If ordered alone, add $2.50 shippingand handling for unlimited number of kits. If ordered with other Imperial productsthere is no shipping charge.Please send ______ soil test kits at $10.95 each. Add $2.50 shipping and handling for eachorder regardless of number of kits desired. (There is NO shipping charge if kit is ordered withother Imperial products.) Cost of kit includes test results and consultation.SHIP TO:Name ________________________________________________________________Address ______________________________________________________________City _______________________________________State ______Zip _____________Phone _______________________Email ___________________________________Payment: : �� Check or Money Order enclosedCharge to: �� MasterCard �� Visa �� DiscoverCredit Card # __________________________Exp. Date _______Sec. Code________Signature _____________________________________________________________

Mail to: Whitetail Institute • 239 Whitetail Trail • Pintlala, AL 36043or CALL TOLL FREE 1-800-688-3030

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Take to the woods. Take to the fields. Hunt the lands hunted by your father and your grandfather before you—for the hunt is your true inheritance.

more satisfying. Spotting and stalking whitetails in tall grass is fairly common in the

Great Plains, where vast fields of tall grass make a perfect hiding place.You can watch a field all afternoon and see nothing, yet as eveningapproaches, deer pop up like one of those bash-a-gopher games. On acalm day, stalking is almost impossible, but with a good breeze andthe ability to see deer and plan a stalk, good things can happen.

“This is one of my favorite stands and favorite Northeastern prop-erties to hunt,” Dougherty said. “You can watch a food plot and 200acres of grass. It’s just nonstop glassing with a chance to stalk a buckwhen it stands up. This is a unique farm and a real blast to hunt. Iwanted to be on the food plots facing south and west, and it workedout just right.”

A Day in the Life of a Summer Plot Plant

At midnight, photosynthesis is in sleep mode, and all plants in theplot have the same temperatures, regardless of their sun orientation.As dawn nears, dew forms on vegetation and the soil remains partiallyshaded and cool. As noon approaches, the sun rises directly overhead,air temperatures increase, soil receives direct sunlight and warms lead-ing to 4 to 5 p.m., when the temperature is typically the highest andplants suffer the greatest stress. This is the period when plants andsoil capture the highest thermal radiation from the sun and becomethe most vulnerable to drought.

The angle of the sun is consistent on plots that are pool table flat.However, most small patches and fields have rolling topography ormight be part of a larger slope that tilts its contents toward or away

from the sun. A plot that tips toward the morning sky or the south-west in late afternoon will gather more energy from the sun, and tem-perature will influence how the plot grows and how deer react to it.

Dougherty suggests looking at polar opposites as a clarifying exam-ple. “A field that faces the northern sky will experience angled sun-light and, all things being equal, will be the coolest and usually be themost moist site on the property. The sun, due to its lower angle willhave greater reflection, less absorption and results in cooler soil tem-peratures. These spots are ideally suited for perennial plants and canbe a great spot for summer forage for deer, especially in droughtareas,” Dougherty said.

“The exact opposite occurs if the plot faces the southwest sky suchthat it gets maximum energy from the sun and the soil temperaturescan be significantly higher than the northern orientation. Southwest-ern slopes can be very droughty and difficult to grow plants duringsummer months.”

These generalizations must be tempered with latitude. In upstateNew York, the southwest exposure might be preferable because of ashorter growing season and lower average summer temperatures. Like-wise, planting a north-facing plot in Alabama might help shelter theplot from radiation that could fry plants facing directly toward the sun.

Planting on Course

“Smart plant managers will develop plots to all points of the com-pass,” Dougherty said. “Deer react to how well the grocery store isstocked, and how well it is stocked depends on how well the plotgrows. All summer, deer will feed in the northern facing plots. These


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will also be the first to be affected by frost in the late fall or winter. Asthose plants become dormant, the browse tendency will shift towardthe southeast and southwest, which typically will hold the last forageof the year. From a hunting strategy, you want to progress toward thewarmer ground slopes as the hunting seasons progresses, as deer willusually feed on the lushest sides of the plots.”

Planting by the compass helps to ensure that plots will survive ac-cording to seasonal variations of temperature and moisture. In highlevels of rain, the southwest plots will produce better, whereas in yearsof drought and high temperature, the northern plots may do better. Inthis way, at least half of the plants will live up to their potential be-cause they are best suited for the conditions of the year — too muchrain or not enough.

Ironically, the compass approach works well on small or very largefood plots. Dougherty has observed that deer feeding in alfalfa fieldsin rolling topography will naturally select those plants according totheir newness of growth. In early season when the sun is high andmoisture is low, deer prefer plants in the valleys or on the north slopesof the rolling terrain, because those plants receive less direct sunlight.As the season progresses and the previous dining areas become moreshaded and the soil cools, deer move toward the southwest whereplants are benefitting from the more direct rays of fall.

