Whitetail News Vol 16.2

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www.whitetailinstitute.com Vol. 16, No. 2 / WHITETAIL NEWS 3

In This Issue…FEATURES12 Advantages of Fall Planting By Jon Cooner

The spring season isn’t necessarily the best time to plant

14 Meeting at the Secret SpotKentucky hunter utilizes personal food plot product

16 Families Afield: Breaking the Barriers for Kids andMentors By Tom FegelyA program to introduce youth to hunting

18 Chicory Plus — for the “Deer Days” of SummerBy Jon Cooner

19 Winter-Greens: The Wait is Over! By Jon Cooner

22 A Family AffairWisconsin father and daughter plant Extreme and see the results

24 Trespassers! By Charles AlsheimerHow do you solve a trespassing problem?

30 Manipulating the Landscape for Hunting Success By Bill WinkeMold your property for an increased hunting advantage

40 Creating a Hunting Hotspot By Lou Haubner and Tim Hooey,

as told to Rick Sapp Learn about a transformed property

44 Maps and Megabucks By Brad HerndonStudying geography can give a hunter a different perspective

50 Buck of a Lifetime on Imperial Clover By Kevin BrownFood plot product produces memorable hunting experience

52 Tricks for Taking Does – Without Hurting Your BuckHunting By Steve BartyllaDoe harvest is crucial, so what is the best method?

56 Experts Reveal Their Secrets By Captain Michael VeineHow two top deer hunters consistently tag trophy-class whitetails

62 Vet Makes Scientific Product ChoicesOhio hunter prefers No-Plow

64 Track the Estrous Does… and Find the BucksBy John OzogaDuring the rut, “hunting” for does isn’t a bad idea

68 QDM Produces Trophy Bucks By Aaron ZobristIllinois hunters experince benefits of quality food plots

DEPARTMENTS4 A Message From Ray Scott

Passing the hunting tradition on!

5 Scientifically Speaking By Wiley C. Johnson, PhDTips for long-lasting perennial plots.

6 Deer Nutrition Notes By Matt HarperOn the road again: Tales from the show circuit

8 Ask Big Jon By Jon CoonerReal questions from real customers

10 How I Do It By Doug BelowAn in-depth look at an actual deer managementprogram

20 Field Testers’ Reports

38 Record Book Bucks

43 Winter-Greens Planting Dates

63 Fall Planting Dates

70 First Deer – The Future of Our Sport

Dealing with trespassers!Page 24

Page 44

4 WHITETAIL NEWS / Vol. 16, No. 2 www.whitetailinstitute.com

A M E SS A G E F R O M R AY S C OT TFounder and President Whitetail Institute of North America

Passing theHunting Tradition On!

When I checked my work calendar last night, I wasreminded that my first priority today was to writemy column for this issue of Whitetail News. This

morning, I came in to the office early to use the few quiethours before the rest of the staff arrives, the phones startringing off their hooks, and my attention will be directed toservicing the needs of our customers.

Last night, I made a few notes about possible topics formy column. These included a recap of the huge successesThe Whitetail Institute enjoyed in 2005 with the introductionof Insight Ladino Clover and Chicory Plus, and our new prod-ucts for 2006, Imperial WinterGreens and Kraze attractant.As I sat in the silence of my office this morning, though,something else occurred to me and prompted me to take aslightly different tack.

As is the case in most offices, the trappings of a work-ing life are here. But there are also reminders of events in mypersonal life - photographs of friends, family and huntsshared over many years, and the nick knacks I bought orreceived as presents during a lifetime of hunting across ourgreat country. These are my reminders that our hunting wayof life is a tradition, and that it is much more than just the actof harvesting a game animal. It goes deeper – much deeper.

Sharing time in the woods especially offers parents theopportunity to bond with their sons and daughters in a

uniquely private and soulful way that cannot be duplicated inany other environment. It also allows us to pass on to ourchildren the understanding of how we are part of the naturalworld and stewards of its bounty.

All of us at The Whitetail Institute recognize the respon-sibility we share, as individuals and as a company, to passalong our hunting heritage to our sons and daughters, and toothers that are new to it. Our goal is to help them bothunderstand and cherish who and what we are – an integralpart of nature, as well as its protectors and conservators. Anexample of our commitment to this responsibility is the spe-cial section we have added to Whitetail News about younghunters and their first deer. In this issue, the section appearson page 70. I urge you to read it.

In closing, all of us at The Whitetail Institute pledge tocontinue to do all we can to ensure that our hunting way oflife continues from generation to generation. And we deeplyappreciate, and thank all of our supporters for giving us, theopportunity to fulfill that responsibility.

Ray Scott

Whitetail InstituteOFFICERS AND STAFF

FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT:RAY SCOTT

Vice President of Operations .........................Wilson Scott

Vice President............................................................Steve Scott

Operations Manager: ....................................William Cousins

Agronomist & Director of

Forage Research.........................Wiley Johnson, Ph.D.

Nutrition Director....................................................Brent Camp

Deer Nutrition Specialist.....................................Matt Harper

National Sales Manager...................................Mark Trudeau

Wildlife Biologist .............................................Jody Holbrooks

Director of Communications.......................Chris Eubanks

Whitetail News Managing Editor ............Bart Landsverk

Contributing Writers ...Charles Alsheimer, Tom Fegely,

Jim Casada, Brad Herndon, John Ozoga,

Bill Winke, Monte Burch, R.G. Bernier, Jon Cooner,

Bill Marchel, Judd Cooney, Michael Veine,

Steve Bartylla , Dr. Carroll Johnson, III

Product Consultants .............Jon Cooner, Brandon Self,

John White, J.B. Smith

Dealer/Distributor Sales......................................John Buhay,

Greg Aston, Jon Cooner, Shawn Lind

Habitat Management Specialist...............Neil Dougherty

Accounting & Logistics ....................................Steffani Hood

Office Manager................................................Dawn McGough

Internet Customer Service Manager .............Mary Jones

Shipping Manager .................................................Marlin Swain

Copy Editor ................................................................Susan Scott

Advertising Director........Wade Atchley, Atchley Media

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S C I E N T I F I C A L LY S P E A K I N GBy Wiley C. Johnson, PhD, Institute Agronomist

Tips for Long-Lasting Perennial Plots

Whitetail perennial food plot seed blends suchas Imperial Clover, Alfa-Rack Plus, ChicoryPLUS, and Extreme have the potential of

providing many years of extremely high quality deerfood. Obviously, they all require effort and expensefor establishment. They also need some care for con-tinued productivity. You need to be alert for insectinfestations because they can cause significant dam-age if not controlled. You may go years without aninsect problem, but be alert. Plant diseases will buildup and weaken plants so that adverse weather willtake them out. Chemical disease control is generallynot appropriate for forage plants. The best diseasecontrol is prevention by crop rotation where possible,fully utilizing forage produced to avoid excessiveaccumulated growth, and provide for vigorous for-age plant growth (adequate fertility). Invasive weedsmay become damaging but normally can be con-trolled by timely mowing and herbicide use.

Generally, the primary factor in keeping a strongperennial food plot is soil fertility including lime.Nitrogen (N) is used and lost in large quantities fromfood plots each year. However legumes such as alfal-fa and clover can provide adequate N. It is consid-ered that if the food plot forage contains at least 50%

legume there will be little or no response to added N.Most soils in the eastern U.S. originally were very

low in phosphorus (P). The lush vegetation was possi-ble because as plants died and decomposed the P con-tained in their tissues was returned to the soil and avail-able for replacing vegetation. When the native vegeta-tion was destroyed for crop production and the cropsthen removed from the land, it is of no surprise that Pdeficiency quickly developed. Since then P containingfertilizers have regularly been added. The nature of P inthe soil is such that much of that applied is still there. Itis now unusual to find agricultural soils with low P con-tent. Adequate P is essential for seedling growth anddevelopment but with mature plants and their welldeveloped root system P deficiency is unusual.Normally some P is applied annually to establishedstands but not in large quantities.

Potassium (K) is the mineral most in demand formature legume plots. This is especially true for some-what sandy, low clay content soils. Part of the K is asso-ciated with the clay structure of the soil and is not avail-able to plants until it is released. This is not bad sincethis allows the soil to store K and releases it throughoutthe year. The remainder of the K is in the soil solutionand readily available to plants. Unfortunately it is also

subject to loss by leaching. Some plants, especiallygrasses, will take up K far in excess of what the plantcan use. This usually happens right after K fertilization.If is not unusual to have K deficient clover and fescuewith excessive K content. A fast way to eliminate clover,especially on a sandy soil and when grown with fescueis to allow the soil to become K deficient.

The main mineral nutrients to be concerned withare N, P, and K. Other mineral elements may becomelimiting but only rarely. However you must keep a closewatch on the pH or acid status of the soil. It is a fact oflife that soils will become more acid with time. Thisemphasizes that an occasional soil test is needed toindicate when lime is needed and also when and howmuch P and K are needed. When to fertilize? Usuallyannually any time during the season but the best timeis soon before maximum growth. The best advice I cangive is to soil test every two years and follow its recom-mendations. W

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D E E R N U T R I T I O N N OT E SBy Matt Harper, Institute Deer Nutrition Specialist

On the Road Again: Tales From the Show Circuit

Ihave to admit, I do like Willie Nelson. But thenagain, what red-blooded, American country boydoesn’t? I have spent many a late night traveling

down some seldom-used back-country highway withWillie as my co-captain and only compatriot. I guessyou could say we have a certain kinship, both of ustraveling mile upon mile across this great country

Starting each year about the first of January, I setoff on an epic adventure filled with dangerous perilsand moments of great tribulation. It is an exhaustingjourney where I may be driven to point of collapsesuffering from days without sleep and proper nourish-ment. Near starvation causes lack of good judgment,which in turn causes me to eat nearly anythingregardless of who made it and what unthinkable thingit was made from. It is a trip filled with far-off, exoticlocations where the inhabitants may be far fromfriendly and I may find myself alone and outnum-bered. And when I lay down to sleep at night, I takewhat meager precautions I can to lock out the wildsof the outside, only to find out my chamber is filledwith scurrying things that also call this place theirhome. Days and weeks will pass away from friendsand loved ones. I tell you friends, many a strong andhearty man has began this journey with boasts of tri-umph and conquest only to come staggering homewith barely an ounce of mental faculties remaining.

What is this quest you may ask? Is it traveling across endless sun-scorched

deserts or traveling across the barren and frozen icepacks of the Arctic? Or is it traversing a dense junglefilled with man-eating beasts and venomous reptiles?

No my friends, the journey I speak of is far moredangerous. It is the yearly trek of the TravelingSeminar Speaker and Hunting-show Vendor.

OK, maybe I am being just a bit melodramatic,but traveling around the country doing speakingengagements and manning the booth at outdoorsshows is not a walk in the park either. First, there is theroad time and then there are the 12-hour days stand-ing on concrete and slinging bags of seed. Of course,the nutritional fare of the day consists of abundanthelpings of hot dogs, nachos, Coke and anything thatcan either be put on a stick or doused in chili. And onecan expect to pay somewhere in the neighborhood ofa day’s wages for just one of these healthy meals.When the day is done and you drag yourself back tothe hotel, you then commence your nightly ritual ofpest control (which can be both insect and human),death-defying ventures to the bathroom and cram-ming your head deep in the pillow to ward off theruckus of your next door neighbors on the other sideof the paper-thin wall. Yes, shows can be trying foreven the most seasoned show carney.

But for all their difficulties, shows can also be fun,rewarding and informative. Over the past few years ithas been my great pleasure to manage over the chaosof some of these events. I have done as many as 20shows in a year and have conducted hundreds of sem-inars. For me, the most important part of my job atboth shows and seminars is to talk with our customersand help answer their questions. And let me tell you

something, I have heard a few questions in my tenure.They can range from the complex to the bizarre. Most,however, are excellent questions from people veryinterested in improving the quality of deer on theirproperty, and I am a firm believer that there are no badquestions. In this article, I would like to share of few ofthe more memorable inquiries I have received at semi-nars and shows. I hope you will find my answers useful.

Question: Does this $#!% really work?This is a fairly common question, and it is usually

asked at the end of the day after the beverages havebeen flowing for an hour or two. I do not take offenseat the question because, after all, advertisements,infomercials and marketing campaigns all say oneproduct or another is the best thing since the proverbialsliced bread. It is no wonder that consumers becomesomewhat jaded, and they truthfully do want to know ifthe stuff you are selling really works.

Answer:“Well, actually, no it doesn’t work, but when we sell

some it helps pay for the $15 Coke and hot dog combowe had for dinner.’ This may be what I want to say at theend of a long day but my actual answer is more like thefollowing: “I assure you that our products do work, fortwo main reasons. First, each one goes throughexhausting amounts of research before it is ever intro-duced to the market. The product is tested at all five ofour research centers and then sent to certified testerslocated throughout the U.S. If it does not live up to ourhigh expectations, the test product is brought back tothe drawing board; and the researchers start over.

“Only after a test product has been tested andapproved by an overwhelming majority of these testerswill it be introduced to the market. That is why it nor-mally takes at least three, and sometimes as many assix, years for a product to go from the initial design to

the market. The second reason I can assure you ourproducts work is that we have been in business since1988 and continue to sell more and more product eachyear. In fact, more than one million acres of WhitetailInstitute products have been planted since our compa-ny was founded. We do not have camo, game calls,treestands or any other merchandise to fall back on ifour products don’t work and I wouldn’t be standinghere talking to you today.

Question: The label on your Imperial WhitetailClover says it is 33 percent inert matter. Are you justtrying to sell me dirt?

At first glance, a seed product having 33 percentof something that is not seed would certainly look kindof odd. In fact, some of our competitors try to use thisas a selling point against us. However, if you know thefacts, the 33 percent inert matter we have in theImperial Whitetail Clover is actual a selling point for usand a big benefit for our customers.

Answer:“The 33 percent inert matter you find on the label

is actually seed coating. We coat our Imperial WhitetailClover seed for one very important reason—it increas-es the germination percentage and can more thandouble the seedling survivability. Also located in thecoating around our seed is innoculant, which is vital forseed germination as well. Because it is it located in thecoating, the innoculant will be right next to the seed asthe coating breaks down and the seed starts to germi-nate. This is far better than simply mixing coating withraw seed, or even worse, spreading raw seed withoutinnoculant. Without innoculant, seed germination canbe substantially reduced.

“Another thing that coating can do is helpdecrease false germination. False germination takesplace when a seed receives a small amount of moisturecausing it to germinate but not enough to survive. Thiscan occur even with heavy dew. A coated seed musthave adequate amounts of moisture to break down thecoating, increasing the odds that there is adequatemoisture available to sustain the young seedling. Also,some types of materials used in the coating can actu-ally help neutralize the pH of the soil in the immediatearea around the seed to further improve survivability.In other words, we coat our seeds because ours arepremium products, and we want to give you the bestchance of planting success. After all, you are not buy-ing a product based on the number of seeds in a bag,but the number of live plants you will have in the field.”

Question: I planted your stuff, read all the direc-tions on the back of the bag, and nothing grew. Whatdo you have to say about that?

I saved this one for the last, as it is probably myfavorite out of thousands of questions and conversa-tions I have had. In 99 percent of these cases, I canidentify the reason for a product not performing. Thereasons can range from poor pH and planting error toproblems out of anyone’s control such as lack of rain,too much rain or some other weather-related situation.Our products are designed to be extremely drought-resistant, cold-tolerant and, overall, very hardy. Butextreme weather conditions can sometimes spell the

For me, the most important

part of my job at both shows and

seminars is to talk with our

customers and help answer their

questions. And let me tell you

something, I have heard a few

questions in my tenure.

They can range from the

complex to the bizarre.


end of a good food plot. There is, of course, that onepercent that I simply cannot explain. But then again,having farmed for many years, I realize you are dealingwith a complex interaction between seed, soil andweather. Sometimes you just can’t explain MotherNature. This is definitely not the case in the story I amabout to share with you.

In this particular instance, I was at a trade show,and it was the busiest time of the day. The line at ourbooth was about three or four people deep, stretchingacross the entire front of our space. There were four ofus working the booth, and each of us was busy help-ing customers.

All of the sudden, I sensed a disturbance in theatmosphere. I can’t explain it, but if you do enoughshows, you will find that you can pick up on suchthings. I looked up from what I was doing and saw aman walking directly toward our booth from about 50yards out. He was walking with a focus and a purpose,coming straight at us. I seemed to recall an image Ihad seen on some nature show watching a lion thathad picked out its prey and was single mindedly clos-ing in for the kill.

The man seemed to have an entourage with himforming a “V” shape with him at the center, and he wasslicing through the other show-goers as he steadilycame toward us. My compatriots must have alsonoticed him, because when he arrived at the booth, Ilooked around for the rest of the crew, but they hadmysteriously vaporized. By now, the rest of the cus-tomers at our booth had also noticed him. It mighthave had something to do with the fact that he hadstarted yelling obscenities about 20 feet before he gotto the booth, but then again, I can’t be sure. For thepurpose of this story, let’s say the guy’s name was

Frank. Following is the dialogue that ensued.Frank: “I got a #%$@!#& problem with you and

that #%$@!#& product you sell.”OK, now I knew he wasn’t just coming up to try

and talk me out of a hat.Me: “Sir, what seems to be the problem?”Frank: “I will tell you what the problem is. (He was

cooperating so far.) I planted your $#!% and nothingcame up.”

Me: In a polite tone, “Sir, did you follow all theinstructions of the back of the bag?”

Frank: “Hell yes I did. I read every #%$@!#& wordof it.”

To save you some of the rest of the vulgarity, thenext 10 minutes went by with me asking questions totry to figure out what happened. Frank was becomingmore heated by the minute and teaching me new cusswords and combinations of those words I had notknown previously. Actually, we were drawing quite anaudience, and I think Frank was feeding off it, as histone began to rise and he looked around for glass tostart breaking. Eventually I got around to asking himwhat product he planted, which is where I will pick upthe conversation.

Me: “Sir, which one of the products did you plant?”Frank: “I planted the one in the blue bag.”Me: I gave Frank a curious look, “Sir, we do not

have a seed in a blue bag.” And at the time, we did not.Frank: “Yes you do, it’s that #%$@!#& blue bag

right there.”Me: I followed his projected finger to the product

he was pointing at and then turned slowly, “Sir, that is30-06, a mineral/vitamin supplement. Is that what youplanted?”

Frank: “#%$@ yes, and not a bit of it grew.”

By this time I was starting to hear a few chucklesrising from the gathered crowd.

Me: “Sir, are you sure you read the back of the bagbecause you planted a mineral/vitamin supplement.”

I think Frank was starting to feel the pendulumchange, and the crowd, including his posse, was turn-ing on him.

Frank: A little less defiantly, “Well, will any of itever come up?”

Me: “Sir, I highly doubt it because what you haveis a half-acre mineral lick.”

At that, Frank realized his error and shrank intothe crowd and disappeared without another word.

It is certainly not my intent to poke fun at some-one’s mistake. Goodness knows I have messed upmany a project by skipping the important step ofreading the directions. The point of the story is toalways follow the directions of the back of the bag. Onthe back of each bag you will find a complete list ofinstructions from soil sampling, to planting procedure,to planting dates, to maintenance. Following thesedirections greatly increases your odds of success.

I hope you have enjoyed reading about some ofthe experiences of being a traveling show vendor, andmost importantly, I hope you learned a few thingsalong the way. In all honesty, I do enjoy the shows andseminars very much, as they let me visit one-on-onewith our customers. And, of course, there are theglamour, fame, riches and accolades that come withbeing a professional outdoor show vendor.

You know, maybe I was wrong. Maybe Willie and Iare more alike than I thought. Or maybe that delusionis coming from the half-frozen chili/cheese, jalapeno,microwave bean burrito I just ate. W

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A S K B I G J O NBy Jon Cooner, Institute Sales Consultant

Common Questions — Straightforward Answers

QYou advertise that Whitetail Institute perennialscan last three to five years or longer. What do I

have to do to make them last that long?

AThis is one of the most common questions our in-house consultants receive. Whether or not your

perennial plot will last up to three to five years as intend-ed depends on a number of things. Mother Nature mustcooperate, of course, but there are factors you controlthat can heavily influence the life span of your WhitetailInstitute perennial plot. These include choosing the cor-rect forage for your soil type and performing the main-tenance steps recommended for that forage by theWhitetail Institute.

To choose the correct forage for your conditions,be sure to consider the soil type in which you will beplanting. Remember that Imperial Whitetail Clover andChicory Plus are intended for heavy, bottomland soilsthat hold moisture well. Imperial Alfa-Rack Plus isdesigned for good soils that are well drained. All threerequire a minimum of 30 inches of rainfall per year.Imperial Whitetail Extreme is designed to thrive in avariety of well-drained soils in areas that receive a mini-mum of 15 inches of rainfall per year. All of our perenni-al blends also do best in a properly prepared seedbed.

If you can’t work the soil, then consider Imperial No-Plowor Secret Spot, which can be planted without groundtillage.

When maintaining your plot in later years, be sure tofertilize according to the maintenance instructions pub-lished by the Whitetail Institute on each bag of seed andon its Web site, www.whitetailinstitute.com. Theseinstructions include fertilizing your plot each year.

Also, if you are concerned that you may have a grassproblem in your perennial plot in the spring and summer,be sure to spray the plot with Arrest grass herbicideproactively in the early spring, as soon after green-up aspossible when grass has started to grow but is still inseeding stage, meaning before it matures to a heightgreater than 6-12 inches.

If your Imperial Whitetail Clover plot shows signs ofinvasion by broadleaf weeds, consider spraying the plotin early spring with a solution of Slay weed herbicide andSurefire surfactant. To control broadleaf weeds in Alfa-Rack Plus, Chicory Plus or Extreme, be sure to keep thetops mowed out of your plots during spring and earlysummer and then once again in the early fall to keep anyupright annual weeds from having the opportunity tocreate seed heads. The Whitetail Institute recommendsmowing as a normal maintenance practice for all its

perennial blends. Don’t mow, however, when conditionsare unusually hot or dry or within one week before orafter you have sprayed the plot with a herbicide.

While disease, insects and drought can also affectthe lifespan of a plot, grass and weed competition is themost common source of problems, and thankfully, theseare factors that you can control to a great degree. Besure to closely follow all label directions when usingArrest, Slay or any other herbicide or adjuvant.

QI live in Florida, and my hunting property is inIllinois. I did not have a chance to spray for grass in

early spring, and now my clover plots have maturegrass in them. Can I do anything to control the grass atthis stage?

AYes, but there are a few things you should considerbefore you decide to try. Weed and grass removal is

best accomplished when grass and weeds are veryyoung and still in seedling stage, meaning before theyhave matured to a height greater than 6-12 inches. Theywill be much more difficult to control, but not necessar-ily impossible, once they mature.

First, it makes sense to do a cost/benefit analysis tosee whether you will come out better financially byreplanting. If your plot is already several years old andtoward the end of its natural life span, choked withmature grass and weeds, or both, starting over bypreparing your seed bed for a new planting may be amore cost-effective option.

If you are dealing with mature grass or weeds, theherbicide label will give you additional mixing instruc-tions for such situations. In some cases, these includethe addition of adjuvants and stronger mixing rates.Don’t ever mix an herbicide solution stronger than rec-ommended by the label, though – if you do, you couldkill your plot. Always strictly follow all label instruc-tions on Arrest, Slay, Surefire and any other herbicideor adjuvant.

It may also be advantageous for you to mowmature grass and weeds before spraying the plot. If youdo so, be sure to wait at least a week after mowingbefore applying a herbicide and a week after applying aherbicide before you mow.

If you are facing weeds that are not of a type theArrest and Slay labels say they are designed to control,or if mature grasses and weeds are much taller thanyour forage plants, you also have the option to apply anon-selective glyphosate herbicide, such as RoundUp,to the plot by means of a wick bar. A wick bar is an her-bicide-application device that, like a conventionalsprayer, consists of a tank to hold herbicide and anapplicator bar. However, instead of spray nozzles, thebar wipes herbicide onto the plants it touches. If adjust-ed correctly and with the correct herbicide mixture sothat herbicide is applied only to what the applicatortouches, a wick bar can be used to apply a comprehen-sive herbicide directly to weeds without killing the for-age plants beneath.

These suggestions are not a guarantee that you willbe successful in controlling mature grass or weeds, butthey offer the best options if you elect to try it. W

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And when the deer get what they need to maintain healthy herds and grow big healthy bucks with impressive racks, you increase your odds of bagging record-setting deer. For decades now, deer hunters all over North America have enjoyed the results of our innovative and aggressive approach to deer nutrition, and have planted over a million acres of Imperial Whitetail products. All those years of research continues to produce results – in the fields and in the record books.We do the research. You see the results.

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H O W I D O I TBy Doug Below

Critical Ideas For Food Plots

Creating food sources for whitetail deer hasbecome an extremely popular activity for proper-ty owners and land managers. Great whitetail

habitat – offering good nutrition – is the scenario we allstrive to create. One of the biggest concerns I hear fromlandowners is that their piece of property has less-than-perfect farming conditions.

One landowner recently told me, “I don’t have oneclearing on my 160 acres; it’s all hardwoods and cedarswamps. There is no way I can start a food plot withoutdestroying my woods, and I can’t afford to pay forsomeone to come in and bulldoze an opening.”

Knowing this man’s property quite well, I promptlydisagreed that his land was a lost cause. I proceeded totell him that his property could certainly be enhanceddespite less-than-perfect conditions. Such was the casewhen I recently redesigned our property. My desire wasto create as much whitetail-friendly habitat as possible,on my not-so-friendly land. The property consistedmainly of mature hardwoods dominated by maple, withoak trees scattered throughout. There were no naturalopenings, in which a potential food plot could be made.Huge boulders, many of which couldn’t be budged by asmall tractor or ATV, littered the area. Additional rocks,ranging in size from a huge beach ball to softball, weremore than plenty.

My first step was to contact my good friend TedAvelallemant, who works in Forest Management withthe Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. In myopinion, Ted is the master of knowledge when it comesto habitat management. As a bonus, he is a pretty darngood whitetail hunter, thus he thoroughly understoodmy goals. Ted agreed to take a walk through my land to

assess what changes needed to take place. Eventhough I pretty much had a game plan, it helped tohave an expert in the field confirm my ideas were ontrack. Ted and I marked the areas to be clear-cut andselect-cut and marked the oak trees, all of which wereto be protected.

While walking the property, Ted told me about apresentation he recently gave to a large group of QDMmembers. I recall him saying, “I asked the audience toraise their hand if they use food plots to attract deer ontheir property. Nearly all of them proudly held their handup high. I then asked how many practice timber manage-ment targeted to improve whitetail habitat. Not onehand was raised. This is a common problem amongstlandowners trying to mange a deer herd … A successfulfood plot should be placed near good habitat, water andcover in order to keep those deer on your property. Notonly will intensive timber management help the deerpopulation, it will also put a chunk of change in yourpocket from the timber sales.”

THE EASY WAY

After meeting with Ted, I wasted no time and con-tracted with a logger to have my property select-cut. Inaddition, we marked off two areas that would be clear-cut. One clear-cut would turn into a two-acre food plotand the other would be left alone. The latter clear-cutwould serve as a fresh, natural food source for a fewyears, later maturing into a much-needed sanctuary orbedding area.

After the logging activities were complete, I usedsome of the money made from the timber sales to hire a

construction company. They brought in a huge backhoeand bulldozer to remove 228 large maple stumps andhundreds of big boulders. The end result was a beauti-ful two-acre clearing, which I later groomed into a foodplot.

DO-IT-YOURSELF FOOD PLOTS

Many times, potential food plot locations are over-looked since it can be extremely difficult to reach someareas with big tractors, plows and all the other funattachments most traditional farmers use to producetheir crops. Depending on the lay of the land, it isextremely common for landowners to construct andcare for their own food plots using hand tools and smallequipment. Much work can be done with a chainsaw,ATV or small tractor, plow attachments and a trailer. Infact, the food plot market has literally exploded when itcomes to producing and selling small-scale farm imple-ments designed specifically for food plot preparation.

Believe me, this do-it-yourself stuff can be a ton ofwork, especially when trying to pick rock and movesmall boulders. However, the end result can be extreme-ly gratifying and productive. Keep in mind that it is sel-dom possible to eliminate all obstacles, so be content bysimply working/planting around the immovable rocksand stumps. Folks, some of these areas deep in the tim-ber were just not meant to be farming areas, but with alot of hard work and creativity, successful food plots canbe made.

FOOD PLOT SIZE AND LOCATION

Whether you’re a do-it-yourself-type person or onewho prefers to hire out help, there are a number of crit-ical tips to keep in mind when developing food plots.The remainder of this article will highlight what I learnedover the last several years about food plot location, suc-cess and failures. Keep in mind that a number of myfood plots are located in the big woods of northernWisconsin and hostile habitat is the norm.

The size of a food plot can be determined by thelay of the land. Granted we all would love to have 5- to10-acre food plots in the middle of the woods with easyaccess, but it just doesn’t always work that way. Whendealing with tough terrain, you take what you can get,looking for flat areas that have the potential to receiveadequate sunlight. It would be nice to have direct sun-light all day long, but that usually doesn’t happen onsmall food plots. In big woods situations, I am more thansatisfied after developing a one-acre food plot.

In general, a food plot placed just about any-where has the potential to attract whitetails. However,one placed in a strategic location may increase yourodds of attracting more deer and perhaps creating ascenario more favorable to the hunter. Based on my31 years of hunting experience, I learned that un-pres-sured mature whitetails often take the easiest routeto access food sources from their bedding location.You should strongly consider creating a sanctu-ary on your property. These sacred areas or safe

The addition of lime is possible in hard-to-reach locations with spreaders tat can be towed with a four-wheeler.

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Is late summer or early fall the wrong time to start think-ing about planting food plots? Is it too late? The answeris an emphatic, “No!” In fact, planting in the fall has some

advantages over planting in the spring that you might nothave considered.

For example, fall plantings yield succulent new growththat is highly attractive to deer right when the hunter needsit the most – during hunting season. Also, planting in the fallallows Whitetail Institute perennial forages to reach maturi-ty and maximum protein content right when your deerneed it most – during the 200 days of spring and summerwhen bucks are building the collagen matrix of their velvetantlers (which consists of up to 80 percent protein) andwhen does are in the later stages of pregnancy and provid-ing milk for newborn fawns.

To maximize growth of a perennial forage planted inthe fall and its protein content the following spring, be sureto choose a forage blend adapted for fall planting, such asImperial Whitetail Clover, Chicory Plus, Alfa-Rack Plus orExtreme. Hard frost can “brown” some species, especiallymost alfalfas, and that often happens just before or duringhunting season. The X-9 Technology grazing alfalfas in Alfa-Rack Plus, however, outperform standard alfalfas by a wide margin when used in food plots. One reason these alfalfa

varieties are superior istheir cold-tolerant charac-teristics. The WhitetailInstitute even offersregional blends of itsperennial forages to makethem perform best in dif-ferent areas of NorthAmerica.

Also, be sure that theforage blend you choose isdesigned for your soil andenvironmental conditions.Imperial Whitetail Cloverand Chicory Plus, for exam-ple, are designed for aheavy bottomland type soilwith good moisture-hold-ing properties and a soil pHof 6.5 or higher. Alfa-RackPlus is designed for good,well-drained soils with a pHof 6.5 or higher. Extremewill tolerate a broad rangeof soil types and soil pH aslow as 5.4, much lowerthan Imperial WhitetailClover or Alfa-Rack Pluswill normally withstand.

Rainfall is another fac-tor that should influencewhat forage blend youchoose for fall planting.Imperial Whitetail Clover,Chicory Plus and Alfa-RackPlus require at least 30inches of rainfall annually.Extreme will tolerate much

less – as little as 15 inches per year. Many areas of the coun-try experience comparatively low rainfall during the earlyfall, and you should not plant if your conditions are very dry.However, the Whitetail Institute even coats its seeds withthe finest coatings available to protect the seeds as muchas possible from false germination – germinating wheninsufficient moisture is present in the ground to sustain theseedlings.

Once you have chosen the appropriate WhitetailInstitute forage blend, you should closely follow theWhitetail Institute’s published guidelines when preparingyour seedbed and planting if you want to maximize your fallplanting results. Two crucial steps in this process areremoving existing vegetation and adjusting soil pH.

The two most common methods for removing existingvegetation from new plot sites are repetitive disking, andapplying comprehensive glyphosphate herbicides such asRoundUp. Most new plots can also have literally millions ofdormant weed and grass seeds in the ground, and it is quitecommon for these quiet invaders to show up shortly afterfallow ground is tilled, bringing them to the surface wherethey receive adequate light, moisture and air to germinate.The fall planter can have an advantage over the springplanter in such cases. In the fall, these dormant seeds maynot germinate right away when brought to the surface; or ifthey do germinate, they may not grow much until they gocompletely dormant again later in the fall. That can give thenewly planted perennials a better chance to get a jump onnative grass and weeds. In the following spring, however, besure to monitor the plot closely after spring green-up to geta quick jump on controlling any grasses and weeds thatmay re-appear.

Most food plot managers will also find a recommenda-tion in their soil-test results that lime be incorporated intothe soil to raise soil pH from the common acidic state to aneutral pH. The more thoroughly lime is mixed into the soil,the faster it will work. In the Midwest and North, groundmay be too frozen in winter to allow thorough incorpora-tion of lime – a concern not present the rest of the year.

Planting in the fall also gives plants additional time fortheir root systems to mature before they have to gothrough the heat of summer. Whitetail Institute forageswere designed and bred to be extremely drought-tolerant.For instance the new X-9 Technology grazing alfalfas inImperial Alfa-Rack Plus and the evergreen herbaceous forbthat is the main perennial in Extreme may develop root sys-tems as deep as one to two feet. As is the case with anyplant, though, they must grow from a seedling and developtheir root systems before they are at their most drought-tolerant state, and planting in the fall gives those plants alittle extra time to get their root systems ready for sum-mer’s dryer weather.

Whitetail Institute perennials are not the only WhitetailInstitute blends that are appropriate for fall planting.Imperial No-Plow annual also shines when planted in thefall. The result will be a highly attractive and nutritious foodplot that will last well until the following spring or earlysummer. Also, Secret Spot is specifically formulated forplanting in the fall and will produce well into the followingspring. Winter-Greens is designed specifically to be plantedin the late summer or early fall and will provide you andyour deer with an outstanding late season food plot.

Of course, my purpose is not to say that one shouldonly plant in the fall; Imperial Whitetail Clover, Chicory Plus,Alfa-Rack Plus, Extreme and No-Plow are suitable for plant-ing in either the spring or the fall in most areas of the coun-try. If you do miss your spring planting dates, though, justremember that fall planting can be a great option.

If you have any questions about spring or fall planting,how to choose the appropriate Whitetail Institute forageblend for your specific situation, or anything else related todeer nutrition or our company, please give our in-houseconsultants a call. Our consultants are available any timefrom 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Central time, Monday through Friday,at our toll-free number, (800) 688-3030, ext 2. W


SOILTESTKITSWhitetail InstituteSoil testing is one of the most importantthings you can do to ensure the success ofyour plantings — of any kind. The Institute ispleased to now provide soil test kits and results forall Imperial products or any other type seeds. (Completeinstructions and all related information will come with kits.)Test results include pH, phosphorus (P) and potassium (K).Fertilizer and lime recommendations for maximum performance fromyour plantings will be provided. The average turnaround time is 24-48 hours after ourlab receives the sample.

The charge for the kit and results is $9.95. If ordered alone, add $2.00 shippingand handling for unlimited number of kits. If ordered with other Imperial products thereis no shipping charge.

Please send ______ soil test kits at $9.95 each. Add $2.00 shipping and handlingfor each order regardless of number of kits desired. (There is NO shipping chargeif kit is ordered with other Imperial products.) Cost of kit includes test results.SHIP TO:Name _________________________________________________________________

Address _______________________________________________________________

City _____________________________________ State ________Zip _____________

Phone _____________________Email _______________________________________

Payment: : o Check or Money Order enclosedCharge to: o MasterCard o Visa o Discover

Credit Card # ______________________________________ Exp. Date ____________

Signature ______________________________________________________________

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

Now availablethrough the

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Advantagesof Fall Planting

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KENTUCKY

Meeting at the Secret Spot

the property,” Jones said. “The neighbors said they sawtwo big, old bucks moving onto my hunting groundsearlier that year, and I had seen signs of big bucks allover, but I had not seen either of these two deer beforethat moment.”

Jones’ eyes grew big as the 10-pointer filled hisscope. Now his brain was on autopilot. He aimed, took adeep breath and squeezed the trigger slowly and confi-dently.

His quiet confidence became exhilaration as heclimbed out of his stand to look at his trophy.

“The walk seemed to be miles but was only 60yards to see the biggest buck I’ve ever taken,” herecounted.

The bruiser scored an incredible 165 5/8 Boone andCrockett points.

“It was the first time I had been in this plot sinceAugust. There was heavy grazing and big tracks every-where.”

Jones headed up to the barn to wait for his buddy,Chuck, to help him retrieve the giant deer.

“I told him about the 8-pointer and 6-pointer andadvised him to bring his rifle just in case,” Jones said. Hesaid, “Do you think they would come near that downeddeer?” I said, “you never know about these critters.” Sowe headed down to my buck, and when we got within70 yards, of my deer, I tapped him on the shoulder andsaid, “Look there’s that 8-pointer in my plot.” It was only15 yards from my downed deer. Chuck aimed his rifleand fired.

The 8-point trophy ran 30 feet and piled up. Thehunting duo had two bucks down within 30 yards ofeach other.

“Since this success we have planted another SecretSpot plot on the farm, along with one Imperial Cloverfield and put out 30-06 Plus Protein mineral licks,” Jonessaid. “We have been seeing 50 percent more deer andbigger bucks as well. The neighbors are in awe of howmany more big deer they’re seeing. And they’re healthi-er deer. I now have them planting food plots on theirfarm, so together we have 400 acres of prime whitetailhunting. I highly recommend Secret Spot to anyone whowants to have a nice little plot away from everyone else.It really brings the deer in.”

Jones success hasn’t ended with those two deershot in 2004. Last year he shot a 12-pointer with his bowout of his “Secret Spot.” He also let his cousin hunt itduring muzzloader season, and he harvested a 140-class10-point buck. And Chuck shot another huge buck – a155-11/16 inch, 9-pointer. “It just keeps getting better,”says Jones. W

Bryan Jones sat patiently waiting for first light. Heenjoyed the anticipation of another morning in thedeer woods. The Kentucky hunter watched as the

sun started to rise, breaking through the limbs of thetrees and scattering beams of orange on the forest floor.

Jones went through his checklist. The wind was stillfrom the northeast, so he should be fine as the deerheaded from their feeding areas to grab a quick bitebefore they bedded for the day.

Just as he could start making out forms, two smallyearling does came in from the east side of his standlocation. He hadn’t been in the stand very long, and itwas already “go” time.

“I heard the breaking of twigs behind me, and myheart started to race,” Jones said. “Earlier in the year, Ihad seen a really nice 130-class 8-pointer working the

edge of my Secret Spot food plot. This was the first timeI had hunted this ‘Secret Spot’ since I planted it.”

Jones had waited for this day for many months. Hisfarm covers 130 acres. “It isn’t a lot of land, but with thehelp of the Whitetail Institute I’ve been seeing and har-vesting more and bigger bucks.”

Jones uses Secret Spot, three mineral licks of 30-06 Plus Protein, and No-Plow as well as some nativefood species. There is one pond and three apple trees,and his timber is about 70 percent cedar thickets, 15percent oaks and maples, with the rest a mixture of dif-ferent species.

“We don’t hunt on any food plots or licks,” he said.“We try to stay about 50 yards back if we’re bowhunt-ing and 100 yards off the plots if we’re hunting with agun.”

Jones wanted his Secret Spot area to stayuntouched until opening day of gun season, but thatday the wind was not in his favor. He decided to waituntil the wind was perfect, which happened to be thefollowing weekend.

“My Secret Spot had no pressure the whole season,so I felt confident in the area,” Jones explained. “I wasexcited that morning when I grabbed my gun and back-pack of goodies and headed to my stand, which wasperched in a cedar tree about 20 feet up.”

He had a great view of his Secret Spot food plot,which was 60 yards to the east. Bordering his 1/4-acreplot were two thick cedar patches. With some goodtrails leading in to both thickets.

Jones watched as does cleared through the area,for about five minutes although it seemed like hours.Finally he caught a glimpse of white and then a little bitof antler.

“I moved in position for the shot, expecting the 8-point to emerge when a nice 6-point stepped out. I was-n’t really disappointed because it was good to knowthat there were bucks in the area,” he explained. “Justthen I heard a grunt from the west, so I turned to checkout the sound. To my amazement, there stood the 8-pointer I had seen earlier in the year. He was only 20yards out, but I didn’t even hear him come in.”

As he placed the cross-hairs on the buck’s chest, hehappened to look above his scope. Whatever made theKentucky hunter take a second look—fate or instinct—hewas thrilled he took a second glance.

“I saw one of the biggest bucks I have ever seen on

P R O D U C T P O I N T E R SSECRET SPOT

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• Up to 36% protein• Plant 1/4 inch or less depth• Plant 4 pounds per 4500 square feet• Blend of highly attractive forages• Designed for use in small areas, such

as clearings in the woods• No tillage equipment needed

Peter Gilman – GeorgiaSecret Spot is a great product. All I did was follow theinstructions on the bag. And in no time the Secret Spotstarted to grow. It was not long, and the deer started tofeed on it. I see deer eating it every time that I huntaround the food plot.

Christoph Blackledge – KansasI would recommend Secret Spot due to its ease of useand the attractant qualities it possesses. The deer real-ly come to this plot better than the other plots I plant-ed with competitors’ blends. I was able to harvest areally nice 11-point buck over this plot.

Rodney Ravey – LouisianaSecret Spot is super stuff. I’ll be getting more.

Ken Sangster Jr – MichiganSecret Spot was easy to plant. Deer and turkeys lovethis stuff! I shot a beautiful 8-point over the food plot.Great product!

Dennis McFarland – OhioSecret Spot is the greatest product that I have used. Iam very happy with it and would recommend it to anyhunter.

David Jones – TexasSecret Spot is the best game attractant I have everused. It drew deer in like I could never have imagined.

With the help of Secret Spot, Bryan Jones shot thisvery impressive buck.


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An exciting concept considered by many hunters asthe most innovative and promising program for pass-ing the spirit of the hunt onto impressionable young-

sters is beginning to take root across the nation. It’s calledFamilies Afield, the brainchild of three of the nation’s mostinfluential sportsmen’s organizations – the National WildTurkey Federation (NWTF), the National Shooting SportsFoundation (NSSF) and the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance(USSA).