Top Plant Picks for Plots

Dougherty works full time as a wildlife consultant assistinglandowners and hunt club managers to maximize their deer healththrough food plots. Here are his recommendations for maximizing thesuccess of your plots.

Northern Slopes: Imperial Whitetail Clover.It is high in nutrition and is extremely attractive to deer well beyond

the first frosts of late fall or winter. Southeastern Slopes: Chicory Plus or Imperial Whitetail Clover. Southeastern slopes are one of the easiest directions to grow plots

because almost everything you plant looks good and grows well. South Slopes: Chicory Plus or Whitetail Extreme (if soil is sandy) Dougherty also recommends you consider planting hunting foods

in this orientation and consider planting them in brassica productssuch as Winter-Greens or Tall Tine Tubers late in the summer.

West/Southwest: Because this is the hottest and driest orientation,he recommends extreme caution when planting a perennial here andsuggests holding this plot for a fall hunting source, such as No-Plow,Pure Attraction, Winter-Greens, or Tall Tine Tubers. W

A PLANT PLAN OF ACTION:“Based on my 20 years in food plots, typically two out of

five years are too wet or too dry, and planting by the compasshelps you plan for that,” Dougherty said. “On perfect years,you will grow lots of food everywhere. If you want to be abetter deer manager and meet the nutritional needs ofwildlife, be sure that you always have food in front of youranimals. The easiest way to do that is to plant by the compassto help eliminate the weather factors. In drought years, north-ern slopes will keep producing so that your deer don’t travelto neighboring properties. In seasons of abundant moisture,the south-southwestern exposures will also be the ticket.


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TheDroughtDilemma Dry weatherdoesn’t have to bethe end of yourfood plot

By David HartPhotos by the Author

lame it on a stringof unfortunateweather events oran act of God.

Whatever the reason,this past year was one ofthe driest on record.More than half thecontiguous United Stateswas under what theNational Climatic DataCenter labeled moderateto exceptional droughtin July 2012, and 78percent was abnormallydry. Although autumnrains did help in someregions, things haven’timproved muchthroughout a large partof the country since.(I’m writing this inNovember 2012.)If that’s not enough, consider this: At leastone region of whitetail country has been

under an exceptional drought for at least thepast six years. More bad news? Some predictthe drought will become the most costly nat-ural disaster in U.S. history if the currentweather trends remain in place. And there’sa good chance they will, according to the Na-tional Weather Service. That’s troublingnews for deer hunters who plant and main-tain food plots. What should be a guaranteedway to draw deer and keep them on yourproperty has turned into a gamble.

First, the Bad News

Few if any food plot plants planted inthe spring just a few months before therain stopped, not even the mostdrought-tolerant ones, could sur-vive through the extreme droughtconditions parts of the countrydealt with in 2012. Not onlydid the recently planted foodplots struggle at best and mostdie, so did such crops as geneticallymodified soybeans, corn and wheat, all de-signed to withstand dry spells. Short of irri-gating a food plot, there isn’t much a deer

hunter can do to overcome theworst conditions.

Hopefor thehopeless

There are, however, plenty ofsteps that can help reduce the effects of ab-normally dry weather, said Whitetail Insti-tute vice-president Steve Scott. First, themost important thing a food-plotter can do isget the soil right by conducting a soil test andamending the soil with the recommendedamounts of lime and fertilizer.“Healthy plants in properlyprepared soil will usually sur-vive most drought situations,”he said. “Most of the food plotsthat we grew looked pretty badduring the worst of thedrought, but once westarted getting rain nearthe end of the summer,they ended up doingpretty well because wemade sure the soil had theproper fertilizer and pH be-

fore we planted the first seed. We were alsocareful to make sure our perennial plots werein the best shape possible before it got dry.”That’s just part of the drought-defeatingequation. Not only is it mandatory to get thedirt right, it’s also very important to choosethe plants best-suited for that soil. ImperialWhitetail Clover, for example, isn’t the bestchoice for well-drained soil or a high spot thatwon’t hold moisture. Because they are shal-low rooted, clovers tend to do best in heaviersoil that holds moisture. That’s not to sayclover won’t grow in a slightly drained soilbut it is just less drought tolerant on that typeof site.

“Use a product that’s right for thetype of soil you’ll be planting inand you won’t have to worry asmuch about negative weather sit-uations,” Scott said. “Alfa-Rack

Plus, Edge and Ex-


No food plot plant will grow under aprolonged and extreme drought, but ifthe soil is properly amended prior tothe harsh conditions, most plants will

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treme are our most drought-tolerant peren-nial products because they include plantsthat are extremely deep rooted and are betteradapted for well-drained soils.”