How does Families Afield differ from youth recruit-ment attempts of the past? It’s surely not the first kid-ori-ented outreach hunting program to be tried nor is it a once-and-done effort on the part of hunters in extending theirhands and hearts to kids. Over the decades, many young-sters have been exposed to hunting via sporting club orstate agency-sponsored youth hunts. Though well-mean-ing, there’s often little helpful follow-up and the spark ofinterest that may have been ignited soon dims. On a posi-tive note, however, it must be said that some specially-structured “youth-day” hunts for deer, turkey, pheasant,squirrel, waterfowl or other game have become successfulannual events in many states. The problem was that manyyoungsters under age 12 and not holding hunter educationcertificates remained ineligible to hunt.

Families Afield’s challenge is to tackle the inequity bytaking the positions that: (1) Most hunters were or are intro-duced to hunting by a parent; (2) parents, not lawmakers,should determine whether and when to take their childrenafield to hunt; (3) the window of opportunity for recruitingnew hunters falls within the 6-15 age group, and (4) in manystates, traditional laws and regulations serve as overlyrestrictive barriers to youth participation and are in need ofimmediate change.

PARENT POWER

Families Afield is a national effort driven by local andregional volunteers who bring new ideas to the table. Theinitial plan is to reduce or alter certain barriers that hinderthe recruitment of youth. As indicated, it seeks to ensurethat parents, not state-affiliated agencies, must be the deci-sion-makers in determining when their sons or daughtersare old enough and sufficiently responsible to participate inmentored hunts. In 33 states it is illegal for youngstersunder 12 to carry a firearm and go deer or turkey huntingwith a parent or other adult mentor. In most of those states,youth 12 and older must have completed a hunter-trainingcourse before a license can be purchased. No provisions are

Families Afield:Breakingthe Barriersfor KidsandMentorsBy Tom Fegely

In many states, kids under age 12 may goafield under supervision but may not

otherwise participate in the hunt.

Tom

Feg

ely

Tom

Feg

elySearching for turkey sign is part of the early edu-

cation process.


Families Afield:Breakingthe Barriersfor KidsandMentorsBy Tom Fegely

made for potential hunters 6-11 years old.Where applicable, the Families Afield agenda will pro-

mote lowering the age at which mentored youth may goafield. A prime example is Pennsylvania where, in January,kids under 12 were given a green light to accompany anapproved mentor beginning with the 2006-2007 seasons.The mentor must carry the firearm while hunting or movingfrom one site to another but he/she will not hunt while witha student. The regulation will limit mentor responsibility forone child at a time who must stay “within arm’s reach at alltimes.” In Ohio, a measure was approved in mid-Februarycreating an apprentice hunting license for mentors and asimilar measure was approved in Wisconsin (where thechild must be at least eight years old). In Utah, age require-ments have been lowered for hunting upland game andwild turkeys.

Look for similar action in other states as concernedhunters and game agencies seek to remove long-standinglegal – yet largely unrecognized – barriers to youth huntingparticipation. Understand that mandatory hunter trainingcourses will continue for students ages 12 or older. No “onesize fits all” program can be instituted as individual statesdiffer dramatically in their laws, rules and regulations.

“The progress of Families Afield in Ohio, Pennsylvaniaand Wisconsin is confirmation that these are bills the peo-ple want,” said Rob Sexton, vice president of governmentaffairs for the USSA. “The bipartisan support that FamiliesAfield has received indicates legislators are listening tosportsmen and understand the positive impact these billscan have for all citizens of these states.”

A TIME FOR CHANGE

One key to the growing success of Families Afield istiming—targeting impressionable kids before computer andvideo games, roller boarding, soccer, Little League andother interests fully dominate their lives. This doesn’t meaneliminating those popular pursuits. Rather, it calls for mean-ingful adult mentoring before, during and after the huntsthat will hopefully kick off a lifetime of adventures afield.Targeting youngsters at an early age and keeping them intouch with hunting is crucial to the success of the program.

“Youths who start hunting early in life are more likelyto hunt as adults,” said Rob Keck, CEO of the SouthCarolina-based NWTF. “They’re tomorrow’s conservation-ists, and if we don’t instill in them the love of the outdoorsat an early age, the hunting and conservation traditioncould be lost.”

MORE ON AGE BARRIERS

The three national organizations listed previously havesupported research showing that some state laws and reg-ulations have become barriers to parents who wish to intro-duce their kids to hunting under their own supervision andbefore a hunter education course has been completed. Onesuch barrier may at first seem a contradiction to safe hunt-ing. It’s the requirement in many states for completing ahunter education course before a first license can be pur-

chased, usually at age 12. That measure could be altered topermit youth under 12 accompanied by a mentor to huntprior to completing a state’s hunter education course.

While this may shatter our traditional thought onmandatory hunter education, research indicates that this“out of the box” thinking has merit. Consider also that sta-tistics show that supervised youth have an excellent hunt-ing safety record.

“The reason behind setting a minimum age to hunt inthe past was safety,” said Eric Nuse, executive director ofthe International Hunter Education Association. “The dataare clear – accompanied young hunters are safe and thefacts do not support having laws restricting the initiationage of hunters for safety reasons.”

That opens the door for parents and other youth men-tors to judge when a kid is ready to hunt. It also suggestspostponing the hunter education requirement and licensinguntil the youth have tried hunting under very controlledconditions, according to Nuse.

Twenty states have been classified as “very restrictive”when it comes to hunting for deer or other game at ayounger age and prior to completing a hunter educationcourse. The states exhibiting the greatest restrictionsinclude, in order of rank: Rhode Island, California, SouthDakota, Colorado, Wyoming, Pennsylvania, Nebraska, Utah,Maine, Montana, New York, New Jersey, North Dakota,Wisconsin, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Idaho, Oregon,Nevada and Michigan.

The 17 “least restrictive” states are Missouri, Oklahoma,New Hampshire, Mississippi, Alabama, West Virginia,Florida, Iowa, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, Vermont,Texas, Alaska, Arkansas, Washington and Louisiana. Theremaining 13 states are considered “somewhat restrictive.”

HUNTING’S RECRUITMENT DILEMMA

In a study performed and compiled by SilvertipProductions and the USSA, the need for an aggressiverecruitment campaign was deemed “urgent.” That is,hunters in the 35 to 54 age group represent a dispropor-tionate share of the U.S. hunting population – nearly 46 per-cent. This is the largest segment of the hunting populationand the group most likely to have children of their own oldenough to introduce to mentored hunting.

Hunter recruitment is a nationwide dilemma affectingall age groups, not just youth. A recent study commissionedby the NSSF showed that only 69 new hunters are beingrecruited nationwide for every 100 hunters who drop out.Obviously, if the loss of hunters continues at that rate thesport will surely suffer. Drawing first-time hunters via men-toring and opening the gates to kids under age 12 is need-ed to reverse the trend. W

Tom

Feg

ely

A youngster’s first buck is cause for broad smiles, especially when made in the company of a parent.

n Pennsylvania’s Families Afield Proposals >>>>>>>>>>>

When Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell inked House Bill 1690 last Dec. 22 it marked the first time legislation based on Families Afieldstandards became law anywhere in the nation. The bill drew strong political support, garnering a 195-1 vote in the House ofRepresentatives and receiving overwhelming support in the Senate.

A variety of changes will be instituted based on recommendations from the Keystone State’s Youth Mentored Hunting Committee, whichconsists of a dozen men and women representing conservation, sporting and youth groups.

“Don’t get me wrong,” said committee Chairman Ron Fretts, “I firmly believe that kids under 12 should not hunt on their own. Mentoringis the answer to questions about hunter retention, ethics and increased awareness and can make children and adults very happy in the process.”

At press time specifics of the new bills were still in the process of review. Following are several major items which will guide the committeeand the Pennsylvania Game Commission in their efforts. Expect other states to closely align with Pennsylvania as each develops its own uniqueapproach.• Parents will have the right to decide when their child should hunt. The commission is expected to establish a specific age limit which will

probably be well below the current 12 year old limit.• Adult mentors must be at least age 21 and will be required to purchase a special apprentice license to participate.• Each pair of hunters – adult and child – will be permitted one firearm. The adult will carry the gun while moving but the child will use it

when in a stationary hunting position.• It is expected that mentored hunts may be limited to five species for safety reasons. They include deer, turkeys, geese, ducks and squirrels.• Other states will surely look to Pennsylvania as each undertakes an exciting new program to draw families afield.

n More Information >>>

To learn more about Families Afield, contact the personslisted here.

U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance — Doug Jeanneret 614-888-4868 [email protected].

National Shooting Sports Foundation — Steve Wagner 203-426-1320.


CHICORY PLUS– for the “Deer Days” of Summer

By Jon Cooner


“The Deer Days of Summer?” You might ask, “Don’tyou mean the Dog Days?” We’ve all heard of theDog Days of Summer, but most folks don’t know

where the term came from. According to what I’ve read,the term “Dog Days” describes an ancient belief that theposition of Sirius, the “dog star”, close to the sun added tothe sun’s heat. With the fairly recent onset of late-summerand early-fall droughts in most parts of the country inrecent years, though, perhaps it’s time to modernize theterm.

Often, new research projects at The Whitetail Instituteare prompted by a new or recurring customer need. Oneproblem faced by Field Testers across the country over thepast few years has been a pattern of unusually hot,droughty weather during late summer and early fall. Duringsuch excessively stressful periods, even the best foragescan exhibit slowed growth, nutrition and attraction.Unfortunately, these same months are also one of the keystress periods during which deer need access to high-qual-ity forages the most.

To meet this need, the Whitetail Institute now offers aneven more drought-resistant option for customers whohave come to rely on Imperial Whitetail Clover as a superi-or, year-around food source for deer. Imperial WhitetailClover is extremely drought-tolerant, and Chicory Plus iseven more so.

It is often said in these pages and elsewhere that when

it comes to perennial forages, only those offered by TheWhitetail Institute were actually created for deer. To beclear, “created” does not mean just buying seeds some-where and blending them into a product. It means doingresearch, development and testing with a goal in mind. Itmeans identifying traits that you want a plant to exhibit,searching for existing varieties likely to possess some ofthose traits, and then painstakingly cross-breading thosevarieties to create a single, new variety that contains all thebest traits. That was the process performed by renownedplant geneticist Dr. Wiley Johnson when he bred TheWhitetail Institute’s first proprietary clover, AdvantageLadino Clover, over seven breeding cycles years ago. Thissame effort is continually put into all Whitetail Instituteproducts and led to the creation of Insight Ladino Cloverlast year. The Institute’s continued focus on developingnew plant varieties and blends specifically for whitetails it isone of the reasons The Whitetail Institute continues to bethe industry leader.

Chicory Plus contains the same proprietary perennialclovers as those found in Imperial Whitetail Clover, plusWINA-Brand 100 Chicory, the only chicory designed specif-ically for deer. WINA-Brand 100 Chicory is less waxy, moretender and vastly more attractive than chicory varieties tra-ditionally planted for deer. The combination of WINA-100Brand Chicory with the same perennial clovers found inImperial Whitetail Clover provides the year-around nutrition

and attraction our customers have come to expect ofImperial Whitetail Clover with an even higher level ofdrought tolerance.

Like many Whitetail Institute customers, Myron Warrenof Mississippi has relied upon Imperial Whitetail Clover formany years. “I have had great success with ImperialWhitetail Clover and decided to plant Chicory Plus lastspring. It has been very dry this spring, though, and mostof my plots are slowing down. The Chicory Plus is growingwell, though, even without a lot of rain, and the deer are init every evening.”

Jim Lenker of New York planted Chicory Plus in thespring to give his deer some additional variety. “TheChicory Plus we planted in the early spring established veryquickly, and the deer are eating the chicory as fast as theydo the clover. The difference between the height of theChicory Plus inside and outside our forage-exclusion cagesis amazing.”

So, if you are among the many of us who have experi-enced unusually hot, dry weather during the late summerand early spring, consider planting Chicory Plus. It com-bines the proven year-around nutrition and attraction ofImperial Whitetail Clover with a specially designed chicoryto provide your deer with a highly attractive and nutritiousfood source, even during the Deer Days of Summer.

More information on Chicory Plus is available on-line athttp://www.whitetailinstitute.com/products/. W

Another Sign of SuperiorResearch and Development.Chicory Plus is the latest in the WhitetailInstitute’s continuing effort to developproducts that are both nutritionally superiorand exceptionally attractive to deer.Chicory Plus contains the only chicorydeveloped especially for whitetail deer and itis blended with the number one clover inthe world, Imperial Whitetail Clover.Chicory Plus is designed to provide thehigh protein of chicory with a more palat-able and attractive texture than otherchicory varieties. Chicory Plus is an excel-lent perennial for areas with heavier ormoderately drained soils. It will provide youwith 3 to 5 years of high-protein forage froma single planting. You can be sure that it isthe perfect blend for whitetail – the deerthink so, too.

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According to Boone and Crockett Club records,hunters today are around five times more likely toharvest a record-book deer today than they were

before The Whitetail Institute started the food-plot anddeer-management revolutions in 1988. One reason hasbeen the identification and, in the case of The WhitetailInstitute, the actual engineering and development offorages specifically for deer.

Over the years, The Whitetail Institute has contin-ued to exhaustively research, develop and test newplant varieties under real-world conditions to meet spe-cific needs identified by its Field Testers. One such needhas been for a late-season forage that would surpass theperformance of traditional brassica products – one thatwould not only survive cold temperatures and well-drained soils, but also be highly attractive, and for alonger period during the fall and winter. After years ofdevelopment and real-world testing, The WhitetailInstitute now offers a new and completely unique bras-sica blend, Imperial Winter-Greens, as the answer.

When it comes to brassicas, no one has more expe-rience than The Whitetail Institute, who first startedmarketing brassicas in a food-plot blend for whitetails in

1993. As it does with all its products, The WhitetailInstitute tested Winter-Greens extensively before releas-ing it to the public. Tests were performed by independ-ent researchers, at our certified research stations and atour company research areas on free-ranging whitetails,and the results were impressive to say the least - theyshowed that deer prefer Winter-Greens an incredibleFOUR TO ONE over other brassica blends.

Ken Eastman of Wildlife Habitat Consultants in EastHardwick, Vermont, tested Winter-Greens during itsdevelopment and was highly impressed. “We plantedWinter-Greens last year on June 20th. The deer firststarted eating the Winter-Greens on August 5th, andthey continued to use it heavily without stopping all win-ter long.”

Ken’s findings are mirrored by a well-known NewYork researcher, Neil Doughtery of NorthCountryWhitetails. “We tested the brassicas in Winter-Greensand found that they were much more attractive than anybrassica varieties or brassica blends we had ever tested.”

Gordon Barksdale of Decatur, Alabama testedWinter-Greens in multiple plots on his property inTennessee. “The results were spectacular, and I mean

spectacular. Deer started coming to the Winter-Greensin the fall, and it regenerated, and the deer just keptcoming back, and they stayed on it hard all the way untilspring.”

Jody Holdbrooks, The Whitetail Institute’s residentwildlife biologist, observed similarly impressive results.“Here in Alabama the winters are comparatively mild.Even so, the free-ranging deer on our Alabama leasesabsolutely tore Winter-Greens to pieces, even beforeour first frost.”

In short, the verdict is in. Researchers in many dif-ferent geographical areas have observed time and timeagain that Winter-Greens is hands-down the mostattractive brassica blend available. If you have beenwaiting for a forage blend that would survive well-drained soils and offer unparalleled attraction even dur-ing the coldest winter months, your wait is over.Imperial Winter-Greens is what you’ve been looking for.

More information on Winter-Greens is available on-line at www.whitetailinstitute.com/products/. W

Once again Research=Results at the Whitetail Institute. We areproud to introduce, Imperial Whitetail Winter-Greens, our newannual brassica blend designed specifically for late season foodplot sources and hunting opportunities. Winter-Greens blendof brassica is extremely attractive, and during tests waspreferred 4 to 1 over other brassica products. Winter-Greensstands tall and stays green, even in the coldest winter weather. The colder it gets the more sweet and attractive it becomeswhich creates perfect food plots for late season hunting. Sothis year plant our highly drought resistant Winter-Greens andgive your deer a valuable source of nutrients for the winter season.

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Wintergreens Half 05 WN 6/22/06 2:22 PM Page 1


Winter-Greens:THE WAIT IS OVER!

By Jon Cooner

Customers do the talking about Institute products…Customers do the talking about Institute products…Steve Wilkes — Alabama

I first planted Imperial Whitetail Clover in 2001. I foundout right away that there is less work involved after the ini-tial planting. Bushhogging two or three times and a little

fertilizer goes a long way. Since planting the clover and bybeing selective about which bucks I shoot I have seen amajor improvement in the quality of the bucks I’ve killed.The only thing I have found better than the clover was acouple of hot does and I know the food source is whatbrought them there. Here is a picture to prove it. I’ve hunt-ed Saskatchewan, Missouri, Georgia, Tennessee and all overAlabama. This is my largest buck yet and I got him close tohome. He scored 153 7/8. G2 on right is almost 15 inches. G2on left is over 13 inches both with sticker points. He had 12scoreable points.

Donald Verble — IllinoisHere is a picture of some of the deer killed off a 4 acre

Alfa-Rack food plot that I planted three years ago. They justseem to be getting bigger and bigger.

Fred Dotson — MissouriIt was September 30th and we were being pressed for

planting time on a new farm we had obtained in Missouriduring the summer. We had planted Imperial Clover andNo-Plow and the deer were hammering them. With twodays remaining before we had to return to Alabama I foundsix perfect locations for food plots. With lots of big bucksign surrounding these areas I knew if we could get a plotin these areas it would pay off when the soybeans and cornwere all harvested. The only problem was we had no timefor pH and soil test to plant these plots. I looked in the trail-er and there were several bags of Extreme. I told the guysget the Extreme and follow me. I led the way to the remotefields on the four wheeler and we planted the food plotswith the Extreme and hoped for the best. As we returnedto Missouri in November to set stands for hunters we foundthe Extreme was three inches high and some kind of toreup with deer tracks. With fresh scrapes and rubs all aroundthe plots we could not wait to see what these Extreme plots

produced. Well the rest is history with two 160 class white-tails killed and several 140 class passed we can say theExtreme really paid off. See photos. Thanks WhitetailInstitute.

Jim Voges — IndianaMy 3 acre plot of Imperial Whitetail Clover has lasted

for 5 years. This buck was feeding on my plot.

Ben Jackson — KentuckyDear Whitetail Institute, I am 15 and have planted No-

Plow and Secret Spot on my farm for two years, and I haveseen a major difference in the deer herd. We have seenmany healthier looking does, and a major improvement inthe quality of bucks. We planted 4 food plots of No-Plow

and Secret Spot and the results were great. This buck wasshot on a trail leading to a Secret Spot food plot. I use theCutting Edge products too.

Chris Harris — LouisianaWith the help of Alfa-Rack and deer management I

took this 200 lb. 8-point. I have learned that with propernutrition and common sense you can harvest big bucks.

Dave McGlone — MichiganNo-Plow has been my primary choice for spring & fall

plantings for quite a long time. The deer and turkeys love it.I also use the 30-06 Plus Protein heavily. Our bucks aregrowing nicer racks and appear healthier. We will continueto use the Whitetail Institute products! Enclosed are pic-


ut Institute products…t Institute products…tures of myson Nathan’sand my 10points, and apicture ofmy Whitetailroom sinceusing theseproducts.

Denise Picotte — MinnesotaWe’ve got 7 different Imperial Clover fields on different

properties. We’ve also been using 30-06 minerals for 5years; the deer really use the sites. Here is a photo of a buckI arrowed this past year on Halloween night.

Gerald Davies — WisconsinI am

sending 2 pic-tures of buckstaken this fallwith bow andarrow on theirway to theclover. My sonJoel shot an 8

pointer and my son-in-law Nate took a 10 point-er. Ever since usingImperial Whitetail Cloverand 30-06 Minerals theracks are larger and thebodies weigh more.

Ronnie Letcher — New MexicoWe hunt between Abilene and Dallas, Texas. It’s been

very hot and droughty the last few years. The Alfa-Racksometimes looks like its dead in the summer but keepscoming back in the fall and spring. Deer love it! No-Plow

and Secret Spot do very well for us in Texas too. We have alease in Indiana and have used 30-06 Plus Protein in thespring and summer for the last 2 years. See the buck myson bagged this year! I’m sure the 30-06 helped with hisantler growth.

Lance Clemons — New YorkI plant Imperial Whitetail Clover. I also used 30-06 Plus

Protein before it became illegal in New York. 30-06 Plus

Protein is unreal.Deer activity isawesome. We havenoticed biggerbodied deer,healthier does, andbetter fawn sur-vival. Fawns have amuch better bodyweight going intowinter. I took thistrail cam picture onthe 30th of July ata 30-06 Plus Protein site. I took the same buck on October13th with a muzzleloader over one of my Imperial WhitetailClover plots.

Gary Green — North CarolinaOn my farm in North Carolina I have strategically

cleared small acres of land back off in the timber for hunt-ing purposes. I have four food plots on my 300 acre farm.Three are planted in Imperial Whitetail Clover. The forth plothas been used to test other products. Nothing I’ve used in

this plot so far has come close to performing for me as wellas Whitetail Institute products. I also have 4 acres ofWhitetail Clover and 5 acres of Alfa-Rack out in my opencrop land. The bigger plots were put in place to make suremy deer had plenty of forage on my farm year round. I keepthe large plots off limits to hunting. My small isolated foodplots of Whitetail Clover had given my family and me somegreat hunting. I have enclosed 2 photos. Photo 1 is me witha nice mature 8 pointer killed by bow over one of my foodplots. Photo 2 is a nice mature 9 pointer with a 20 inchspread killed by my father in-law Charles King.

Roger Wilson — North Carolina

Ambushed this clover fed boy between a cutover andan Imperial Whitetail Clover plot chasing a doe.

Charles Crawford — OhioI have seen more

deer and more maturebucks in the last 3years since I plantedImperial WhitetailClover and Alfa-Rack.Photo enclosed.



1

2


WISCONSIN

A Family Affair

Dani Patterson didn’t care that the first deertaken off her first food plot was a doe. Theyoung girl from Wisconsin helped her father cut

weeds, apply Round-Up and spread lime. She alsowatched as the Imperial Extreme survived after deerate it to the ground and, shortly after that, a neardrought.

“It didn’t look like it was going to survive, but thedeer just kept coming to it,” said Jeff Patterson, herfather.

This was Patterson’s first attempt at a manage-ment program. Besides Extreme, he uses 30-06 PlusProtein and Cutting Edge nutritional products onmany lick sites on his property.

“These products drew a lot of attention,” Jeff said.“It was good to see the local deer utilizing the qualitymineral products that Dani and I provided. We havejust 60 acres, and we decided to use Whitetail Instituteproducts after a lot of research and testimonials. Wesent for a sample package that included 30-06 miner-al, and the local deer herd responded very positively.My overall goal is to create an area where the deerwant to spend some time. We have water, cover andnow, quality food plots and mineral sites.”

The Extreme did survive the tough, dry summer,and it was finally time for Jeff and Dani to test thesmall hunting plot during the October archery season.

The food plot is in a very secluded spot, so Dani andJeff didn’t scout it. They decided it would be best toleave the food plot alone until archery season andallow deer to feel comfortable using it during daylighthours.

“The first afternoon I hunted the plot, it becamefairly obvious it didn’t look very good because it wasgetting hammered by the deer,” Jeff said. My intentionwas to get a doe early in the season, and on the sec-ond afternoon, I did harvest a doe. I waited for the sec-ond afternoon because I wanted to see if a good buckwas using it during the day. We took another doe offthe same plot a couple weeks later, then started hunt-ing the bucks. We saw several very nice deer and someafter the season as well. There was a slight increase inthe number of deer and an obvious increase in health-ier-looking deer. Now that we’re going into our secondyear of Extreme and 30-06, I’m excited to see the pro-gression.”

Daughter Dani calls it “her” food plot.“I'm too young to hunt in Wisconsin so the doe in

the picture is my Dad’s,” Dani said. “Still I’m really look-ing forward to keeping the food plot going this year. Isprayed the weeds, raked the ground and spread theseed and fertilizer. I hope it makes it through the win-ter, then I’ll fertilize again in the spring. I like to huntbecause it lets me see wildlife real close. I like to wait

Dani Patterson helped her dad, Jeff, plant anExtreme food plot, and as a result of her hardwork, she was able to shoot this doe on the foodplot.

for my Dad every night he goes hunting to see how hedid. We spend all day in the turkey blind and listen tothe toms answer us. Outsmarting the bucks and tomsis real hard, but it makes a person concentrate and bewith family in the outdoors. I can hunt the season afterthis year. We’re trying to save enough money for me tojoin my Dad on a Texas hunt in December.”

“She was pretty pumped about the two does shotoff ‘her’ plot,” Jeff said. “It’s easy to keep her interest-ed when she’s helping with the food plots. I think she’shooked on food plot preparation and benefits. She’salready telling me where the next plots should go. Thebucks are showing progress after the first antler-grow-ing season with the mineral products and food plotsavailable. I think our neighbors have benefited as well.A good number of great bucks were taken within ahalf-mile of my property. This is my first harvest off anExtreme food plot, and I expect to have even morepositive results this coming fall.” W

F Jeff Patterson’s property has been producing betterbucks since he started planting quality food plotproducts such as Extreme.

P R O D U C T P O I N T E R SIMPERIAL EXTREME

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poorer-quality soil

Stephen Nunnery – LouisianaFirst year to do any serious food plots. We plantedExtreme and No-Plow and have noticed for the firsttime in over four years increased deer in plots and/orlease. This includes buck activity as well. In the past wemay have seen one or two at a time. This year we haveseen on average four to five deer and upwards of ten totwelve deer per hunt.

Michael Stump – MichiganI have 30 yards by 100 yards of Extreme planted on ahillside close to the woods. I see as many as 20 deereating on this little food plot. Great product.

Scott Bradley – North CarolinaExtreme came up and looked good within two weeks.One of the unexpected surprises was seeing 42 turkeysat one time in the Extreme food plot.

Dan Kuhns – OhioWe planted Extreme on our hunting property. I saw 17bucks in four days of hunting. My three sons and myselfgot four bucks: two 10-points, one 9-point, one 8-pointand three of these bucks were the biggest bucks we gotin six years of hunting.

Tom Cathey – OklahomaI thought I planted the Extreme too late. I was wrong, itcame up quickly — two weeks, and it was thick. Wehave a lot of deer anyway, but we saw a lot of new ones.It just keeps getting thicker.


Trespassers!What should you do?Posting and prosecutionare among most effective toolsBy Charles Alsheimer

Nearly every state deals with trespassing differently. In some states,placing posted signs on land is not required because all private land is considered posted.

In other states, posted signs in accordance with the law must be in place to insure hunters get the message.

Nearly every state deals with trespassing differently. In some states,placing posted signs on land is not required because all private land is considered posted.

In other states, posted signs in accordance with the law must be in place to insure hunters get the message.

Trespassers!What should you do?Posting and prosecutionare among most effective toolsBy Charles Alsheimer

Trespassing on private lands has been anissue for decades. Though talked about,little has been written about how to deal

with individuals who “step over the line” intheir quest to harvest a trophy whitetail.

The Wisconsin shootings on Nov. 21, 2004, forever changed the waysome hunters and landowners handle trespassing issues. It was on thisday that a confronted trespasser opened fire on hunters on a private hunt-ing club. When the last shot finally echoed through the woods, six mem-bers of the hunting club lie dead, with two others wounded. In the mindof many, it was the worst day the American deer-hunting community hasever seen.

No one will ever know for certain exactly what made Chai Vang snapand shoot eight hunters. According to testimony from the surviving wit-nesses and shooter, harsh words were exchanged over Vang’s trespassingbefore the shooting began. Vang felt threatened by the landowners andopened fire. Hindsight is always 20/20, but by most accounts, it is clearthat lives could have been spared if cooler heads had prevailed on thatfateful day.

A CHANGING AMERICA

In case you haven’t noticed, there has been a paradigm shift taking place in thewhitetail woods. When I was kid 50 years ago, no one I knew posted their propertyfor hunting purposes. Locals, whether they owned land or not, pretty much huntedwherever they wanted. Oh, a few hunters asked permission to hunt someone’s land,but such requests were rare in my part of western New York State. This is no longerthe case.

Most private property in prime deer country is now posted for hunting purpos-es for a host of reasons. Gone are the days when you could park your car and headto the woods for a day of hunting. Back in the late ’80s while on a photography/deerhunting trip to Texas, I hooked up with legendary whitetail manager, Al Brothers. I’llnever forget him saying to me, “Charlie, when people realize that white-tailed deerhave a value, everything changes, from land usage to deer management.” This hascertainly been the case when it comes to land usage.

Today, more and more hunters are recognizing the value of whitetails and whatit takes to have quality deer and a quality hunting experience. As a result, manyhunters are purchasing land while others are leasing prime whitetail habitat for hunt-ing. To help protect their investment, they must post their property to insure thattheir goals are met. Unfortunately there is no simple approach to dealing with tres-passers.

THE LAW’S VIEW

Nearly every state deals with trespassing differently. In some states, placingposted signs on land is not required because all private land is considered posted. Inother states, posted signs in accordance with the law must be in place to insurehunters get the message.

By way of example, in my home state of New York, landowners must have high-ly visible posted signs (minimum of 11 inches by 11 inches containing the wordsWarning or Posted with the landowner’s name) no more than 660 feet apart aroundthe property’s boundaries.

In Alabama, the regulations are a bit different. According to Sergeant RustyMorrow of the Alabama wildlife and freshwater fisheries enforcement, “all privateland is considered posted to hunting, so trespassing during hunting season is calledhunting without permission. When lands are posted to prohibit hunting trespassers,trespassing is treated as a misdemeanor.”

Here in New York, the maximum fine for a first-time trespasser is $250 and upto 15 days in jail. In Alabama, first-offense trespassing carries a $250 fine plus courtcosts and possible loss of hunting privileges for one year. Because the fines are sosmall, law enforcement emphasizes the need to stay cool, calm, collected and civilwhen dealing with trespassers.

New York State Region 8 wildlife director Sean Hanna told me, “Alwaysapproach a trespasser on an even keel with a level head. Start by asking them if theysaw the posted signs. The key is that the landowner exhibits the best possibledemeanor when dealing with a trespasser, otherwise the situation runs the risk ofgetting ugly. If the trespasser will not provide you with their identification, try to geta good description of them and their vehicle and plate number. If you wish to pros-ecute, the collected information should be turned over to law enforcement.”


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HOW THEY HANDLE IT

Dealing with trespassers is the ugly side of land anddeer management. In its most basic form, trespassing isstealing, plain and simple, especially when the perpetratorknows you are growing something he wants – quality deer.Regardless of the state where hunting property is located,trespassing is a problem all landowners deal with. Some doit better than others.

Craig and Neil Dougherty operate a state-of-the-artwhitetail research facility in western New York State. Priorto their ownership, the 500-acre property was huntedheavily by the locals. When they obtained it and began tomanage the land for better habitat and better deer, theyhad to come to grips with the problem of trespassers.

“Basically, we have a two-step program for dealingwith trespassers,” Craig said. “During the first two years, webasically warned those we caught trespassing because weknew there was a legitimate possibility the hunters had per-mission from the previous landowner and were unaware theland had changed hands. Two years is more than enoughtime to get the word out, and anyone we caught trespass-ing after this period of time we prosecuted.

“When I approach a trespasser I do so in a calm man-ner and begin by asking them what they are doing. If theyask why, I then ask for ID. If I’m comfortable with who theyare, I try to end the conversation as soon as possible.

“Once I have ID, I ask them politely to leave, contactthe CO (conservation officers) or sheriff and let the lawhandle the issue. The important thing is to file the com-plaint, let the authorities handle it and then follow throughby pressing charges. All too often people make the mistakeof not pressing charges.

“If the guy does not provide you with ID, you need toput distance between you and him because in most caseshe has a gun. After you get away from him, go into scram-

ble mode by getting a good physical description of the per-petrator, his car make and plate number, then turn the infor-mation over to the law. The bottom line is to alwaysapproach a trespasser in a civil manner as opposed tobeing confrontational.”

Kevin Haight of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., has been manag-ing his property for deer for more than 10 years and has hadmore than is share of run-ins with trespassers. “Basically, we

began by trying to be good guys. Our approach was tomerely ask the trespassers to leave and hope we would bedone with them. This approach didn’t work. The only waywe’ve had success with trespassers is by making an exam-ple of everyone we catch. We’ve developed a reputation ofbeing landowners who will not allow people going on landillegally, so the word gets out.

“On the advice of the local COs and State Troopers, we


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It may take time to secure property for family and friends to hunt. Trespassing problems can take time toresolve.

also put our posted signs six feet high, 50 feet apart. I real-ize that this might seem like overkill because it is far morethan what New York law requires, but it has helped usimmensely.

“One of the things I do is communicate my feelingregarding trespassing in a polite way so that potential tres-passers know where I stand and that the land is posted. Wedon’t have any tricks we use; we just stay on top of thingsand make sure we are present. When hunters know you arearound, trespassing decreases proportionately.”

When my wife and I purchased our farm in 1973, wedidn’t post. This was in part because I never believed in it. Ihad grown up on one of the farms that border us, and noneof our neighbors posted for hunting when I was a kid, so itwas foreign to me.

As hunting became more and more popular, I beganencountering more and more hunters on our property. Irealized I had to do something; otherwise, I’d never be ableto accomplish my goals of having better deer and betterhunting. So, as a last resort, the posted signs went up.

In the early 1990s, I began to aggressively manage ourfarm for both quality deer and quality hunting. Thisrequired more than just posting because, even with theposted signs, I still had three or four trespassing violationsoccurring each deer season. When they occurred, myapproach was to just ask the trespassers to leave.Unfortunately, I found that this wasn’t working.

To insure that hunters obeyed my posting wishes, Icomposed a very polite letter and sent it to all landownerswho bordered our farm. In the letter, I explained that I wasembarking on a new form of deer management, specifical-ly quality deer management. I also asked them to let any oftheir hunters know of my rules. Initially, the letter causedquite a bit of chatter among the locals. No one discussed itwith me personally, but the word got out. To keep my rulesfresh in their minds, I’ve sent out a follow-up letter everythird year.

This approach worked well, but not nearly as well as Ihad hoped. Only when I began prosecuting the trespassersdid the trespassing leak stop. It’s not something I wanted todo, but something that had to happen. Here’s how it allcame about.

It was a cold, clear November day, well into our fifthyear of a quality deer management program. I was huntingin a favorite stand on the north end of our farm. About anhour after daylight, I heard two shots ring out very close tomy stand. I knew the shots had to be on our land, so I col-lected my gear and went to inspect. I didn’t have to go far.Within a couple hundred yards, I saw where human trackshad exited the woods, within feet of one of my postedsigns. Not far away a hunter was going across an open fieldso I hollered at him to get his attention, and he stopped.When I got to him I asked what all the shooting was about.He told me that he had just killed a nice buck and was goingfor help.

I asked him if he knew the property was posted. Heresponded, “No, but I have permission to hunt from thelandowner.”

“Well,” I said, “I’m the landowner, so I think we have aproblem because I’ve never seen you before.” As it turnedout he had permission to hunt a neighboring landowner’sproperty and didn’t think there would be any problem inch-

ing over onto our property a few hundred feet, even thoughit was tightly posted.

This was the straw that broke the camel’s back withme. I had the hunter ticketed for trespassing and the buckwas confiscated by the state. Needless to say, word spreadpretty fast in my little community when others heard what


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Putting signs in very visual places is one of thefirst steps in dealing with trespassing problems.

Regardless of the state wherehunting property is located,trespassing is a problem all

landowners deal with.Some do it better than others.

I had done. Though I had had a degree of success merelyasking for cooperation, it took prosecuting this individual toget the job done. Since this incident, trespassing on ourproperty has drastically declined.

In the best of all worlds, it would be nice to think thatjust posting a property according the state’s law would beenough protection to keep would-be trespassers at bay.Unfortunately, it isn’t. Every successful land manager I knowdidn’t attain the success they desired until they began toprosecute trespassers. Good signage and words can bevery effective, but nothing trumps prosecution of trespass-ing when all else fails.

With more and more hunters leasing property to hunt,the topic of how the leasing party should handle tres-passers is of interest. Brad Herndon of Brownstown, Ind., iswell known for his deer-hunting prowess. He and his wifeCarol lease property in southern Indiana for deer hunting.Here’s how they handle trespassers.

“The first thing we did when we leased the currentlocation for hunting was let surrounding landowners andhunters know our rules. Initially, we had problems becausethe COs had never done much about ‘ATVers’ and tres-passers, so they were reluctant to do much unless we hadhard evidence.

“To secure trespassing evidence we took our digitalcamera and photographed our posted signs so that the lawknew when the signs were put up. Then we photographed

the trespassers in the act. These photos gave us the proofwe needed to prosecute because digital cameras have timedata on each image taken. It took this evidence to get theperpetrators arrested. Sadly, words don’t work anymore.The only way you can eliminate trespassing is by prosecut-ing. I wish this wasn’t the case but for us this is the only waywe’ve been able to keep trespassers from coming on ourleased land.

“We also put in our lease contract that only my wifeand I can use the property along with two guests, andguests can only hunt when we are hunting. Also, we placeour posted signs close together so that they can’t bemissed. Basically, it took us two years to clean up the tres-passing problem. It takes this long for the word to get outthat you will not tolerate trespassers and, when caught,they will be prosecuted.

“Initially, the locals were very upset with me, but with-in a couple years, they began leasing ground for huntingbecause they saw the trend and wanted a place to hunt.Whatever you do will make the neighbors mad, but in thelong run, it all works out to your advantage because peoplebegin to get the point.”

SUMMARY

A book could be filled on how different landownershandle trespassing problems. The examples I’ve provided

are similar to numerous others and very representative ofhow landowners successfully address the trespass problem.The bottom line is that it is best to exceed state postinglaws when posting a property (i.e., more signs than neces-sary). Secondly, the word must get out to the public. Then,when the landowner confronts a trespasser the engage-ment must be with a calm, polite demeanor and alwayswith respect for the individual confronted. And lastly, ifneeded, prosecution should be carried out to the fullestextent of the law. W


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n Taking Care ofTrespassing >>>>>>>>>

• Follow the posting regulations of your state. If none exists,erect posted signs close enough to each other that they can-not be missed. The posting must be along every boundary.My recommendation is every 60 feet. Also, have the postedsign include the maximum trespassing penalty on the sign.

• Patrol the boundaries frequently, especially during huntingseason.

• Get the word out to the public. Never miss an opportunityto do so, whether at a public event, the gas station or thepost office.

• Confront trespassers with a polite demeanor and withrespect for the individual confronted.

• If you feel you want to prosecute, get the necessary ID andalert law enforcement. Once the ID is obtained, don’t linger– back out of the situation.

• Follow through with the prosecution.• Work hard to be a good neighbor, but do so in a way that

they know what you are doing and why.

As hunting became more and more popular, I began encounteringmore and more hunters on our property. I realized I had to do some-thing; otherwise, I’d never be able to accomplish my goals of having

better deer and better hunting.

Ihave an outfitter friend whohunts the farmland fringe innorth-central Alberta. Much

of the area is devoted to bigblocks of bush that are inter-spersed with alfalfa and oatsfields. My friend, Ron, doesn’ttake bowhunters, but he will letme hunt with him during theearly season because of ourfriendship. I was hunting withRon a few years back when wehatched the ultimate scheme forshooting a whopper buck inthat big country with a bow.

It struck us that putting in a quarter-mile of plasticconstruction fence – half on each side of a 40 yard-wide-opening, to create a tapered funnel, would greatly improveour odds on deer that traditionally, more or less, moved ran-domly through the big timber. We never did it, mostlybecause we decided that it was not really all that sporting,though perfectly legal. Taken to the extreme, that is the gistof this article. I am going to offer a few thoughts on waysyou can change your hunting area to make the bucks livingthere easier to hunt. But, rest assured, I will stop short ofsuggesting something that takes the sport out of the hunt.

PLANTING SCREEN

Planting screens is one of the best things you can dofor your hunting land. The purpose of these screens is notto keep people from seeing the deer, but to keep the deerfrom seeing the people. In other words, plant somethingthat you can sneak behind when going to and from yourtree stands.

I have a friend who hunts a piece of ground inMaryland where the deer numbers are very high. One of hisfavorite stands is in the corner of a remote field that heplants in a food plot. However, because of the deer num-bers and the remote nature of the field, there are usuallydeer out when he approaches the field. Rather than blowthe deer out each time he hunts the spot, Jim has begunplanting 12 rows of tall forage sorghum around the outeredge of the field each year. Inside this 10-foot-tall screen, hethen plants his clover and other food plot species.

When approaching the stand, Jim sneaks in right alongthe tree line and uses the sorghum to hide from the deer.Sometimes the food plot is empty so then he uses the

Manipulating the

Landscapefor

HuntingSuccess

By Bill Winke

Narrow food plots tend to be more effective than circular fields. Position fields to take advantage of prevailingwind patterns.


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Manipulating the

Landscapefor

HuntingSuccess

By Bill Winke

Planting screens is one of the best things you can do for your hunting land. The purpose of these screens is not to keep people from seeing the deer, but to keep the deerfrom seeing the people. In other words, plant something that you can sneak behind when going to and from your tree stands.


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sorghum to hide from any deer that might be bedded in thetimber by sneaking down the middle of the sorghum strip.Jim reports that he routinely slips past deer as little as 20yards away when going to and from his stands in low light.

I have seen something very similar in my own huntingareas. For several years, I planted a few fields in both forageand grain sorghum. I filled three hoppers in the six-rowplanter with forage sorghum and the next three with grainsorghum. By going back and forth when seeding (ratherthan around), I was able to produce six rows of foragesorghum next to six rows of grain sorghum, alternating allthe way across the field.

The deer ate the heads off the grain sorghum early inthe fall (when the seed became doughy) and then ate thetaller forage sorghum later in the fall and winter. Whengoing to and from stands near this field, I often walked rightpast deer. One time a buck was chasing a doe just two orthree rows away as I scooted past. Even in low light, I couldnever get away with crossing an open field right next todeer. Using some kind of screening cover when you walk toand from your stands will make a huge difference in yourhunting success.

The most practical screens are natural cover that youdon’t have to replant every year. Of these, the very best areconiferous so they maintain their effectiveness long afterthe foliage and leaves have dropped from other plants andtrees. For example, in many parts of the country, cedartrees make great screening cover. Most farmers see them asweeds, so it may be possible to rent a tree spade and relo-cate several 10- to 12-year-old cedars onto your propertyfrom nearby properties where they are maligned. You canalso grow your own, but it will take many years before theyare useful.