The Right Plant

All of the above-mentioned products areperennial blends that offer a variety of forageoptions for the deer. Blends stand a betterchance of giving the deer at least one foodchoice during harsh weather conditions. Ifone plant goes dormant, another might staymore vibrant and provide a more consistentfood source. Blends will be much more likelyto outperform single-seed products in adversesoil conditions that are common in food plotareas.As mentioned earlier, the seeds in Alfa-Rack Plus, Edge and Extreme grow a deeproot system, so they can reach moisturedeeper in the ground than plants like clover.That allows them to endure everything butthe most extreme dry spells. The leaves mightwither and appear dead during a drought, butmost often the roots are just dormant, wait-ing for a good dose of water. When they getit, they’ll most often sprout new stems andleaves and do just fine. Imperial WhitetailClover doesn’t have roots that grow as deepbut it can tolerate some pretty harsh condi-tions if it’s already established before dryweather sets in. It might shrivel up and ap-pear dead during the peak of a drought, butwhen it gets ample rain in the fall, it willmost often rejuvenate and grow with vigor.

Timing is everything

How well food plots do depends on whenyou plant them because no matter what youchoose to plant, when you broadcast yourseed will often determine the success of yourfood plots. Follow the recommended plantingdates from Whitetail Institute. When the di-rections are followed, including the recom-mended planting dates, you should expectgreat results from various annual spring-planted seeds like vining soybeans, lablaband other annuals found in Whitetail Insti-tute’s Power Plant. The key, said Scott, is toget PowerPlant in after the last frost and afterthe ground temperature reaches 65 degreesbut before the summer dry spell sets in. “When planting perennials in the spring,push the plant date as early as you think youcan get away with it,” he added. For fall-planted seeds, instead of pushing the early

date, aim for the tail end of the recommendedplanting dates. Put your clover in too earlyand it might get enough rain to sprout, butthat rain might be followed by another hot,dry spell that can ultimately kill any tendersprouts.“The first rain is important, but the secondrain is even more important,” Scott said.“Watch the weather. Although you can’t al-ways count on the forecast, it at least can giveyou a pretty good idea if it’s a good time toplant.”

Be Nice to Your Plots

By itself, a long, hot, dry spell can be toughon a food plot, but mowing or spraying it atthe wrong time can spell the end of a plothanging on the edge of survival. Scott saidone of the worst things a food plotter can dois attempt to control the weeds when the plotplants are already stressed. Whether you usemechanical weed control like routine mow-ing or you prefer to spray herbicides, both

can be the kiss of death to your plots if donewhen the plants are already struggling fromhot and dry weather.There’s no question unwanted plants likegrasses and invasive broadleaf weeds robyour plots of critical moisture and nutrients,and can crowd out the “good” plants. How-ever, it’s far better to leave the plot alone andwait until they get some rain and recoversomewhat before mowing or spraying.“If it’s hot and dry, the weeds are probablydormant anyway, so there’s really no point inattempting to knock them back with a bushhog or a herbicide. Plants have to be activelygrowing in order for a herbicide to have anyeffect, and mowing during these hot and drytimes will most likely do more harm thangood,” Scott said.Spray or mow only after your plots becomegreen and vibrant, even if it means waitinguntil the fall or even next spring to conductsome routine maintenance. When it’s hotand dry, doing nothing to a food plot is farbetter than doing the wrong thing. W


The author waited until Virginia’sdrought broke before he put down abag of Whitetail Institute’s Winter

Greens. The wait paid off.

Just like the protein found in Whitetail Institute food plot products, minerals and vitamins are an essential part of the growth matrix of any deer, especially a buck. Hardened antlers are comprised largely of mineral, approximately 55 percent, and most soils in North America lack one or more of the minerals vital toantler development. When you consider that a buckre-grows antlers each year, you can understand why they require such high level of minerals in their diet. If you want your deer to thrive and help them reach more of their genetic potential, then mineral and vitamins supplementation is vital. Whitetail Institute mineral and vitamin supplements are extremely attractive to deer. They are also developed bynutrition experts and are professionally formulatedto provide the best nutrition possible for your deer.to provide the best nutrition possible for your deer.

239 Whitetail TrailPintlala, AL 36043

(800) 688-3030 whitetailinstitute.com

hen all elsefails, read theinstructions.That’s a motto oftoo many people.

Some think they’re tooclever to needinstructions. Others aresimply too lazy and someare in too big of a hurryto wade through theadvice most companiesgive about their products.