As I mentioned, there are also faster-growing screensthat you can use. For example, I plant about 25 acres tocorn each year and then I don’t pick it until after I am fin-

ished hunting. At that point, the fields usually produceabout 75 percent of the yield they would produce if har-vested on schedule in late October. These acres are notreally part of my food plot acres, but they sure do feed deerwhile I use the corn to cover the entry and exit into the bestparts of my hunting area.

Other options are the tall forage sorghum speciesalready mentioned and switchgrass. Of the two, switch-grass is obviously the more permanent solution. It usuallytakes three years to establish a good patch of switchgrass;and if you take care of it, the planting will last many years.In rich fertile soil, switchgrass will grow thick and more thansix feet tall – certainly tall enough to hide a skulking hunter.

Some invasive weed species might seem tempting,such as pampas grass, but I would not recommend startinga weed that you will have to fight for years to come. Youjust don’t know how that is going to turn out. Stick withproven plantings such as annuals and switchgrass.

The need for screening cover is yet another reason toimprove the understory of your hunting area through selec-tive tree cutting and timber stand improvement (cuttingdown junk trees). I hunted a property for nine years that hadprimarily mature timber. The forest floor was very clean. Notonly did this produce very little browse, but deer could seeme coming and going from my stands for nearly 200 yards.That means that when I walked to my stands – if I was notable to take advantage of a ditch or creek – I was alertingdeer in a swath that was nearly a quarter-mile wide!

I didn’t have the ability to junk that place up, but assoon as I could afford my own place, the first thing I did wasstart cutting down trees with no commercial value to great-ly increase ground level cover. Now, in many parts of thefarm, bedded deer can’t see more than 10 yards because itis so thick. Simply improving the ground cover on yourhunting land will make it easier to slip through effectivelyand that will make it much easier to hunt.

FIELD SHAPES

I am hooked on narrow fields when it comes to hunt-ing. If you have a choice in where to locate them, try toposition a long narrow field where the terrain drops away tothe prevailing downwind side. That way you can sit on thedownwind side of the field with less risk that deer will smellyou. You aren’t setting up to shoot the deer coming out intothe field on your side. Rather, your best setup will be whereyou can cover the deer that come into the field from theother side. There is much less chance that they will smellyou.

Some deer hunters have complicated field patternsthat they use to bring deer within effective range.Personally, I feel that the most important quality is simplythat the field be narrow. If the field is approximately 50yards wide, it will be wide enough for efficient planting andeventually everything walking in it will come within range.

Deer feel more comfortable coming out during the dayin narrow food plots that are close to cover because theyare just one or two bounds from security. This greater feel-ing of security should increase the number of bucks you seewhile hunting.

FENCES

This gets back to the Alberta drift fence debate. Thereis much you can do with fences to funnel deer movement—the simplest of which is to open a gate. I have hunted gateopenings often, and they are generally very good for pro-


ducing shots at does and young bucks. However, it is rarethat a mature buck will walk through a gate. It happens, butthey are much less predictable in their movements and arejust as likely to jump a fence as go through a gate. However,gates remain good options for stand locations.

You can also tie down the top wire of the fence, andattach string above the top wire for 100 yards in both direc-tions from the tied-down area, to make a low spot thatencourages deer to jump in that location. The string makesthe surrounding fence look even higher and makes your“jump site” look even better to them. I personally don’tbother with tying down a fence wire. There are usuallyenough low spots and holes in most fences (except the verybest fences) that you can simply hunt one of these naturalcrossings rather than training them to use a new one.

MAN-MADE TRAILS

I have a friend who uses his ATV to make trails throughhis food plots that all lead to his tree stand location likespokes on a tire. He runs his ATV through the plots (corn orsorghum) to flatten it in these areas. Deer quickly beginusing these trails as their own and the simple act of makinga few trails has led some very big bucks within bow range.

You can also create deer trails in the cover by using aBush Hog or similar brush-cutting device to clear pathsthrough thick undercover. The deer will begin using thesepaths as their own almost immediately. This can be a verysimple step to improve your hunting if your hunting areahas primarily thick cover. Of course, the advantage to mak-ing these trails is your ability to concentrate deer move-

ment and cause them to travel through areas where youhave a natural advantage, such as near a drop-off whereyour scent can blow out over the valley below and awayfrom the noses of all the deer.

BRUSH PILES

Another friend of mine cleared a few acres of timber toproduce a food plot. Rather than randomly push the trunksand stumps to the sides of the field, he decided to create adoorway into the new field. He pushed all the trees to oneside to create a thick brush pile, but right in the middle of ithe left a 20-yard-wide gap that would permit deer to easi-ly walk in and out of the field on that side. It is another formof manmade funnel, but when you have to drop and pushtrees anyway, they might just as well do you some good.

BLOCKING TRAILS

Another good trick you can use to manipulate deermovement patterns involves clogging certain trails (that areout of range) with brush so that the deer are forced to usetrails closer to your stand. This is especially useful if you arehunting a wide funnel that you can’t cover from the down-wind edge. In that case, clogging a few trails on the farupwind side will have the affect of bringing more deer with-in range.

This is a pretty simple process to understand but youreally need to drop a lot of brush to achieve your goal.What looks like a roadblock to you and me looks like anyother piece of the forest to a deer. They are built for slippingthrough cover. So, you really have to drop trees and criss-


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Fence openings can be great places to target whitetails. Deer, like all animals, take the easiest travel route whenpossible. An open gate can invite deer traffic.

cross them to create a wall. Just dragging a few pieces of brush acrossa trail will not create enough of an obstacle to produce the results youdesire.

I have a friend (the same one that makes the trails in his foodplots) who uses his chainsaw to block trails in an effort to divert deercloser to his stands. The method paid off for him in spades a few yearsback when a 169-inch buck came past his stand within easy bow rangeafter the trail farther from stand had been blocked. My friend does thisroutinely when he sets up his stands. As long as the trees he is cuttingare junk (no commercial value), it does not harm the forest at all; andthe resulting blockade caused by the felled trees adds a small amountto his odds for success. Obviously, if you don’t own the property, thisis a step you should take only with permission from the landowner.

OPENING CREEKS AND DITCHES

Each spring, after the heavy rains have ended, I go out with mychainsaw and open up all the sneaking paths in my hunting area. Iwant to be able to walk easily and quickly along the bottoms of allthe creeks and ditches that cut through my area so I can use themto access my stands. It is amazing how easily you can slip past near-by deer when using a ditch, but usually ditches are clogged withdeadfalls.

After removing these deadfalls, creeks and ditches become apleasure to walk through and you will find yourself using them all thetime. Like planting screening vegetation, cleaning out your ditchesand creeks is one of the best steps you can take toward making yourhunting area more productive.

CONCLUSION

You can significantly improve your hunting area by making a fewcosmetic changes to the cover and the fences. These changes arelargely inexpensive but they pay big dividends. You don’t have to crossthe line and make the hunt unsporting to enjoy better success.Dropping a tree or two here and there and moving a food plot mightbe all you need to do to change your fortunes this fall. W


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Whitetail Institute RECORD BOOK BUCKS…Whitetail Institute RECORD BOOK BUCKS…Donny Landry – Louisiana

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ing 340 acres all have Imperial Whitetail Clover, I havenoticed in the last 2 years that the quality of our deer hasbeen greatly enhanced. Button bucks which used to runabout 80 lbs are now 100 pounds plus. It’s the same withthe yearling does. Their weights are up from 50 lbs to 70pounds plus. I have triplet fork horns that I have beenwatching now for 2 yrs. They’re now 140 lbs and the antlergrowth is tremendous compared to past years.

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Gary Monroe – KansasI bought the piece of property about 2 years earlier in

East Central Kansas. It has a good stand of timber but veryfew agricultural crops in the area. I started experimentingwith food plots. Imperial Whitetail Clover brings deer fromall over. The next year I was hunting just before the rut. Mytrail camera had taken some pictures of some very nicebucks. I was going to hold out for something special thisyear! My daughter, Katie, was going to college to become ateacher. She was in town and wanted to see her ole dad. SoI said ,“Come down and stay with me in the camper and youcan study while I am in the woods.” Katie got there aboutnoon and we started talking. I realized she had never beenin a tree stand, even as an observer. I asked her if she want-ed to go with me this evening. I probably would not shootanything but its fun to go and enjoy the woods and nature.

She said it would be fun! So, I made sure she did not haveon a bunch of perfume and girl stuff, and then I put togeth-er an outfit for her with a bunch of my old hunting clothes.She rolled up the pant legs, cinched in the belt and off wewent, doubling up on the 4-wheeler.

I had my spare portable stand and safety belt. We setit up so she was shoulder to shoulder with me at a 90-degree angle. That way we could whisper and enjoy thewoods together. I told her I would not stand up to shootunless it was a very big one. We were settled in for about10 minutes when I heard, “Dad, I hear one.” “Where?” I whis-pered. “Over there.” “Watch for it” was my response.Crunch, crunch, crunch went the leaves as a big red squir-rel hopped by. We both quietly chuckled. After about anhour and a half I heard, “Dad, I see a deer!” “Where?” I whis-pered. “Over there, and it’s coming this way!” she said. “Is ita buck?” I asked. “I don’t know,” she said. “Does it have anyhorns?” “No” she replied. “It’s a doe. Just enjoy watchingher.” I said. The doe came within 15 yards in front of Katieand just milled around for about 15-20 minutes. Next, Iheard an excited, “Dad, its right underneath me!” “Don’tmove,” I said. About that time, I heard a loud commotion 75yards to my left, it was a large buck working over a 10-footcedar tree. The doe saw him too and took off behind us.The buck started walking to where the doe was standingdirectly behind our tree, grunting with every step. Helooked big! I stood up to get ready and could almost hearKatie’s heart pounding. He came within 15 yards but slight-ly behind me. My arrow hit a small tree branch and struckthe big deer back quite a ways. He whirled around and wentabout 75 yards, then laid down. Yes, he was a nice 8 point-er. He is in the Pope & Young book at a score of 130 1/8 witha 21 inch spread. I have taken bigger bucks since then, butnone as gratifying as sharing this one with Katie. What didshe think? Look at her smile in the picture!

Duane Olson – IowaWe own a farm in Central Iowa, and decided to try your

Whitetail Institute products on advice from a friend whoswears by your 30-06 Protein, Imperial Whitetail Clover,and Imperial No-Plow. He has harvested several 160 classbucks since using your products. I planted Imperial Clover,No-Plow and Extreme on about 4 acres of my farm and the

results were amazing. The deer love your clover. I constant-ly see them eating all hours of the day. Your products workgreat. The enclosed pictures were taken this year. The 9pointer was harvested in the Imperial Clover field. The 8pointer in photo number 2 was harvested as he headedtoward one of the No-Plow plots on opening day of theIowa gun season. Great products!

Damien Rzepka – New York[Before it was banned] I had been using your 30-06

Minerals in Upstate New York for years and they really


OF NORTH AMERICA

Since 1988

1 2

e RECORD BOOK BUCKS…e RECORD BOOK BUCKS…

helped the deer through all the seasons exceptionally. I alsoplanted Secret Spot and noticed frequent deer activity. Twoyears ago after putting in a lot of hard work, I was reward-ed with my best buck to date. With the help of your greatproducts, I was fortunate to arrow this 140-class buck witha drop-tine that weighed close to 220 lbs. Thank you verymuch.

Stan Thomas – Ohio

Used Secret Spot last year. It came up fast and thick. Itook this 11 point with my bow last fall. Rattled him in as hewas headed for my Secret Spot!

Stephen Bridges – TennesseeWe have always been very impressed with the Imperial

Whitetail Clover. I have plots in Tennessee, Kentucky, andIllinois and have taken many great bucks using the plots.I’ve enclosed pictures of my partner and myself with twodeer taken on our farm in Illinois this year. The other pic-tures are our two sons and the two deer they killed this year

in Illinois. All fourwere killed inImperial WhitetailClover plots. Mypartners name is Jim

Coleman and oursons’ names areSpencer Bridgesand Lee Coleman.

Jeffrey McKinney – VirginiaImperial Whitetail Clover did very well. The deer really

seem to prefer it. There is not a lot of deer in the area but Isee more deer and healthier deer as a whole since I startedusing your products. I let quality deer pass by day after daythat most people seldom see, let alone get a chance to har-

vest. Photos enclosed areof some of the bucks takenwith a bow. Also includedare photos of bucks’ stillrunning wild in our huntingarea.

Aaron Moore – KansasI met Mike Wheeler of Wheeler’s Whitetails about two

years ago through a mutual friend of ours. Mike knew I likedto spend a lot of time in Kansas so he told me he had a dealfor me. He said he would like me to guide for him. In returnI would be able to hunt his land, so I jumped on it.

Mike had planted an Imperial Whitetail Clover field thatdidn’t have many trees around in which to put up a stand,so I used a ground blind instead.

It had been a wet year and it was supposed to rain thatnight, so I headed for the blind. I had a few does and smallbucks come to eat the clover. Just before dark a doe cameinto the clover and behind her followed a huge buck. Theyweren’t there long and the buck chased her off. After darkI headed back to the lodge to tell Mike about the big buck.Before I agreed to guide for Mike I had booked a hunt inIllinois, and had to leave for a week. The whole time I was

there all I could think about was the big buck in Kansas. Ithad been a long week in Illinois, and the time had come forme to head back to Kansas. It just happened to be that wehad no hunters when I got back to the cabin. It was sup-posed to rain that night, so off to the ground blind I went.It had started to rain pretty good, so I got settled. Does andsmall bucks filtered into the clover. The time passed by andit was now 4:30 pm. All of a sudden a huge buck steppedinto the clover, but as fast as he had shown up, he was gone.

I figured I still had some time left, so I stuck around.Finally, he walked back into the clover and stopped at thir-ty five yards. After the shot I knew I made a good hit, so Istarted tracking him right away because of the rain. Evenwith the rain I had a good blood trail. Not to far from theblind I came up to the deer. I was standing over a 201 and1/8 buck. I knew I wouldn’t be able to get the deer on mytruck alone, so I called for help. I also got a hold of Mike andtold him I was bringing a big Kansas buck back to the lodgewith me that night. When I showed up Mike was as happyas I was.

Steve Stapleton – WisconsinSince planting Imperial Whitetail Clover we’ve noticed

increased day-time activity,more deer andhealthier deer.Five years agoan 80”-100” 8-pointer was agood buck inthis area. This130” Pope &Young 8-pointwas shot whileeating ImperialW h i t e t a i lClover in a 3/4acre “huntingplot”. W


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

Whitetail News, Attn: Record Book Bucks239 Whitetail Trail, Pintlala, AL 36043


OHIO

Creating a Hunting Hotspot By Lou Haubner and Tim Hooey, as told to Rick Sapp

objectives were to improve the health not just of thedeer but of all of the wildlife. Although they did not thinkof themselves as experts in nutrition or farming, theyknew people who were and where to go for information.Their program would expand the diversity of plantingsand offer nutritionally-appropriate foods pegged to theseason and the needs of the largest mammals on thefarm – whitetail deer. They assumed that if the dominantspecies thrived from careful management, secondaryspecies would also benefit.

One of the first steps was to determine the pH ofthe farm’s soil. Neither man was an agriculturalist, butthey had read about soil testing and realized that a pH-neutral soil would benefit food plot growth and health.When the tests returned a predictable acidic result –soils in the 4.5 range – Haubner applied lime to thefarm’s worn-out fields, raising soil pH levels to the 6 or 7level, a requirement before he could expect to growbountiful wildlife foods. The returned tests not only toldhim that he needed to apply lime, but in what quantityper acre.

The next step was to establish locations for severalvitamin and mineral dumps. While it sounds less-than-scientific to call them “dumps,” it only means that begin-ning in 1999, the hunters poured the minerals directly onthe ground in a designated cove of the hardwood forest.The four spots immediately attracted deer and otheranimals.

Because Haubner has continued to dump vitaminsand minerals – the Whitetail Institute of North America’s30-06 Plus Protein mineral supplement – in the samespots and rain has leached dissolving minerals into thesoil, deer have pawed the area several feet deep.Haubner found that one bag lasts two to three months.

Haubner and Hooey were satisfied that they wereon the right track. They knew results would not becomeimmediately apparent and that their program would

Lou Haubner lives in Apopka, Fla., but he is original-ly from southern Ohio. Like so many who havemigrated south in search of warmer weather, he

occasionally longs for the change of seasons – brightleaves forecasting leaden skies; dreary, freezing daysthat signal the onset of the whitetail rut; and the nervousanticipation of a late snowfall before the turkey seasonopens in April. None of this is meteorologically normal inthe Sunshine State.

In the mid-1990s, when Haubner’s Florida businesswas booming, he indulged his hunting interests and pur-chased a small farm on the north side of the Ohio River.He named it River Ridge. Initially, the farm was 300acres, but in the way of all things hobby-related, it hassince doubled in size.

Today, Haubner’s pride in and enthusiasm forhis farm are boundless. It was not always that way,however.

Haubner met Tim Hooey on a turkey hunt in NewYork eight years ago. Their mutual enthusiasm for allthings outdoors formed an instant bond, and Haubnerinvited Hooey to hunt the Ohio farm he had recentlypurchased.

Hooey recalls that Haubner described River Ridgeas “hilly.” In fact, the old place was in shambles, overrunwith dense blackberry tangles. Thickets of brush chokedthe fields; no farm for miles planted crops any longer.The hardwood forest along the river was crowded withblow-downs. It was an excellent place to pick up fire-wood but also a big fire just waiting to happen with abolt of lightning or a careless campfire.

Although he was not at all sure he was heading inthe most suitable direction, Haubner had planted a fewsmall food plots in corn. They were tentative, almostapologetic patches on the flat upland spaces – a coupleacres here, a couple there. The green spaces were nei-ther planned nor organized, and Haubner explained thatit was “only a beginning.”

The bow hunter knew there were deer and turkeys

on the place. He had seen a few. Nothing big in the wayof antlers perhaps and nothing sizeable in the way oflong beards, and that was disappointing, he explainedto Hooey, but that was not the point. The point was theplace was his. It belonged to him. He could fiddle with it,manipulate it, change it all he wanted … and he intend-ed to do just that.

It has long been said that two heads are better thanone, and when Hooey arrived to hunt Haubner’s farm, hewas impressed with its potential and Haubner’s energy.With the right plan, Hooey suggested, Haubner couldpull in game from surrounding areas and perhaps growbigger deer and healthier turkeys. Haubner was imme-diately interested.

The first few years proved to be anything but a tro-phy showcase for River Ridge, however. The hunterstook does and spikes and button bucks. They saw a fewsmall 8-points, but the results were unimpressive.

Haubner and Hooey put their heads together. “Whyare you planting corn?” Hooey asked.

Huabner replied that, combined with the abundantacorn trees, the planted corn helped his deer throughthe bitter Ohio winters. Besides, corn was standard inthe area and relatively easy to grow.

“Fair enough,” Hooey said, “but what about the restof the year? And why be so cautious? You have plentyof land for various types of food plots. Fall corn doesnot help bucks grow antlers or help does deliver healthyfawns.”

As they talked, Haubner began to see his farm in acompletely different light. He thought of big racks,heavier deer, does with more than one fawn. He sawflocks of fat turkeys strutting along field edges, evenplump squirrels and fat raccoons with attitudes. Hisenthusiasm for the wildlife and the hunting possibilitiesgrew far beyond what he had ever imagined for his “lit-tle hobby farm.”

Haubner and Hooey eventually designed a year-round management program for River Ridge Farm. The

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30-06 Minerals

Terry Galland – KansasWe use the 30-06 Plus Protein Mineral and the deerlove it.

T.J. Anderson – Louisiana I incorporated No-Plow and 30-06 and let me tell you,Whitetail Institute products are top notch.

Dan Zavoral – MinnesotaThe deer just destroy the 30-06 and 30-06 Plus ProteinMineral sites that we have. They dig and dig hoping tofind more.

Jason Stefanowicz – Pennsylvania I use the 30-06 Minerals and the deer love them. I can’tkeep up with them. The deer even fight over them. Iwould recommend Whitetail Institute products to any-one who wants to see more deer.

Cutting Edge

Jason Miller – PennsylvaniaCutting Edge products brought in more deer. Yearlingbucks went from spikes and 4-points to 6- and 8-pointdeer. Body size increased, too.


take several years to establish. The next step was todevelop a year-round food plot program.

Working from an intimate knowledge of the farm’stopography and from recent aerial photographs – whichshowed broader contours than could be discerned onfoot – the hunting friends increased the size ofHaubner’s original food plots. Whereas he had begunwith four to five acres of clover and 10 acres of corn,they realized this was insufficient for the results theywanted. Estimating that the higher, flatter portions ofthe farm – and hence the surface eligible for planting –covered a little more than 100 acres, Haubner mowedthe entire area and bush-hogged the central mass ofblackberry thicket.

Haubner’s objective was to plant fields with foodthat would yield significant benefit to deer and turkeysyear-round but especially when they needed it themost: late winter and spring. His subsequent step was toplant a dozen acres of the Whitetail Institute’s ImperialAlfa-Rack, 12 acres of Imperial Whitetail Clover on oldfields with gasping soils covered in ragweed, and 10 to15 acres of corn, which he left standing until mid-February.

Supplementing the mineral licks and food plots,Haubner and Hooey erected five feeders and filled themwith corn. They operate from mid-December until thespring “green-up.”

“Our feeders distribute about 40 pounds a day,”Haubner said, perfectly enthusiastic about his farmingenterprise, “and I’ve built several feed stations solely for

turkeys.”Today, the wildlife management program at River

Ridge Farm has settled into a predictable routine, whichHaubner manages with periodic visits:

Winter: Minerals are replenished, the corn is stillstanding (until February), the five planted apple treesare pruned, and feeders are filled with corn monthly.

Spring: New ground is disked, fields for ImperialClover and Alfa-Rack are fertilized, corn is planted, pel-letized lime is added as needed, field edges are mowedand weeds sprayed.

Summer: 30-06 Plus Protein minerals are replen-ished, Imperial Clover and Alfa-Rack are sprayed withherbicide to kill broadleaf weeds, and the hunters prayfor rain.

Fall: New ground is plowed in preparation for Alfa-Rack and Imperial Clover plantings the next year, a lightre-seeding of Alfa-Rack and Imperial Clover.

If judged by “just having a place to hunt,” LouHaubner’s hobby farm is certainly out of control. Thework and the expense have increased significantly.Sometimes, Haubner said, when he should be concernedwith contracts and returning phone messages, all he canthink about is boosting River Ridge Farm’s productivity.

Although it did not happen immediately, Tim Hooeyfeels the results are impressive. “It’s a great successstory,” he said. “Lou took this old farm and turned it intoa whitetail paradise. When I first hunted there, we werelucky to see a doe wander through. Now, we’re holdinga lot of does. When we ride around before dark, we

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Professional baseball player Ryan Klesko took this superior whitetail buck at River Ridge Farm in 2005. Farmowner Lou Haubner now insists that deer must have a 16-inch inside spread before they can be harvested.

Ric

k S

app


might see 70 to 80 deer in the food plots and in the sur-rounding woods. We’re obviously bringing deer in fromsurrounding areas. Eight years ago, we were takingyear-and-a-half old deer. Last year we took three deerthat scored more than 150!”

Lou Haubner says River Ridge is not designed forcommercial hunting, and that all of his efforts have beento benefit the wildlife and the enjoyment of friends andfamily who hunt deer, turkey and small game there.

“We have more deer sightings and higher deerdensities than ever before,” he says. “We know what thedeer like to eat because we regularly walk the fields andwe use field cameras for surveillance. It is common tosee deer with 8- and 10-point racks now, whereas thefirst few years we never saw anything like that. And myturkeys seem to be getting along better and better, too.”

Results have progressed so well on River RidgeFarm that Haubner has instituted an 8-point minimumfor his deer hunters. Antlers must also have a 16-inchinside spread.

And what of the future? With a year-round nutrition-al program for wildlife at River Ridge, Haubner has hiseyes on adding several tracts of land adjacent to the farm.“Five hundred, 600 acres sounds like a lot in the east,” hesays. “A square mile is 640 acres, but like I told Tim thefirst time we met, the old place is hilly. We only have about125 acres of arable land. So, we may need to expand.”

Haubner said every time he sees a doe with twofawns or turkey tracks in his mineral dumps, he thinks,“What should I do next? How can I make this better?Several people questioned whether with an unfencedfarm as small as River Ridge we could make any differ-ence in the deer and turkey populations, even the bob-white quail and rabbits. Our results prove it can bedone.” W

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Bob Walker / Walker’s Game Ear

The Whitetail Institute is proud to offer the WHITETAILAGING PLAQUE. This interesting plaque displays the jawbone andteeth of the critical first eight years of a deer’s life. The displaymeasures 11 inches wide by 21 inches tall and is hand-made of quality pine, sealed and protected with speciallamination.

The unique aging device is being used by the bestdeer biologists in America. It is fascinating to view andinteresting enough to be displayed in your den, huntinglodge or camp.

If you have serious management interest in theprogress or decline of your deer herd, the WHITETAILAGING PLAQUE is an invaluable management tool.After a few hunting seasons of aging deer using thistechnique, you will actually be able to determine fairlyaccurately the age of your deer on the hoof.Jawbones and teeth reproductions represent deerfrom 1-1/2 years to 8-1/2 years old.

Remember, the only way to accurately agedeer is by the wear on the deer’s teeth. Our WHITE-TAIL AGING PLAQUE shows you everything youneed to know about these wear patterns and willhelp you make intelligent decisions about yourdeer management program. Every serious sports-man should have a WHITETAIL AGING PLAQUE.With it, you can determine the age of each deerharvested. With this knowledge you are onyour way to developing a deer manage-ment program that will lead to big-ger and better-quality deer.

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Terry Rohm with a beautiful 10-point buckhe took on Lou Haubner’s River Ridge Farm in Ohio.

Ric

k S

app


zones should be left alone, allowing the resident deer torelax with the idea of making them a tad bit more vul-nerable.

The goal is to attract as many deer as possible to afood source without eliminating critical safe zones.Putting a food plot too close to a bedding area is a goodway to spook resident deer onto someone else’s prop-erty. If at all possible, I suggest food plots be placed inareas that allow you to hunt halfway between the foodsource and bedding area, without disturbing the deer.

PROTECT NATURAL FOOD SOURCES

As a rule of thumb, I seldom eliminate naturallyexisting deer food sources such as oak and apple trees.When developing food plots near such trees, it is likelythey’ll become much more productive once released,meaning they are now exposed to more sunlight thanever before. In fact, if not already present, I highly rec-ommend planting fruit-bearing trees such as appletrees. Whitetails absolutely love fruit trees and mostsoils are user friendly when it comes to planting them.Since we’re on the subject of protecting existingresources, I strongly discourage destroying or evenmodifying bedding areas and thickets of cover. Reasonbeing that many properties lack this type of habitat,thus destroying it makes no sense at all.

SOIL QUALITY

When selecting potential food plot sites, it’s a good

idea to check the quality of the soil before the workbegins. The pH of the soil can be tested by simply dig-ging three inches to five inches down into the soil in sev-eral different locations of the proposed site. Mix thosesamples together in a Ziploc-type bag and send it tosomeone who can test it for you. The Whitetail Institute,USDA county extension offices and many agriculturestores can test your soil.

The test results will recommend exactly how muchlime and/or fertilizer is needed to reach a target level pH.Lime and fertilizer, key ingredients important to the suc-cess of your food plot, can be purchased at most gardencenters and feed stores. A pH of 6.5 to 7 is about asgood as it gets for growing a wide variety of plot foods.Keep in mind that hostile habitat can be challenging, butin my opinion, if the soil is good enough to supportweeds and other vegetation, with the right amount oflime and fertilizer it will probably be food-plot friendly.too.

LOOK FOR NATURAL OPENINGS

Many properties are blessed with old logging roadsor small grass openings, which can easily be convertedinto great food sources. A most important thing toremember about grass openings is they have been ahaven of nasty weeds for many years, thus your first stepis to kill as much of the vegetation as possible. One passwith a tiller is usually not enough to convince thoseweeds to give up and die.

Again, I want to emphasize, if not properlydestroyed, those weeds will find a second wind andcome back stronger than ever. All your time, money andeffort spent on establishing a good food plot shouldresult in maximum success. Herbicides such as Round-

up may be sprayed on natural clearings several times,spaced three to four weeks apart. Once all the weedsare dead, I recommend plowing the soil two to threetimes prior to planting the site.

SEED CHOICES

Each area is different when it comes to selectingthe best seed for your food plot. Seed depletiondepends a great deal on soil type. My favorite seedblends, depending on my plot location, are ImperialWhitetail Clover, Extreme or Imperial Alfa-Rack PLUS. Aproduct like Imperial Winter-Greens is also great for lateseason hunting in the northern part of the country.

CLOSING

Properly managed forest habitat often providesnumerous natural food sources beneficial to whitetails.Supplemented with high-quality food plots, the nutri-tional value of any piece of property can result inincreased deer numbers, healthier animals and biggerantlers. Like any food source, a food plot will also recruitnon-resident deer, encouraging them to spend moretime on the property you intend to hunt. The longerthey stay, the more likely they are to establish beddingareas and become long-term tenants.

Establishing food plots in hard-to-reach places iscertainly not a walk in the park. As with any sport, suc-cess seems to come to those who work harder thaneveryone else. The same holds true with hunting bigbucks. In my opinion placing successful food plots inareas never used before is a step in the right directionand an investment worth making. W

HOW I DO IT…(Continued from page 10)

P L A N T I N G D AT E S for Imperial Winter-Greens™

Call for planting dates


July1 - August 1

Coastal: Feb 1 - March 1Southern Piedmont: Feb 15 - April 1Mountain Valleys: March 1 - April 15

July 15 - Sept 15

Aug1 - Oct 1

North: July 15 - Sept 15South: Aug1 - Oct 1

North: July 20 - Aug 1*South: July 15 - Aug 15*

July 1 - Sept 15

July 15 - Sept 15

Sept 15 - Nov 15

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

North: Aug 15 - Oct 1South: Sept 5 - Oct 20

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

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

North: Sept 15 - Nov 15Central: Sept 25 - Nov 15South: Sept 25 - Nov 15

July 15 - Sept 1

Aug1 - Sept 30


&Maps

Geographic tools “map” huntingsuccessBy Brad Herndon

MegabucksMegabucks

Bra

d H

ern

do

n

The author hunted this buck for fouryears before he harvested the trophy.

A subtle hilltop field funnel theauthor found on a topographic map

led to the successful hunt.

Around 5:30 p.m.Hicks heard a deer walk-ing. He diligentlysearched the hillsideleading up to the sad-

dle and was finally able tosee the deer. It was a buck, and defi-

nitely a shooter. At 60 yards, the maturewhitetail stopped broadside and Hicks’ Buckhammer

sabot dropped the 4 1/2-year-old, 10-point buck in histracks. The deer field-dressed at a healthy 190 pounds. Itscored 151 1/8-inches gross, 148 1/8-inches net – certainly adandy buck.

Interestingly, David Hicks will tell you his success is adirect result of using maps in his hunting strategies. A fewyears ago Hicks started using topographical maps exten-sively, and the result of his hunting efforts since then hasbeen seven mature bucks in nine years. In addition to hisdandy buck from 2005, his 2004 buck scored 155 4/8-inch-es gross. Those are great back-to-back bucks in almost anystate.

By studying the contour lines on topographical maps,Hicks is able to pick out strategic ambush locations in theterrain in which to place his tree stands. Saddles are one ofthe hottest funnels Hicks has found in his hilly region, butinside corners and other terrain corridors whitetails usehave also produced for him. Hicks will readily admit thatstudying maps has enabled him to recognize key ambushlocations that he totally overlooked in his early years ofhunting.

Throughout the nation, stories such as David Hicks’ arecommonplace because more and more each year, deerhunters are learning the value of using maps in their hunt-ing plans. However, many hunters out there still have a lotto learn about the use of maps. I’ve been using maps in myhunting strategies since the 1970s, and in the rest of thisarticle I’ll explain four different types of maps and how eachcan work to make you a more successful whitetail hunter.

THE PLAT MAP

The four different types of maps used in deer huntingare plat, aerial, topographical, and soil maps. The Plat mapshows the ownership of property in an area. They are handyin many ways. For example, if I’m looking for property tolease in a certain area, I’ll check out good-looking regions,then go to my plat map and see who owns the property.Then it’s a simple matter to look in the phone book and calland greet the landowner by name.

I have plat maps of regions in several different states,so I also use them when going door-to-door obtaining per-


David Hicks wasexcited when he gotoff work on Friday,

Nov. 18, 2005, and arrivedat his hunting spot. Awest wind was what hadhis adrenalin flowingbecause it would allowhim to hunt a subtle sad-dle he had located in aridge that ran north andsouth. Entering from theeast, Hicks cautiouslymade his way up to theprime ambush point andplaced his stand in a treefacing west. The time was4:05 p.m.

Saddles in hilly regions are often the bestplaces to ambush bucks. This topographicmap shows three idleal saddles.

Brad Herndon

mission to hunt, which, by the way, can still be accom-plished in some areas of our nation.

Location of property is determined by latitude (northand south) and longitude (east and west) descriptions. Oneach plat map, these locations are shown and section num-bers are recorded on the map. The good news about this isthat locations and section numbers are the same on plat,aerial, topographical and soil maps. This means informationcan accurately be transferred from one type of map toanother type of map.

This means if you’re hunting a certain property, youcan get the location from a plat map; and by measuringmap scales, you can draw your property lines onto theother three types of maps. This way you know exactlywhere the property lines lie regarding the terrain. This helpsimmensely when posting a piece of land.

THE AERIAL MAP

The aerial map is a picture of the countryside takenfrom above, either by plane or satellite. It’s a valuable mapfor the deer hunter because it enables him to pick out nar-row terrain features whitetails will naturally funnel throughwhen they are moving around. For example, if a woodlot isL-shaped, the aerial map will reveal the inside corner that

deer will travel through during daylight hours. Narrow strips of timber or brush deer travel through,

such as timber along streams or fencerows, are also easilyspotted on the aerial map. And, of course, roads, houses,barns, ponds, lakes and other landmarks are easily identifi-able. All in all, the aerial map is an extremely valuable hunt-ing tool for the deer hunter. But it has one weakness – itdoesn’t show elevation contour lines, so it is difficult todetermine how flat or hilly the land is.

THE TOPOGRAPHICAL MAP

If I could pick only one type of map to use, the topo-graphical map would be it. Simply put, the topo map is adrawing of a region made by taking aerial photographs andthen using photogramettric methods to record this infor-mation. The finished product shows roads, streams, houses,barns, many fencerows, and more; but most of all, it revealsthe elevations in a region by implementing elevation con-tour lines on the map.

Most topo maps in the United States are the 7.5-minutequadrangle size that covers about 60 square miles. Eachcontour elevation line on this scale map represents a 10-foot change in elevation. Every fifth contour elevation lineis accentuated, so each 50-foot change in elevation is easy


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Topographic maps will put you on hot spots quickly, especially in hilly regions. Maps can save a lot of walking.

to see. Once a deer hunter learns to read the topo map, hewill be able to discover almost all strategic terrain featuresfound on the aerial map, plus many more.

For instance, in a hilly region, a saddle (a low place ina ridgeline that drops down and then comes back up, muchlike a horse saddle) is easy to identify by “reading” the con-tour elevation lines. This is impossible to accurately do onthe aerial map since it is a flat photograph of the terrain andusually doesn’t include elevation contour lines. In addition,awesome deer ambush spots such as hilltop field funnels,converging hubs on ridgetops, prominent points in hillyregions and benches in the hills are all revealed to thetrained eye by using the topo map.

Interestingly, a few hunters will tell me they don’t needa topographical map since they know their hunting regionlike “the back of their hand.” While it doesn’t seem likely,I’ve located hunting hot spots in areas I’ve hunted for years,simply by diligently studying a topo map in my easy chair.And some of these hot spots were in locations I had actu-ally walked through to get to what I thought were the realhot spots. This happens because studying maps enablesyou to take your time and consider all factors that mightmake a location productive, especially for mature deer.

For example, when you are looking at a map in yourden at home, the emotion of seeing deer sign is removed

from your thoughts. While sign is important to me – espe-cially large rubs since they indicate a mature deer is cruis-ing the area – location is the most critical factor when itcomes to killing trophy bucks. Moreover, a ton of hot deersign may lie in a hilly valley, begging you to put your standthere; but your success rates in this placement will be lowat best because this particular type of terrain locationfound in valleys results in changing wind directions on andoff all day.

Conversely, an inside corner that is on high groundonly one-fourth mile away may look like a dismal spotbecause it only has a single deer trail skirting the corner andfew rubs or scrapes nearby. Yet this inside corner may turnout to be the key to killing the best bucks in the region. Thisis true for three reasons.

First of all, the inside corner is likely to be located nextto a pasture or grain field. This provides an ideal, low-impact entry to the stand site when the correct wind isused. Secondly, the inside corner is a half-funnel that willpull whitetails through it when they are out traveling duringdaylight hours. And thirdly, because this inside corner is

located on high ground, the wind remains consistent out ofthe predicted wind direction for the day, rather thanswirling around like it does in low-lying areas in the hills.

Topographical maps are also invaluable when huntingout-of-state since you can read the lay of the land and pickout key deer travel corridors before you ever leave home.It’s common to walk right to a hot location in another stateeven though you’ve never stepped foot in that forestbefore. I’ve done it many times, and so have many otherdeer hunters.

Incidentally, the one weakness the topographical maphas is that it doesn’t show all of the brush in the terrain likethe aerial map does. A fencerow that has grown up in heavycover, thus providing a breakline whitetails will travel along,is one example of where the aerial mapbeats the topo map.While I favor the topo map overall, I use both the topo andaerial maps when planning a hunting strategy of an area.This way I have all bases covered.

I personally know hundreds of whitetail hunters whoare now using topographical maps; and without fail, each ofthem have told me they have become more successful


Jay GregoryHost, The Wild Outdoors

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The aerial map is a picture

of the countryside taken

from above, either by

plane or satellite. It’s a

valuable map for the deer

hunter because it enables

him to pick out narrow

terrain features whitetails

will naturally funnel

through when they are

moving around.

hunters since they started using both types of maps. Admittedly, it does take some time and effort to fully

understand map hunting; and to shorten up the learningcurve, three years ago I wrote a book entitled, MappingTrophy Bucks. It explains everything about map huntingyou need to know, and I have to say I have been extremelyhappy that I shared with others what I know about maphunting since the book has been one of the best-sellingdeer hunting books in the nation over the past two years. (Ihave listed in a sidebar where the book can be purchased.)

SOIL SURVEY MAPS

The soil survey map is a map that doesn’t get a lot ofpress. Essentially, it is a complete compilation of every typeof soil found in each county in the United States. This mapexplains where each type of soil is located within eachcounty, what that particular type of soil consists of, andwhat crops will best grow on that soil.

The soil map is obviously valuable to those huntersrunning a quality deer management program in their hunt-ing area since it allows them to pinpoint the most fertilesoils on their properties. The soil maps also tell them whattype of food plot products will grow best in that location. Ifthe location contains wetter soil, Imperial Whitetail Cloverwill do well. If the soil is well-drained, then Alfa-Rack PLUSmay be the best product to use. And if the soil is dry anddroughty, then Extreme may produce the most nutritiousbrowse for your deer.

As with the topo map, some deer hunters don’t see thevalue of the soil map because “dirt is dirt.” This simply isn’ttrue. In fact, soil types can change dramatically within a fewfeet. One half of a food plot may look great while the otherhalf doesn’t look so hot. This leads the food plot managerto believe he did something wrong in one half of the plot,such as not getting the lime or fertilizer spread evenly,when in fact the soil types changed within that small plot.

At this time, roughly 80 to 90 percent of the coun-ties in the United States are covered by a Soil SurveyGeographic Database that can be obtained on CD for

either no fee or a nominal fee at your county NaturalResources Conservation Service office. Few deerhunters know about this soil survey database, but it


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Research = Results.

A Soil Geographic Database on CD shows different types of soils overlaid on an aerial map. It also contains atopographic map overlay and much more. They are available at your local Natural Resource ConservationService office.

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should be a must-have for every hunter.

USING A SOIL SURVEY GEOGRAPHIC DATABASE

After placing the soil survey database of your county

in your computer, simply click on the township where yourhunting area is located. This will bring up an aerial map ofthis township. From here, click on the Zoom-In tool, andthen click on the map to make it bigger. After locating yourproperty, you can click on Soils, Streams, and various other

items and they will show on your map. The Soils feature iswhat will tell you about the types of soils in your area. If youwish, you can even click on Topographic Map, and your mapwill convert from an aerial map to a topo map. It’s awesomehow it works.

Now for a neat feature I use a lot. Let’s say you’re inaerial view, and you zoom in to a field where you want toplace a food plot. By clicking on the Acreage Tool, youcan draw in the plot on the map the size you think youwould like to make it. Once this is completed, a windowwill appear that tells you the size of the plot in acres, andit will also tell the yield per acre of various products thatmight be planted in the plot. Included are corn, soybeans,hay, pasture, winter wheat and more, depending on thecounty.

To give you an idea of how quickly soil typeschange, I drew in a food plot of 1 1/4 acres in a corner ofa field that just happened to have a change in soil types.The chart of this small plot informed me that one half ofthe plot would produce 80 bushels per acre of cornwhile the other half would yield 115 bushels per acre.This shows the dramatic differences in soils within asmall area.

In summing up, this article has covered the four typesof maps that will provide valuable information to a deerhunter. The plat map can help you find property to hunt,buy or lease. The aerial map will increase your hunting skillsand success rate by revealing key hunting locations to you.The topographical map will reveal even more hot deer fun-nels than the aerial map since it shows the contour eleva-tions of your hunting areas. And finally, the soil survey mapwill allow you to grow better crops in your food plots andthus grow healthier and bigger deer.

In the end, mastering the use of maps will resultin more megabucks on your wall. It’s worked for thou-sands of hunters in the last few years, and it will workfor you. W


n >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>B

oth topographical and aerial maps are invaluable in scouting, both on familiar and unfamiliar land. You have several options for obtaining

your aerial and topographical maps. If you have an Internet connection you can visit www.mytopo.com and this will connect you to a Web

site where you can buy both aerial and topo maps. These maps can even be centered over the exact area you are going to hunt and can be

ordered waterproofed. They run about $15 each.A related and extremely useful site, www.mapcard.com, for a small annual fee, allows you to locate your hunting property, view both aeri-

al and topo maps, measure the acreage of whatever you desire, calculate distance, insert waypoints to track deer sign, and many other useful fea-tures. You can then save and/or print your custom map. It’s an extremely useful tool for deer hunters.