I often fall into this camp, I hate to admit.Then when I sit in the middle of the floorsurrounded by parts and bolts from someitem I’m trying to put together, not knowingwhat to do next, I relent and read the wordsor look at the diagrams.I was that way with food plots, too, whenI first started putting seeds in the ground togrow food for whitetails. I’d read a lot and fig-ured I knew what I was doing. And whoknows, maybe experimenting would lead toeven better results or at least interesting ones. In fact, virtually every experiment in “im-provising” and ignoring instructions just ledto failure. A typical example is an experience I hadwith Tall Tine Tubers. I was talking on thephone with Steve Scott, vice president of the

Whitetail Institute, saying how I needed toget some of these great turnips in the groundquickly, even though it was only late May. Scott balked. Gently, he asked, “Isn’t thata little early?”“No,” I replied. “I want to be sure to getlots of growth on the leaves before fall.” “You might find it gets too hot for theplants,” he said. “The turnips could go toseed.”Well, to make a long story short, I ignoredhis advice. Not that I think I’m so smart. Iguess I’m just stubborn. I had this idea in myhead that I’d get a jump on things and growbigger plants by getting them in earlier. Buthis words echoed in the back of my head as Isowed the seed. And by early August, those words rang all


FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONSand Reap Big Rewards

By Gerald AlmyPhoto by the Author


too true.The Tall Tine Tubers grew quickly at firstin May. But with my Imperial Clover plotsthriving, the deer ignored the turnips duringthis early stage and fed on the lush green Im-perial Whitetail Clover. And then, in shortorder, the brassica plants went to seed anddied in the 100-degree summer sun. This was a hard lesson, but one I took toheart. It wasn’t the first time I’d had a foodplot failure or poor results from trying to doit my own way. But it was one of the mostdramatic ones. The combination of thoseflops and mediocre plots has turned me intoa stickler for following instructions onWhitetail Institute of North America(WINA) seed bags, on its how-to video andits website. I’ve become a fanatic about notskipping steps. If you want to save a lot ofheadaches, you should be, too.In fact, the step I ignored in that particularcase was so important it’s listed on theWINA bags as the second piece of advice. It’sgiven right after the initial statement (step 1)that you should, “Follow all instructions step-by-step.”Under “Planting Recommendations,” thebag says, “Step 2. Stay within the plantingtimes for your state.”And right next to that advice on the leftside of the bag are clear maps and time tablesfor fall and spring plantings, or just one timeif two planting seasons are not possible. Somestates are even divided into several regions ifthe climate can vary widely within the state.My state of Virginia, for example, has threeregions: Mountain Valleys, South Piedmontand Coastal. So there’s no excuse for not put-ting seeds in during the four- to eight-weektime frames typically given for a particularproduct. Scientists at WINA go through stringentexperimenting over many years before releas-ing products. And they test them throughoutNorth America in different regions to seewhen they grow best. Trying to wing it andput the seeds in at a different time than theone recommended can certainly lead to fail-ure. In the case of my Tall Tine Tubers plot,failure could have resulted from going the op-posite direction, too — by planting the seedtoo late. In that case, the seeds wouldn’t havehad time to grow large enough to offer sub-stantial leaves for deer to feed on or developlarge turnips that they could dig up and eatduring winter. This would have been lessdramatic of a failure, but it still wouldn’t have

allowed the product to produce the maxi-mum amount of forage possible. There are so many Whitetail Institute

products that can be planted at different pe-riods that simply being anxious to put in aplot when you have some free time is no ex-cuse for ignoring the time frame instructions.Brassicas prefer cooler weather and in my lo-cation needed to be planted later in summer.If I simply wanted to be out in the fieldsworking, there were other plants that couldhave gone in then. PowerPlant would havethrived if it was planted at that time of yearin my area. Ignoring or altering other steps on theplanting guides is also asking for trouble.Let’s go through them one by one and see ex-actly why skipping them can lead to poorerquality plots, or in some cases, total failure.We’ll begin with Step 3.Step 3 says to select an area with appropri-ate soils. This instruction will vary in details

depending on the type of seed you’re plant-ing. That makes it especially important topay attention to this advice. On ImperialWhitetail Clover, for example, the step says,“Select an area with heavy soil that holdsmoisture. If possible, avoid sandy soils, hill-tops and hillsides that drain quickly.”Obviously with this step, you simply haveto work within the constraints of what’savailable on your land. But doing so as closelyas possible can pay big dividends in a moreattractive, thicker, taller crop that providesthe maximum nutrients and thrives even indifficult weather conditions.If you didn’t have the type of soil recom-mended for Imperial Clover but have hillier,lighter upland soils, Alfa-Rack Plus might bea better selection. A good idea here, if you’reunsure what to plant, is to call the experts atWINA and talk it over. They’ll have specificrecommendations for the soil conditions youdescribe to them.