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) is the source of all mapping information in the United States. They also list all typographicalmap symbols on their Web page, plus they list all business partners they have who sell topographical and aerial maps, both on paper and on CD.Their Web site is www.usgs.gov or you can contact them at: USGS Information Services, Box 25286, Denver, CO 80225, phone 888-275-8747, fax303-202-4693.

The author’s latest book, “Mapping Trophy Bucks,” explains in detail how to use aerial, topographical and plat maps to figure out trophybuck movement patterns. It explains in easy-to-understand terms how deer use terrain and where and how you can set up and ambush them.The 192-page full-color book contains beautiful photography and many detailed how-to maps. For an autographed copy, send a check for $27.50to: Brad Herndon, 1838 E. St. Rd. 250, Brownstown, Indiana 47220.

Plat maps of your county can be purchased in various places. Local farm cooperatives often carry them, as do county court houses or evenreal estate agencies.

A Soil Survey Geographic Database CD of your county can be obtained from your local Natural Resources Conservation Service office. Lookin the phone book under Government, Federal Offices. By typing in www.nrcs.usda.gov/ and then clicking on your state, you will find much morevaluable information about the soils in your hunting area, and it’s free.

If you’re just beginning to use maps for the first time, the fastest way to learn how to use them is to hook up with an experienced map-read-er. If this isn’t possible, take an aerial map to an area you’re familiar with and walk the terrain as you study the map. This will help you under-stand the contour elevation changes shown on the topo map.

Both aerial and topographical maps are very useful when laying out food plots in strategic locations.


MICHIGAN

Buck of a Lifetime onImperial Clover

By Kevin Brown

My heart pounded in my chest and my knees wereshaking. I had watched the big 8-pointer foralmost 30 minutes, and I was a total wreck. He

was feeding within 25 yards of me and moving slowly

but steadily closer. As he cleared the overhangingbranches blocking his vitals, I began to draw. I was sucha basket case I could not get my bow to full draw. I hadwaited for almost half an hour for a shot opportunity,and now I could not draw my bow!

Last winter I purchased a 30-acre parcel of land insoutheast Michigan and began building a house at thewest end of the property. The property consists ofapproximately 24 acres of hardwoods surrounded byagricultural fields. The woods narrow at the east endand there is a small strip of open ground along the northedge of the woodlot adjoining one of the agriculturalfields. I felt it would be the perfect spot for a food plot.The soil was rich and moist with a pH near 7.0, so Idecided to plant a plot of Imperial Whitetail Clover inthe spring. The plot grew nicely, and although it strug-gled early with native grasses and weeds, the ImperialClover flourished. I hung a tree stand at the east edge ofthe clover. It was a perfect setup for a southwest wind.

I stayed out of the area until conditions to hunt thestand were perfect. As I approached the stand to hunt itfor the first time, I noticed several rubs. The location andposition of the rubs appeared to indicate a nice buckwas entering the food plot to feed in the evening. Thatfirst night I saw only a doe and her fawn. They fed on theclover and eventually passed through one of my shoot-ing lanes at 25 yards.

I was eager to hunt the stand again but made acommitment to wait until the conditions were again justright. The next time I hunted the stand was the last weekof October. The pre-rut was in full swing and there werenow some very nice rubs showing up on trees within 30yards of my stand. About an hour before dark, a doeand a fawn, possibly the same ones I had seen on myprevious sit in this stand, popped out of the woodsbehind me. I was watching the doe and fawn feed whena giant buck entered the field. He came out of a tree line

Kevin Brown has seen a surprising amount of buck activity onhis 30 acres after planting Imperial Clover.

that joined the woods at the east end of the property.The buck moved steadily toward the two feeding deergrunting with every step.

The buck was enormous – legitimate 170-classbuck. He was obviously scent- checking the doe. Oncehe realized the doe was not ready to breed, he turnedand disappeared into the corner where the tree linejoined the woodlot. Despite my efforts to call him with-in bow range, he vanished as quickly as he hadappeared.

Work and other commitments prevented me frombeing able to hunt for the next few days. The next timeI was able to hunt it was pouring down rain and the windwas gusting with speeds up to 30 mph. I took advantageof the conditions and hung a stand in the corner whereI had seen the big buck disappear several days before.

It was Nov. 11 before I had the opportunity to climbinto that stand. The morning dawned cold and clear. Ihad laid a scent trail using doe-in-estrous urine on theway in to my stand. About an hour after daybreak I sawthe first deer, a button buck. He fed beneath my standfor about 20 minutes. Then I heard another deerapproaching. It was a 1 1/2-year-old 8-point and he wasfollowing the scent trail right to my stand.

I watched the two deer milling around for quitesome time before I noticed three does cutting across thecut bean field. They were followed by three bucks, oneof which appeared to be a shooter. It was not the mon-ster I had seen earlier in the season but it appeared tobe a good buck. The young 8-point and the button buckmust have also noticed the deer because they bothheaded after them. There were now eight deer in the cutfield about 100 yards north of my Imperial Clover plot. Asecond button buck passed under my stand and joinedthem. I watched the nine deer for about 40 minutes. Thebiggest buck seemed to be tending one of the does.Any time one of the smaller bucks got too close, hewould run them off. Eventually, all nine deer bedded in ahedgerow dividing the large field.

The deer remained bedded until the last hour ofdaylight. While most of the deer became active – feed-ing, chasing and sparring – the bigger buck kept the doein the hedgerow until it was too dark for me to see.

The wind changed overnight, and even though Iwanted to hunt my clover plot stand, which was withina couple hundred yards of where I had observed all thedeer activity the previous day, I couldn’t risk it. I huntedanother nearby stand the next morning but didn’t see adeer. Throughout the day the wind gradually changeddirection again and by late afternoon it was blowing outof the southwest. There was no doubt about where I was

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Michael Strickland – Alabama I took my daughter, Emily, with me one afternoon andwe sat in a shooting house on one of our ImperialWhitetail Clover fields. We saw 17 to 20 deer on thefield. We lost count when they started moving aroundseven of the 17 to 20 were bucks. Imperial WhitetailClover is truly the best thing I have ever planted for thedeer.

Nick Wiles – Arizona The Imperial Whitetail Clover has the deer running to it.I also see alot more bigger bucks.

Troy Day – GeorgiaI love Imperial Whitetail Clover and the deer do, too.

Kyle Webb – IndianaWe have 24 acres and have seen 14 deer at one time ina 1/2-acre patch of Imperial Whitetail Clover. Duringspring and summer there were four bucks together inthe patch one 5-point, one 6-point, one 8-point and one12-point.

Francis Misiuk – Massachusetts I planted a field of Imperial Whitetail Clover. Prior tothis I rarely saw deer in the field but immediately beganseeing bucks when the clover came up. All summer Ivideo taped big bucks in the field, up to seven at once(all 8- and 10-pointers).

Dennis Weinstock – Wisconsin I planted Imperial Whitetail Clover on an old 2-acrefield. One day I climbed up into a tree, watched a for-mer dead 2-acre piece of land after two months ofgrowing come alive. That evening I watched 14 deerfeed on that plot — eight were bucks.


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The question then becomes, if nearly all of the mostrespected whitetail biologists stand behind this assertion,why aren’t more hunters willing to take more does? I believethe answer is that hunters are afraid of the potential dam-age they will do to their buck hunting.

A portion of this group simply believes more doeshave the potential to draw more bucks. They fear the dis-turbances associated with harvesting does will alert bucksto the fact they’re being hunted. As has been written manytimes, mature bucks are tough enough to harvest whenthey don’t know they’re being hunted. Once they do, theybecome exponentially more difficult.

Since keeping disturbances to a minimum are so vital-ly important to hunting success, does that mean we can’trisk harvesting does? Not in the least. However, one shoulddo it in a manner that minimizes the risk of damaging ourbuck hunting. Luckily, this can be accomplished.

A BREED APART

In order to do this, we must understand some basic dif-ferences between mature bucks and does. Luckily, outsideof the rut, mature bucks place a higher premium on safety

than family groups and are much more solitary animals.During the non-rutting phases of deer season, bucks havethe strong tendency to form their own bedding and trailsystems, which display the higher premium they place onpersonal safety. Assuming prime deer habitat is expansiveenough, they often don’t interact with family groups muchexcept at prime food sources. Even when it comes to foodhowever, it’s not uncommon for bucks to either feed bythemselves in remote corners or even select an inferiorfood source that provides increased safety.

This limited amount of information alone is very help-ful. Simply because we know that family group trails typi-cally endure more traffic, it’s easy to differentiate betweenthem and a buck trail. The beaten-down cow paths throughthe mature sections of woods are not likely locations tomeet Mr. Big, outside of the peak scraping, chase andbreeding phases of season. When further investigationreveals a mixture of adult deer and fawn tracks, we can feeleven more confident about this. On the flip side, bumpinginto a buck on the faint trail paralleling the thicket andadorned with a handful of rubs, is much more likely.

Still, common sense must be used. In areas where deerhabitat is limited, mature bucks and family groups often

must share the same trail systems. In that case, it’s eithershare or increase their exposure to danger.

Funnels are another obvious example. By definition, afunnel is a feature or combination of features that constrictdeer movement through a relatively narrow area. In thoseconditions, bucks and does can be forced to share the sametrail. As with most things, identifying doe trails also requiressome common sense.

Along with does being more tolerant of human activi-ty, they also have a matriarchal society that plays into thehunter’s favor. Doe groups, or clans, are typically comprisedof fawns, daughters, mothers, grandmothers, great-grand-mothers and so on.

The most mature, healthy clans tend to occupy thebest habitat, with subordinate clans filling in around thefringes. These clans are not unlike gangs that defend theirturf. When another clan feeds or beds within a more domi-nate clan’s comfort zone, they are commonly driven away.This is why one can often observe several different clansloosely grouped in separate areas of a large food source.

In habitats that have a surplus of does, the result is thatsome lesser clans are commonly pushed to areas that noself-respecting mature buck would step foot in outside of


Tricks for Taking Does –Without Hurting Your Buck HuntingBy Steve Bartylla

The concept of harvesting does to improve your buck hunting isn’t new. Thevast majority of readers fully understand the arguments behind this principle.Fewer does translates into more nutrition for bucks and tighter sex ratios,

resulting in increased competition for breeding rights. In turn, the hunter is offeredmore opportunities at bigger bucks.

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the breeding phase of season.

FORMULATING A PLAN

From these whitetail behavioral traits, we can beginformulating strategies for harvesting does with minimal dis-turbances. First, because of the limited interactionsbetween mature bucks and family groups outside of therut, it only makes sense that early and late season is whenhunters concerned about educating bucks harvest most oftheir does. Taking that simple approach alone can be a bighelp.

Next, hunters can focus their doe hunts toward areasthat bucks find less desirable. Fringe areas closer to humanactivity and more open areas of otherwise dense timber aregood starting points. With a quick foot-scout of the area,the sign will be a strong indicator as to whether it’s also fre-quented by mature bucks.

If the sign doesn’t indicate a bruiser is present, invest-ing several late afternoons in observing the area is a goodpractice. This will not only further ensure that harvesting adoe won’t hurt the hunter but watching the family groupsincreases the odds of getting stand placement right thefirst time. Even when the right area is targeted, the fewertimes a hunter must get in and out of that area, the less like-ly they are of tipping their hand to Mr. Big.

USING FOOD PLOTS TO HARVEST DOES

It is also no secret that the best food plots for takingbucks contain highly desirable plantings, which are one-halfto two-acres in size and surrounded by protective cover.However, the best food plot management systems shouldalso take doe harvest into account. Because we understandthe specific traits that bucks seek, we can use that informa-tion to supplement our food plot plan with plots designedfor safely harvesting does.


Putting out the welcome mat for deer is as easy as pouring from a jug.

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Because of Magnet Mix’s incredible attractiveness, some states may consider it bait.Remember to check your local game laws before hunting over Magnet Mix.

Research = Results.

BUCK PLOTS VS. DOE PLOTS

For example, on a 500-acre farm, with a decentamount of timber, two or three buck-killing plots can becreated along with one for does. The keys are positioningthe doe plot away from known buck activity, making it larg-er in size and targeting areas that provide a slightlydecreased illusion of safety.

Because of the competition for the smaller, moresecluded buck plots, as well as does not wanting to beharassed by bucks, some doe clans will be pushed to thelarger, more open doe plots. This is almost assured when apremium planting, such as Imperial Whitetail Clover, isoffered in the plot.

Provided that the food plot management system wasdesigned to allow low-impact entry and exit, we are almosthome free. All that is left is to exclusively hunt stands whenthe wind is right and refrain from over-hunting the plot.With that, along with observations validating the lack ofbuck activity, we have a location that promotes safe doeharvests.

REMOVAL

The last step in not harming the buck hunting is mov-ing the harvested does to an area void of deer activitybefore gutting. One can easily argue whether fresh gutpiles scare deer. What can’t be argued is that they drawcanines and other natural predators.

In most areas of the whitetail’s range, coyotes areabundant. Deer get very nervous when a pack of dogs arerunning around. Once coyotes find a free meal at a specificlocation they keep coming back looking for seconds. Thatalone makes gutting deer in areas void of deer activity asolid strategy.

Coyotes aren’t the only issue. In some areas of thewhitetail’s range, timber wolves, bears or large cats arecommon. Any one of those predators can have an impacton your deer hunting.

Obviously, for the image of hunting, we should also bemindful of where we field-dress our kills. With that in mind,look for locations away from prime deer habitat where thepotential of drawing predators is not as harmful, and wherethe area won’t harm hunting’s image. Taking that simplestep can be more important than one thinks.

CONCLUSION

Aside from the advantages of creating a habitat thatprovides bucks with a surplus of nutritious food, as well asone where bucks must compete harder for does, there areother compelling reasons to harvest does. For one, it pro-vides an excellent source of practice. As much as we try toput bucks up on a pedestal, mature does are every bit aswily as a cagey old buck. If hunters can consistently beatthe matriarch’s senses, they can feel confident when abruiser decides to enter weapon’s range. Furthermore, doemeat makes great freezer filler.

There is added benefit by specifically targeting doeswith nubbin buck fawns. Several studies have revealed thatthe percentage of yearling bucks dispersing to distantproperties is reduced when the doe is harvested. Sincemost readers of Whitetail News already provide their resi-dent deer with superior nutrition, their property’s buckfawns are commonly more robust than average. Obviously,keeping them at home is beneficial to the property’s futurehunting prospects.

Luckily, a savvy land manager can realize all of thesebenefits without harming their buck hunting. Throughunderstanding the basic differences between the traits ofmature bucks and does, creative food plot strategies andformulating sound hunting plans, ample does can be har-vested in a way that does nothing but benefit buck hunting.With that knowledge at our disposal, it no longer makessense not to skim the surplus does from our properties.Doing so only improves our buck hunting. W


KRAZE half 4c ad 5/11/06 1:57 PM Page 1

Buck of a Lifetime…(Continued from page 50)

headed that evening.It was Nov. 12, and based on what I had observed the

previous day, the rut was in full swing. Two hours beforedark I climbed into my stand overlooking the ImperialWhitetail Clover food plot. With about an hour of shootinglight left, I saw a deer emerge from the hedgerow where Ihad seen all the deer bed the previous day. The deer slow-ly worked his way down the hedgerow toward my food plotand my stand. It was the 8-point I had seen the day before.He was now all alone and looking to feed before going insearch of another hot doe. The buck fed on the clover, slow-ly heading in my direction.

I had been watching the buck for so long I was now atotal mess. The 8-point stepped into my shooting lanetotally oblivious to my presence 20 feet above him only 18yards away. I tried to draw my bow but could not. I couldfeel myself starting to panic. I had waited for 30 minutes foran opportunity to shoot and now that opportunity was slip-ping away.

I took a deep breath and again drew my bow. This time Ireached my anchor point and slowly settled my 20-yard pintight behind the buck’s front shoulder. I squeezed the triggeron my release and sent an arrow through the buck’s chest. Hekicked and spun and I heard him collapse only a short distanceaway. I sat down and tried to regain my composure.

After waiting an incredibly long 20 minutes I climbeddown and walked to where I had heard the buck crash. Ithanked God as I grasped his 8-point rack. The buck was nota trophy by many people’s standards and was not even thebiggest buck I had ever shot, but he was a true trophy to me.I had taken this buck on my own property, hunting over a foodplot that I had planted. It was an experience I will never forget.And the 170-inch buck is still out there somewhere. W

Fred Abbas and JoeHankins are two ofthe most successful

deer hunters roamingthe whitetail woods.Just about every year,these guys manage totake world-class bucks;I'm talking about white-tails of the highest cal-iber. While both haveamassed an unbeliev-able collection of trophywhitetails, their huntinglocations, tactics,philosophies and yearsof experience are as dif-ferent as night and day.Unlike many accom-plished deer hunters,though, these guys arewilling to share theirsecrets to success.

With 36 trophy bucks taken from Michigan in the record books, Fred Abbas ranks as Michigan’s most successfultrophy deer hunter.


ExpertsReveal Their SecretsHow two top deer huntersconsistently tag trophy-class whitetailsBy Captain Michael Veine

Fred AbbasFred Abbas is arguably the most successful trophy

deer hunter in Michigan. He has taken 36 bucks that quali-fy for the Michigan record books. Most were taken with abow, but some were taken with a gun. He has also killedscores of trophy bucks in other states as well, but hisMichigan bucks are the only ones he’s entered into thebooks. Michigan has some of the highest deer hunting pres-sure found in any state. For some perspective, in Michiganthere are more than 5,000 bowhunters for every Pope andYoung buck entered in the books, ranking Michigan as oneof the most challenging places to target trophy bucks. Thatfact makes Abbas’ accomplishments very remarkableindeed, and I can understand why he holds his Michigantrophies in such high esteem.

Abbas, now 66, lives in central Michigan, but hunts pri-marily in the southern part of the state. He’s retired from asupervisory job at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport and nowworks with his son, Greg, producing the popular huntingshow, “A-Way Outdoors” televised on the Men’s Channel.Fred started hunting late in life in his 20s and has been deerhunting for 45 years.

Abbas and his sons own or lease seven different prop-erties in southern Michigan.

“Food plots are a major part of our hunting strategy,”explained Abbas. “We like to have at least one ‘magnet’ ploton each of our properties. A magnet plot should be largeenough to provide plenty of forage for the deer so it is thefinal, prime destination for deer; and it should be located

centrally on the property.”Abbas also likes to have several strategically located

remote plots that are usually less than 1/2 acre in size.“We try to intercept the deer coming and going from

our food plots without crowding the food sources. Thatway, if we get busted by a buck, they are less likely to aban-don the food source and go nocturnal, thus becomingmuch harder to hunt,” he said.

“Imperial Whitetail Clover is our favorite food plot for-age choice; however, we have been having some exception-al luck with Alfa-Rack PLUS as well,” he said. “We have beenplanting some of our ‘magnet plots’ in alternating strips ofAlfa-Rack PLUS and Imperial Whitetail Clover. We even mixin strips of corn to add cover to the plots, which make themmore attractive to deer during the day. Deer like variety andwe provide that for them with our food plots.”

Keeping the hunting pressure light is one of Fred’s keyhunting strategies.

“We typically only hunt each property three or fourtimes a year. Exceptions are sometimes necessary, though,especially if we determine that a particular buck is vulnera-ble. In that case, we will target a buck until we either har-vest him or he changes his patterns and becomes unhunt-able,” he said.

One of his properties is located right on the Ohioboarder.

“The adjacent Ohio property gets pounded extremelyhard during Ohio’s gun season,” Abbas said. “Michigan’sgun season occurs earlier than Ohio’s. We stay completelyaway from that property of ours during Ohio’s gun season.The Ohio deer move onto our land to escape the pressure

and when they find our food plots and a total lack of humanintrusion there, they acclimate to the area and stick around.The adult buck population more than doubles during thatperiod. Once the Ohio gun season is over, we carefullymove in for the hunt and have been able to harvest manyfine bucks using that strategy.”

Abbas is particularly noted for his ability to find andsuccessfully hunt specific trophy bucks. He often goes togreat lengths to pattern and eventually bag individualbucks. That was the case in 1995 when he spotted from afarthe buck of a lifetime and dedicated himself to taking thatanimal.

“That buck was a rare mature whitetail in that he wasfairly active during the day, however, he was difficult to pat-tern, as his movements on our property were erratic,”Abbas said. “His main bedding area was off our property,and he would come onto our land once every three or fourdays. I had a heck of a time finding where he entered andexited our property. One day I spotted him from a distanceand noticed that his legs were muddy to his ankles. Therewas only one possible spot where he could have picked upthat mud, and when I checked it later that day, sure enough,I discovered where he was coming and going.

After surveying the situation, I moved a stand intoposition, and the next day I spotted him. As he passed 80yards away, it became clear that he was not going to comeany closer without some coaxing. During a previousencounter with the buck, I noticed some fresh puncturewounds on him. His behavior was not very aggressiveeither; so even though he was very large, he was probablynot the dominant buck in the area. With that in mind, I laidoff the ratting horns because I was afraid it might spookhim. Instead, I pressed my grunt call into action. After aseries of subtle contact calls, he worked his way into range,and I was able to cleanly harvest him with my bow. Thatbuck weighed 250 pounds dressed and scored 183 5/8,becoming the new county record.”