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This is another step I’ve overlooked whenplanting Imperial Clover in the past. The Im-perial Whitetail Clover plots I’ve put in onupland, drier soils live and grow, but theynever do as well as my plots in the moisture-holding bottomlands suggested in the instruc-tions.Step 4. Do a soil test. This step might be asspecific as do a “soil test for a Giant WhiteClover.” You need to find out what type offertilizer combination is required for eachparticular seed or seed mixture and you needto find out the pH of the soil to determinehow much lime should be added.Skipping this step and just putting in a gen-eralized fertilizer mixture or an averageamount of lime is a big mistake. Every plotsite has a different type of soil, different nu-trient needs and different pH levels. Takingthe time to do a soil test, through the White-tail Institute or your local farm co-op, is

worth the small investment in time andmoney. Sure, a crop will come up even if you don’tadd exactly the right amount of fertilizer orlime. But it will never compare in tonnage ortaste appeal or nutrients provided to the ani-mals with a plot where you’ve carefully de-termined fertilizer and lime needs andapplied these products appropriately.Step 5. Disk the ground thoroughly to pre-pare a good seed bed. After you’re selected afood plot site and killed existing vegetation,disking or tilling the ground repeatedly is agood practice. The amount of disking neces-sary will vary with the site and what it wasused for previously. You need to break up thebig clots of dirt and destroy any remainingvegetation. “If weedy or new ground,” the instructionssay, “disk again in three to five days.”The point is to get the soil clumps thor-

oughly broken up for good seed-to-soil con-tact and even distribution of the seed. Step 6. Prepare a good, firm seed bed. Forbest results use a cultipacker or heavy rollerto smooth and firm the soil. If no cultipackeris available, use a weighted fence-type drag.(You can see the Whitetail Institute’s DVDfor details.) This is a step many people seemto skip. They figure they’ll cultipack or rollthe seed after they plant. That’s a mistakewith small seeds. If you don’t firm up theseed bed first, a lot of seed will slip down toodeep to germinate and be smothered. Andyou also won’t get as good a seed-to-soil con-tact as necessary for a high percentage of ger-mination. The instructions make a specialpoint of emphasizing this: “Notice: We arecultipacking before seeds are sewn.”Step 7. With a good seed bed prepared,broadcast the seed. The amount will varywith the particular product you’re planting.


One of the steps for a successfulfood plot involves properlypreparing the seed bed.

Whitetail Institute

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W H I T E T A I L I N S T I T U T E A P P A R E L

Call Toll Free To Order: 1-800-688-3030 or Mail Your Order With Payment To:Whitetail Institute of North America, 239 Whitetail Trail, Pintlala, AL 36043, Fax Orders To: (334) 286-9723

For Imperial Clover, 8 pounds per acre is recommended. Put in theamount suggested. If you err on the side of too much seed, you’ll havetoo many plants germinating. They’ll have to compete for availablemoisture and nutrients and may not grow to their fullest potential. Ifyou use too little seed, the result is all too clear: lots of soil withoutplants growing on it. That’s an open invitation for weeds to take overand less food production for the deer than you could have had fromthe land.Step 8. After broadcasting the seed, use a cultipacker or some typeof heavy roller to roll over the field. You might be tempted to skip thisstep because you did it already before you broadcasted the seed. Don’tdo it. The instructions explain, “This presses seed into the groundand helps ensure better seed-to-soil contact and germination. If youdon’t have a roller or cultipacker, you can pull a fence-type drag overit.”Another part of this instruction step stresses the importance of put-ting the seed in the ground at the appropriate depth. With small seedssuch as clover, for instance, this means 1/4-inch or less. Products suchas Whitetail Oats Plus and PowerPlant can be disked in deeper, butclover seeds will not germinate well if you bury them more than 1/4-inch.Step 9. Step 9 stresses that there are many factors that can influencethe success or failure of a food plot and the quality of plant growth itoffers deer. It says, “Imperial Whitetail Clover is a high-quality forageseed. Proper planting effort, favorable soil, weather conditions andgood timing can contribute to the success of your planting and the ul-timate impact on the quality of your deer and wildlife.” This step isreally simply a reminder of and a justification for being a stickler forfollowing instructions carefully and not skipping steps. You can’tchange the soil you have to work with and you can’t change the va-garies of the weather. So taking the time to do things exactly rightwith the steps of putting in a food plot at least gives you all the oddsin your favor in the things you can control.Step 10. Step 10 suggests placing a wire basket over a portion of thecrop so wildlife can’t graze that area. “Watch the difference inside andoutside the basket.” Of all the steps of the instructions, this one would certainly be theleast harmful to skip. But why would you want to? Who wouldn’t liketo see the contrast between the plants inside and outside of the cageand see how much good nutrition you’re providing the whitetailsusing your land?Step 11. “Do not plant during hot, dry weather.” This final adviceon the Imperial Whitetail Clover bag is one I try to follow as best Ican, and you should, too. It’s clear why this step is listed. Dry weather can mean your seedswon’t have enough moisture to germinate. And if it’s extremely hot,those plants that do emerge might perish from the withering heat andlack of moisture.With some of the droughts we’ve been having in many parts of thecountry recently, this is a hard step to follow. But as with all the others,by ignoring it you’re gambling with the chance of failure, and wastingthe time, money and physical effort on a project that might be doomed. Show patience. Wait for a predicted rain and cooling trend, and thenget your crop in ahead of it. Like all the other instructions on WINA products, there’s a validreason for this advice. Follow it, and you’ll be glad you did. W


The Whitetail Institute is proud to offer Imperial Whitetail Winter-Greens, our annual brassica blend designed specifically for late seasonfood plot sources and hunting opportunities. Winter-Greens blend ofbrassica is extremely attractive, and during tests was preferred 4 to 1over other brassica products tested. Winter-Greens stands tall and staysgreen, even in the coldest winter weather. The colder it gets the moresweet and attractive it becomes which creates perfect food plots for lateseason hunting. So this year plant our highly drought resistant Winter-Greens and give your deer a valuable source of nutrients for the winterseason.

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The Whitetail Institute239 Whitetail TrailPintlala, AL 36043

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The ranch is roughly 8,500 acres, consist-ing of 800 acres of alfalfa hay fields, timberedridges full of Ponderosa pine, rolling hillswith patches of bur oak, and red rockcanyons filled with bur oak, springs, andseeps. In other words, it’s great habitat forWestern whitetail deer.After I purchased the ranch and got toknow some of my neighbors and some of thelocals, I started asking questions about thedeer, habitat and hunting tactics. I askedmany of them if anyone tried to manage the


Whitetail Institute ProductsHelp Produce the #1 and #2

Pope & Young Whitetails in WyomingBy Mike Schmid

Photos by the Author

purchased the Solitude Ranch in Fall 2001.This land, in the shadow of Devils Tower, isfull of whitetail deer, an animal that I haveenjoyed chasing for more than 25 years. I had alot of reasons for making an investment like

this, but one in particular was to try my hand atmanaging these fascinating critters.


deer, and whether anyone planted any foodplots, provided any supplemental feed or of-fered any type of mineral supplement. Theanswer was always the same. They said itcouldn’t be done because of the dry climate.This area of the country only receives about16 inches of annual precipitation. Well, Itook their words as a challenge. There had tobe something out there that would work.After trying various brands of food plotmixes, minerals and supplemental feed, I set-tled on the Whitetail Institute and its prod-ucts.Today, we plant around 120 acres of foodplots. We use Whitetail Institute’s Tall TineTubers and Double Cross for this part of ourprogram. My goal is to eventually have 250acres planted with these products strategi-cally placed throughout the ranch. We choseWhitetail Institute’s Cutting Edge for themineral supplement part of program. I reallybelieve that using this mineral system makescomplete sense. It gives the deer exactly whatthey need during the three crucial times ofthe year to benefit their overall health. Weblend the Cutting Edge products with oursupplemental feed. This combination is dis-pensed on a weekly basis throughout the 25

feed stations we have on the ranch. Needlessto say, the whitetails love the Solitude Ranch. I have many pictures and video footage ofgreat bucks pulling the turnips out of the Tall

Tine Tubers fields. They have the wholeturnip in their mouth and chew it down tillit’s gone, and then go right after another one.I also have tons of footage of the deer withtheir noses buried in the Cutting Edge min-eral mix. They absolutely love this stuff.It has been eight years since we startedmanaging the deer on the Solitude Ranch.We believe we have found the secret to pro-ducing and growing trophy whitetails in apart of the country not known to do so. Webelieve that by planting quality food plotproducts and offering mineral supplements ithas not only changed the way we hunt deerbut we are taking bigger, better and healthierdeer. Our deer continue to be more impres-sive every year — so impressive we have a lotof folks hunting our fence lines. As it turnsout, you can manage and produce greatwhitetails in a dry climate. There isn’t any doubt this would not havebeen possible without incorporating the awe-some products provided by the Whitetail In-stitute. The proof is in the pudding, as theysay. Since incorporating these products theSolitude Ranch is now home to where theNo. One and No. Two Pope and Young typi-cal whitetail deer in Wyoming were taken. W

CALL TOLL FREE

1-800-688-3030OR MAIL YOUR ORDER TO:Whitetail Institute239 Whitetail Trail, Pintlala, AL 36043FAX 334-286-9723

ALL YOURS FOR ONLY $19999(Please add $19.00 shipping/handling/insurance.)

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Try a full “menu” of Whitetail Institute Products at one lowprice… and get a FREE 2-year subscription to “Whitetail News”and a FREE DVD as well! Your Super Sampler Pak includes:• Imperial Whitetail™ Clover — 1/2 acre planting (4 lbs.)• Imperial EXTREME™ — 1/4 acre planting (5.6 lbs.)• Imperial CHICORY PLUS™ — 1/2 acre planting (3.5 lbs.)• Imperial N0-PLOW™ — 1/2 acre planting (9 lbs.)• Imperial WINTER-GREENS™ — 1/2 acre planting (3 lbs.)• Imperial 30-06™ Mineral — 1 lick (5 lbs)• Imperial 30-06™ PLUS PROTEIN™ — 1 lick (5 lbs.)• Imperial BOWSTAND™ — 4500 sq. ft. planting (4 lbs.)• Cutting Edge™ INITIATE™ — 1 site (5 lbs.)• Cutting Edge™ OPTIMIZE™ — 1 site (5 lbs.)• Cutting Edge™ SUSTAIN™ — 1 site (5 lbs.)• SECRET SPOT™ — 4500 sq. ft. planting (4 lbs.)

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Send UsYour Photos!Do you have a photo and/or story of a big buck, a smallbuck or a doe that you took with the help of Imperialproducts? Send it to us and you might find it in the FieldTester section of the next issue of Whitetail News. Sendyour photo and a 3 to 4 paragraph story telling how youharvested the deer and the role our products played to:

Whitetail News, Attn: Field Tester Response239 Whitetail Trail, Pintlala, AL 36043

In late July through early August I plowed, disked, seeded,and cultipacked my food plots with great anticipation

of the upcoming hunting season. I had earlier in the sum-mer decided that my fall planting choice was to be WhitetailInstitute’s Tall Tine Tubers. I cannot explain exactly why,but I was very excited about this seed variety. Maybe itwas because I had previously had some success withturnips. Or maybe it was because I always get excitedabout trying something new! In any event it was a happyplanting process.

I was very surprised at how quickly the Tall Tine Tu-bers germinated. It seemed like overnight, although realis-tically it was probably three to five days. I feared the deerwould eat it all long before the hunting season, as theyhave so many times before, yet they did not. I had aboveground leaves that were 10 inches to 12 inches high (gen-erally), and in some cases higher. The turnips matured tobe like small pumpkins. Never have I seen turnips of this

size. I remember thinking “are they too big?”Fast forward to hunting season. The archery season

was good overall, however the last week was intense froma rutting behavior standpoint. Especially in the Tall TineTuber plots. I took a nice buck during the last week ofarchery season in the Tall Tines Tubers and was ready tocall both the planting and hunting seasons a success. Littledid I know what was ahead…

Opening Day: 7:30 a.m.: Two shots fired in a Tall Tine Tubers field.

End result: a 4-1/2-year-old, 200-plus-pound deer wasdown with my father’s hands on a trophy rack.

1:40 p.m.: One shot fired in a Tall Tine Tubers field.End result: a 4-1/2-year-old, 185-pound deer was downwith my hands on a trophy rack.

3:30 p.m.: One shot fired, not in a Tall Tine Tubersfield, but coming from the direction of one. End result: a3-1/2-year-old, 200-pound deer was down with my bestfriend’s hands on a trophy rack.

In summary, what a year. What an unbelievable year.Three trophy animals taken, by three different hunters,on the same property, on the same day, all in or near TallTine Tubers plots.

It has been more than a month since our magical day,and each of us still talks as if it happened yesterday. Allthree deer mentioned are presently at the taxidermist, so Iguess one could say it was an expensive year. The memoriesare worth every penny.

I am not sure who to thank more. Whitetail Institutefor producing such an incredible food plot product or myfather and best friend for being there to share in such aspecial day!

Paul Wurster — New York

(Continued from page 19)

Started out by using Imperial Whitetail Clover andit was a lot bigger clover and lasted longer than the

Ladino clover I’ve used in the past. My does seemhealthier with Imperial Whitetail Clover. I also hadreal good luck with Alfa-Rack. The bucks and doescame in my plots even when hunting pressure was on.I’ve enclosed a few photos.

Bob Vonch — Indiana

REAL HUNTERS DO THE TALKINGabout Whitetail Institute products…

Since using Whitetail Institute productsI’m seeing more deer, turkeys, rabbits

and bear! The deer are healthier and havebigger racks! The turkeys, rabbits and evenbear are tearing up the Imperial WhitetailClover. The Imperial Whitetail Clover isthe best year around food plot seed outthere! There’s nothing better! The Winter-Greens are like a magnet in the winter time.The 30-06 Mineral/Vitamin supplement isunreal! There are knee deep holes wherewe placed the supplement. Every one ofWhitetail Institute products that myfriends, customers and I have used do ex-actly what Whitetail Institute says they do!Whitetail Institute products are amazingand I will continue using them.

Dewey Gaskins Jr. — North Carolina

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* Important: Shipping & Payment Information* Please Include Daytime Phone Number For UPS Shipments

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Mail To: Whitetail Institute of North America239 Whitetail Trail • Pintlala, AL 36043

Or Call Toll Free: 1-800-688-3030 • Fax Orders To: (334) 286-9723

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Payment Method:n Check or Money Order Enclosed Charge to my: n Mastercard n Visa n DiscoverCredit Card#: ________________________Exp. Date: ______Sec. Code ______Signature: _______________________________________________________

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ETHAN SMITH –IndianaMy name is Ethan Smith. I am 10 years old

and I live in Gibson County, Indiana. I have huntedsince I was six and have taken several does, butthis is my first buck. My dad and I hunt on ourown land and planted Imperial Whitetail Clovertwo years ago for our deer. We have already noticedthat we see more bucks on our property and thatthe bucks have gotten bigger. Since we planted theclover, we’ve seen 15-20 deer in our food plot everyevening. I shot my buck on opening morning lastseason. I took my shot at 12 yards when the buckstopped to look for does in our food plot. He onlyran about 40 yards and fell. It was a great day. Im-perial Whitetail Clover has really made our huntingbetter. My dad and I say thanks Whitetail Institute.

ANASTASIA FIEBIG – WisconsinIt was opening day and I was excited and nervous. I had been “hunting” deer with my camera

since I was eight. I knew we had big deer around the area because the year before a nice eightpoint had come to graze on the food plot of Double-Cross I was sitting over. It was my first, upclose brush with a big buck. I was so jumpy that I knocked my hat off and dropped my gloves. Icouldn’t wait to harvest such a beautiful animal.I had hunted through bow season and came up empty-handed. I knew if I was going to shoot

my first whitetail I was going to have to do it now. I went up to The Buddy-stand with my dad.We were overlooking a nice 2.5 acre plot that had Extreme and Imperial Clover in the middle en-circled by PowerPlant with a lot of deer activity. We sat all morning and saw a coyote but nodeer. After coming down and eating lunch at around noon. My dad and I went back up foranother try. I was discouraged after seeing nothing all day and we began packing up. There wasonly a few minutes left of opening day. I kept alert while my dad began getting everythingtogether. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw movement. I tapped my dad and pointed in the direction I had seen the rustling of brush. Helooked there and back at me. Yes! It was a deer. It looked like a big doe and I decided to take it. It walked through the PowerPlant to nibbleon the clover. A few more steps and I would have my shot. Finally she gave me a shot. KABOOM! The deer took off. By the time both mydad and I were out of the stand and ready to go it was too late to look for my deer.We came back in the morning and found it almost right away. I had two surprises. First, the coyotes ate half of one hindquarter, and

second, my doe was a buck. In the light I could clearly see one, three inch tine. The other tine didn’t grow and was a little knob on the head.It wasn’t what I had dreamed my first buck to be, but I wouldn’t trade it for the biggest monster buck-ever. I was glad I got to experience myfirst buck with my dad, my uncles, and close friends Tony and Steve. It was a perfect first buck.

TODD YODER – VirginiaBrothers Double Up! Once again we planted Imperial Whitetail Clover and once again

we are impressed more than ever. This year we planted Imperial Whitetail Clover in thespring and also planted Whitetail Oats Plus in the late fall. I took my two boys out for theIndiana youth deer hunting weekend. My wife and I took our 6 year old son out on ourfarm. And our 8 year old went with my brother Greg on his farm. My 8 year old son,Mark, shot his second deer over WhitetailOats Plus on my brother’s farm. Photo 1.My wife and I were hunting with our

son Caleb — hoping he could kill his firstdeer. The trail camera’s told us that therehad been a lot of deer feeding on the foodplots. Our Saturday evening hunt is one I’ll

never forget. We saw over 27 deer and over 9 were bucks. We had four buckscome in at one time and Caleb shot and missed, but was able to connect with adoe later that evening! Photo 2. From September to December every time wewent out we saw 20 to 30 deer come out to the food plots. It was amazing to seehow these food plots brought in the deer. We were seeing some incredible bucksalso this year. My dad connected with an 8 pointer and a friend missed a 150class buck. Thank you Whitetail Institute for such incredible products. I telleveryone and anyone about Whitetail Institute. Some friends just purchased acouple of bags. I can’t wait until next year.

PAULWILKERSON –MichiganMy 8 year old son, Logan Wilker-

son shot his first buck at 40 yardswith a muzzleloader and 90 grainsof powder. We saw this buck on ourtrail camera in our field of ImperialWhitetail Clover with a bigger 8 pointshedding his velvet. We nicknamedhim pronghorn. Imperial WhitetailClover is a great product that reallybrings in the deer.

Send your First Deer picture and story to Whitetail Institute of North America, 239 Whitetail Trail, Pintlala 36043, Att.: First Deer Dept. If your story and picture are used on Aimpoint’s First Deer page, you will be eligible to win an Aimpoint red dot sight in a random drawing!

Visit www.aimpoint.com

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Whitetail News Vol 23.1

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Transcript of Whitetail News Vol 23.1