Abbas is primarily a bowhunter. He attributes a lot ofhis success to remaining as scent-free as possible. Besidesaggressive hygiene, Fred uses Scent-Lock clothing fromhead to toe. Although preferring bowhunting, Abbas alsotakes to the whitetail woods with a gun at times. He has ahuge collection of mounted trophies on public display atthe A-Way Outdoors headquarters. To find out more infor-mation about Fred Abbas, “A-Way Outdoors” televisionprogram or any of their products, visitwww.awayhunting.com or phone 989-435-3879.

Joe HankinsFor someone who has been deer hunting seriously for

only 13 years, 39-year-old Joe Hankins has certainly beenbusy tagging a bunch of big whitetails. During that period,he’s hung 25 deer heads from the walls of his home. Theyrange in scores from 125 to 181. Two of his trophies areBooners and a bunch surpasses 160 inches. He is a homebuilder by trade, but deer and turkey hunting are his realpassions.

The hunt that resulted in his second largest buck, a176-inch whopper, was a real heart-stopper. Hankins washunting a new spot in late October when the huge whitetailcame to within 10 yards of his stand. Unfortunately, theinstant he came to full draw, the buck stepped forwardwhere some brush blocked his shot. He held at full draw forseveral minutes but eventually had to let the bow down. Ofcourse, as soon as he did that, the buck finally steppedclear, and Hankins was too spent to draw his bow again. Thebuck proceeded to work a couple scrapes right below hisstand as Hankins kept trying to pull the string back. After 10minutes of this nightmare, he finally managed to yank itpast the peak weight into the valley, took aim and at 15yards, sent an arrow through the vitals.

Hankins lives near Martinsville, Ind. He’s killed a num-


Fred Abbas took this great buck in 1995 that weighed 250 pounds dressed and scored 183 5/8.

ber of good bucks in his home state of Indiana, but a lotof his trophies were taken in Illinois, a state famous for itsmonster whitetails. “I've been hunting in Illinois since 1995and have tagged at least one good buck there every year,”he said.

Hankins started out hunting in Illinois with an outfit-ter, and then he started leasing property. Desiring moreprime lands to hunt on, Hankins eventually formed a hunt-ing club where he pools the money from many hunters tosecure more and larger lease lands. It takes a ton of timeand effort to line up those leases and also scout andorganize the club’s hunting activities. Judging by thedegree of his hunting success though, it may very well beworth it.

“I travel to Illinois at least every other week during theoff season,” Hankins said. “During the fall hunting season, Ispend every day possible hunting our leases. Some of ourproperties are leased by the week, which means that I haveto scout these areas very quickly, hang stands and thenhunt the spots, all the while trying not to spook any deer.This ‘power scouting’ technique relies heavily on the use ofaerial photos and topographic maps so scouting sessionsand hunting effort can be maximized.

“The hard work never seems to end,” Hankins contin-ued. “We typically hang a dozen or more stands on eachproperty we lease, so by the end of the season, I’ve climbedmore trees than a squirrel. That’s more than 100 standsevery year. When I’m not hunting in Illinois, I’m home inIndiana, where I also like to deer hunt as much as possible.By the end of the season, I’m exhausted from the intensepace of my hunting lifestyle.”

Even though Hankins hunts on some awesome tro-phy-whitetail properties, those big bucks are certainly notstupid.

“If you want to consistently harvest trophy-class bucksanywhere, then you need to remain as scent-free as possi-ble,” he explained. “I like to shower using scent-eliminatingsoap before every hunt. All of my hunting clothes arewashed in scent-free detergent designed for hunters. Whennot worn, these clothes are hung outside in the open air

where they won't pick up foreign odors. I also spray odoreliminator on myself before each hunt.”

Hankins also relies heavily on food plots for success.

Most of his leases have ample agricultural crops of corn andsoybeans. He will seed annuals right over corn and soy-beans during the late summer to keep deer on his proper-ties after those crops are harvested. Hankins also hasImperial Whitetail Clover food plots in strategic spots alongthe edges of certain large crop fields. The deer are drawnto the Imperial first as they enter fields, and that is where hesets up his treestands.

In 2004, I was fortunate to have been able to hunt oneof Hankins’ setups as a guest on his Indiana lease. On thelast day of my hunt, I intercepted a big 8-pointer as heheaded for a large Whitetail Clover plot that flanked apicked cornfield.

Hankins doesn’t use any commercial deer lures. Heinstead believes in low-impact hunting to keep the elementof surprise on his side. For much of the deer season, hedoesn’t much rely on calling, except during the prime rutperiod when the calls work best.

“If you call and rattle during non-prime periods, ittends to educate the deer, making the techniques lesseffective when they have the best chance for success,” heexplained.

Hankins likes to hunt very high. I’ve hunted from a fewof his stands, and one of them, at 50-feet high, ranks as thehighest stand I’ve ever climbed aboard. He rarely huntsbelow 30 feet and uses mostly hang-on style stands.

A high-tech bowhunter by choice, Hankins tries to stayon the leading edge with his equipment choices. He cur-rently shoots a Mathews bow and can consistently shootsoftball-sized groups at 50-yards.

Both Hankins and Abbas keep themselves in top phys-ical condition year-round. When you hunt as hard as theseguys do, keeping yourself in shape is critical to success.Both also pass up dozens of sub-trophy bucks every year,which is perhaps the single most important reason whythey shoot big bucks so consistently. You can’t kill the bigones if you settle on little bucks. W

This 181-inch monster was taken by Joe Hankins bowhunting in Illinois during 2004.

Joe Hankins has taken many bucks that have scored more than 160. This buck scored 176.



DOUBLE BULL AD

Customers do the talking about Institute products…Customers do the talking about Institute products…Jerry Dennis — Oklahoma

I have had athree acre fieldof ImperialWhitetail Cloverfor about fouryears now and itis still goingstrong. Does,fawns andturkeys use thefield constantly. Isee and hunt thebucks on ridgesabove the field.My son Robertshot a 14 point,146 inch deernear this field, and my wife has shot two bucks here.Robert’s picture is included. He had a broken ankle at thetime (basketball).

Terry Werley — PennsylvaniaLast year my son and I returned from a one year tour

in Afghanistan with the PA Army National Guard. Our entirefamily are avid deer hunters and my son and I spent manyhours thinking of the hunting that we were missing and howwe could improve the deer hunting on our 55 acres of landin Southeast PA. We decided that upon our return fromAfghanistan we would clear some woodland and plant a

food plot on our property hoping to hold the deer insteadof witnessing the deer's daily ritual of leaving our propertyfor the neighbors’ fields every evening. After several calls toyour customer service desk and talking with your knowl-edgeable staff we decided to plant Alfa-Rack on therecently cleared property. Prior to clearing the property soiltests were taken and found that it required a great deal oflime to get the soil to the proper PH level. Even with the lateplanting to our amazement the food plot of Alfa-Rack grewvery nicely and we hunted from the plot that fall harvesting

a nice 7 point and passing on several other bucks. In early April this year we decided to plant some

Whitetail clover in with the Alfa-Rack and as you can seefrom the pictures we have witnessed great results from thiscombination.

Attached are two pictures, one of the clearing processand the other of my son and I standing ankle deep in thelush Whitetail Clover and Alfa-Rack just prior to our firstcutting of the plot on June 30th. All this in less than a year.We are all just amazed at the results.

PS: Thank you for the hard copy of your WhitetailInstitute Magazine. I read this cover to cover even beforelooking at my many hunting magazines that I receive. Keepup the good work. Also we have set up a digital cameranear the food plot and the many deer that we have pho-tographed can be seen in the evening though the night andin the early morning. They stay in the area around the plota lot. Our theory worked. This fall we will be clearing anoth-er plot on the property.

Rudolph Gonzales — TexasThis picture speaks for itself. This food plot of Extreme

is located in Trans-Pecos region of Texas. We took twobucks, a 6 point and a 10 point this year.

Robert Symm — TexasBefore using

No-Plow I mainlyhad oats or wheatplots for deer. Isaw numerousdoes and a fewbucks. Now I haveseen an increase inthe number ofbucks and anincrease in bodyand antler size.There also hasbeen an increasein the daytimeactivity aroundfood plots whereWhitetail Instituteproducts havebeen used.

Robert Grace — VermontKen Eastman of Wildlife Habitat Consultants in East

Hardwick, Vermont, has been a tremendous resource dur-ing my recent planting to improve wildlife habitat. We havesuccessfully experimented with most of your products andhave been extremely happy with Imperial Whitetail Clover.Enclosed is a picture on my half acre plot of Whitetail

Clover. I saw the moose several times in the evening. Duringthe last hunting season my 15-year-old son, Jonathan,received one of a very few lottery moose hunting licensesfor our zone in Central Vermont. After school on the thirdday of the five day hunt he bagged a very nice bull moose.The excitement amongst his family and friends after his firstsuccessful hunt will never be forgotten. On two occasionsafter the season ended I called a second bull moose outinto our Imperial Whitetail Clover patch. Another twist toour story involved a discussion between Ken Eastman andour local Vermont wildlife biologist. The biologist was of theopinion that moose did not eat clover. Our story and pho-tographs convinced him that they do indeed like theImperial Whitetail Clover.

Ron Loomis — VermontWhitetail Clover really works. I didn’t think it was grow-

ing because it didn’t look like it was coming up but when Ilooked closer I saw it was being eaten closely to the

ground. Enclosed is a picture of a 10-pointer I took going tothe food plot. It was the biggest deer we have ever takenon our property.

Johnnie Walter — West VirginiaThis is a picture of a deer my son shot with his bow this

past November. It is the largest deer we have ever taken onmy father’s farm in eastern West Virginia. It was an 11 pointthat gross scored 130 and was killed while chasing doesthat were coming to feed on the Imperial Whitetail Clover.He was seen a couple of times eating the clover prior to myson harvesting him. My son Josh is 18 years old and this isthe first nice deer he has ever harvested. He is currently in


(Continued from page 21)

ut Institute products…t Institute products…

Send Us Your Photos!Do you have a photo and/or story of a big buck, or a

small buck or 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 NewsAttn: Field Tester Response

239 Whitetail Trail, Pintlala, AL 36043

college majoring in Wildlife Management and this interestwas brought on by planting food plots and watching thewildlife that comes to them. We planted a competitor’sbrand of clover at the same time as planting the ImperialWhitetail but the deer seem to all migrate to the Imperialbrand. Thanks for a great product.

Sam Mancari — VirginiaImperial Whitetail Clover is an excellent product, our

hunt club members argue over who is going to hunt over

these plots. Our hunt club also plants approximately 6-8acres of No-Plow every fall and the deer can’t stay out of it.Great stuff too.

Steve Jost — WisconsinI have planted your Alfa-Rack and Imperial Clover for 6

years now. I have seen healthier and larger bucks every yearwith your products and Q.D.M. This past year opening dayof gun season I passed up 10 different bucks. Your productswork twice as good as co-op bought clover or alfalfa.Thanks.

Eddie Crow — ArkansasThe deer have been attracted like magnets to the

Extreme. Thursday evening before our gun season openedin Arkansas I spotted this buck in my food plot grazing onExtreme. I watched this buck from the porch of my cabin,200 yards, for about 30 minutes until darkness set in. We

hunted the food plot and adjacent wooded area SaturdayAM and PM and Sunday AM without seeing any bucks. Wedecided to hunt mid-day Sunday and the pay off for mybrother-in-law, Gerry Busken was great. He shot this 9 pointat 1:30 chasing a doe approximately 300 yards from thefood plot. The mass is great and inside spread is 18 inches.He has not yet had the buck scored but for our area it wasa beast. You cannot sit on the porch a day without seeingseveral deer. During bow season I saw a small 8 and a fewspikes and numerous does. During the Thanksgiving huntmy 9 year old son shot his first deer, a 4 point, from theporch at 210 yards with a .223. This buck was grazing in thefood plot and had been for 20 minutes before we got ouract together to shoot.

Mark Self — TennesseeI am writing you on behalf of a friend of mine. His name

is Danny Payne from Tennessee. I have attached pictures ofa deer Danny killed on my farm outside of Memphis inArlington, Tennessee. The deer was shot during the tail endof our second rut. The buck was with a doe and was killedover an Imperial Clover food plot we planted back in 2001.The deer scored 159 1/8 gross and 157 net by state officials.It weighed 230 lbs. on the hoof and was aged at 5 1/2 yearsold. The story gets better. After Danny shot he noticed aneven larger buck across the field headed toward the clover.Danny guessed the second to score about 180 or so. I havebeen hunting this property since I was a kid, and the largestdeer killed prior to us planting Imperial Clover scored 135.That is quite an improvement on our deer and I owe it to 2things — our deer management program and your qualityproduct. There is no doubt in my mind that without the yearlong protein source they have now, we would not be seeingthe same caliber deer. Imperial Whitetail Clover works andI challenge anyone to find a better nutrition source for yourwildlife. It simply can not be done. I thank the whole Scottfamily and the Whitetail Institute staff for their effort inimproving the outdoor way of life.

Joe Szabo — New JerseyPlanted Extreme and what a difference. It took off right

away. In early November it was 10-12 inches high. The deerlove it. This year I’ve seen more quality bucks than ever

before! I took a 160 class 9 point (see photo) in Iowa com-ing off an Imperial Clover plot. W


OHIO

Vet Makes ScientificProduct Choices

By Mike Dyer

This story is not necessarily about me, but it allowsme to give you some background about my farmand its management. I am a veterinarian here in

the Tri-State area of Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky. Ireceived my Masters Degree in Animal Science from theOhio State University with emphasis on reproductivephysiology and ruminant nutrition.

I have always been a wildlife enthusiast, conserva-tionist and hunter, but now with added science andknowledge, I’m enjoying whitetail management on myown 217-acre farm. In 1997 I purchased one of the fewremaining dairy farms that went out of business in ourcounty. Heavy grazing and farm management haddepleted deer browse, but the cropland did give deersome nutrition.

I knew very little about whitetail management untilI went on a hunting trip to Alabama where I was intro-duced to a management system of food plots.

I also learned the importance of managing doepopulations, which was easy here in Ohio because of thedoe gun-season regulations. I discovered that buck-to-doe ratio management coupled with a quality and quan-tity nutrition program was a powerful combination. Addto this the genetics of southern Ohio deer and allowingyoung bucks to reach their potential and we had to havea successful formula.

We started using Whitetail Institute products in1999, and my first experience was with a plot of ImperialWhitetail Clover. The deer ate it so fast I had to rethinkthe size and number of my food plots. I learned the con-cept of utilizing two types of plots—some for bulk nutri-tion and other smaller plots to attract and funnel deerfor hunting opportunities.

This was especially important when youngsterswere involved. We developed shooting hutches, and onein particular was a 4- by 8-foot box, 20 feet in the air ona ridge top that was once an apple orchard. Instead ofclearing the entire ridge as a food plot, we cut 20- to40-foot-wide shooting lanes from the corners—front,back and sides of the hutch— in a 360-degree wagonwheel fashion. We planted a variety of forages in theselanes, including Imperial Clover, No-Plow, Alfa-Rack andExtreme. The areas that remained were rich in honey-

P R O D U C T P O I N T E R SIMPERIAL NO-PLOW

No-Plow contains a mixture of plants that mature and attract deerfrom early fall through late winter.

• Up to 36% protein• Annual• Plant 1/4 inch or

less depth• Plant 18-25

pounds per acre• Fast growing• Perfect for log-

ging roads andclearcuts, etc.

• Minimal tillageequipmentrequired

Tony Oakley – Alabama Over the past several years, I have changed huntinglands quite a lot, due to landowner changes and pricesin leases. However, everywhere I’ve hunted I’ve tried toplant No-Plow, and it always draws deer, and drawsthem quickly. It is the best early season plot I know of.

Robert Spencer – MichiganI bought 60 acres two years ago and saw eight buckswith the largest scoring about 100. After using No-Plowthe next spring, I counted 13 different bucks, numerousdoes and fawns and turkeys. At least four of the bucksI’d consider good shooters.

Shane Skinner – OhioThe first year I planted No-Plow I took a buck with mybow that grossed just over 152 and netted 146-3/8 typ-ical. I found his sheds from the year before and theygrossed around 110 to 115. That’s 40 inches of growth inone year!

Robert Breeden – TennesseeOur best luck has been with No-Plow on small plots inthe woods. It grew well and is devoured by deer.

John Riley – TexasSince using Imperial No-Plow I have seen biggerantlered bucks, and heavier bodied deer.

No-Plow is great annual food plot product for poor soil, low-light areas and for excellent attraction during huntingseason.



suckle, crabapple and multiple other species of brushand browse.

Tall trees were removed to allow sunlight to reachthe browse and the plots. The mature bucks that werereluctant to step out into a large plot in daylight hoursfelt more at ease in these narrow shooting plots. In gen-eral all the deer would bypass a corn feeder and pre-ferred to graze these areas. That made great shootingopportunities for our young hunters. It allowed themtime to observe deer behavior, pick the right deer, scanthe heads for buttons and make clean shots.

The shooting box also allowed the kids to movebecause they have to move but also shielded soundsand scent. Plenty of snacks, hand and feet warmers,grunt tubes, binoculars, bleat cans, rattling antlers andhand-held video games have all been a part of the hunt.My motto is, “Keep them warm, dry, fed and busy.”

On the rare occasion that we didn’t see deer, andthe kids got bored, we quit. We never forced a kid to sit

miserably in a stand for a sport that is supposed to befun. Forcing them to sit is the best way to get a kid togrow up hating hunting. When it stops being fun, westop doing it.

This past Ohio youth hunt was just one of our manysuccess stories. Not only did all five kids get deer, one 8-pointer was Bradley Endicott’s first deer ever and what atrophy. I heard yahoos and screams of jubilation fromBrad and his dad from a half-mile away. Bradley’s dadwas quick to point out, “This is a once-in-a-lifetime buckfor many people, and many hunting shows on televisionharvest bucks of lesser quality. Bradley could hardlyspeak over his excitement. It was surreal. He kept recit-ing the event and couldn’t believe that the buck wasactually his.”

Thanks to Whitetail Institute and quality deer man-agement we have seen an increase in buck numbers,rack size and hunting opportunities for our youngsters.

I chose Whitetail Institute products because veteri-narian sales and pharmaceutical representatives houndme frequently, and I have to choose the best product for

my animal patients. I have learned to look at the scientific research

behind the product, the length of time it has been inuse on the market and its successes and failures,including side effects, before making a choice. Thisselection process was the same filter I used in choos-ing Whitetail Institute products. I read every publica-tion, magazine article and watched every televisionprogram or video I could to learn about the productsbefore purchasing. I also learned to pay close atten-tion to the instructions on how and when to plant.These, plus soil testing, lime and fertilizer instructions,are critical to any food plot success. W

FA L L P L A N T I N G D AT E S

for Imperial Whitetail® Clover, Chicory Plus™,Alfa-Rack™, Alfa-Rack Plus™, Extreme™, Secret Spot™ and No-Plow™


Do not plant in fall

Aug 1 - Sept 1

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

Aug 10 - Sept 30

Sept 1 - Nov 1

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

North: July 15 - Aug 20South: July 20 - Aug 25

Aug 1 - Aug 31

Aug 1 - Sept 15

Sept 15 - Nov 15

North: Sept 5 - Nov 15Central: Sept 15 - Nov 15

South: Sept 25 - Nov 15North: Aug 25 - Oct 15South: Sept 5 - Oct 30

North: Sept 5 - Oct 15Coastal: Sept 15 - Nov 15South: Sept 25 - Oct 15

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

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

Aug 1 - Sept 1

Aug 20 - Sept 30

We started using Whitetail

Institute products in 1999, and my

first experience was with a plot of

Imperial Whitetail Clover.

The deer ate it so fast I had to

rethink the size and number of my

food plots.

The mature bucks that were

reluctant to step out into a large

plot in daylight hours felt more at

ease in these narrow shooting plots.

In general all the deer would

bypass a corn feeder and preferred

to graze these areas.

That made great shooting

opportunities for our young

hunters.

This past Ohio youth hunt was just

one of our many success stories.

Not only did all five kids get deer,

one 8-pointer was

Bradley Endicott’s first deer ever

and what a trophy.

If you huntwhitetails duringtheir breeding

season, as most of usdo, but don’t under-stand the breedabledoe’s behavior, youcould be in trouble.Like it or not, the buckyou hunt is at themercy of the estrousdoe. Or is he?

If you huntwhitetails duringtheir breeding

season, as most of usdo, but don’t under-stand the breedabledoe’s behavior, youcould be in trouble.Like it or not, the buckyou hunt is at themercy of the estrousdoe. Or is he?

Plotting out-of-season buck movements, monitor-ing weather conditions, determining deer food sources,calculating moon phases and so on may be importantand can contribute to success. No doubt there are ahost of factors that sometimes make a particular buck’stravel patterns predictable. But, all too often, theestrous doe is the most potent force determining abuck’s whereabouts, behavior and vulnerability. All yourcareful plotting and meticulous strategy are likely to goright down the tube, should the estrous doe unexpect-edly appear in the wrong place at the right time.

THE ENERGY BALANCE

Wildlife managers are also concerned about deeractivity, especially during the breeding season, but fordifferent reasons. There is a definite relationshipbetween the amount of energy taken in (food) versusthe amount spent (activity) and deer welfare. A nega-

tive energy balance during autumn, for whatever reason,can adversely impact deer physical condition, interfere withreproduction and even lower deer survival rates during thecritical winter months.

The rut is characterized by greatly increased activity,among all deer, but especially so on the part of bucks.Therefore, the rut is energetically demanding, and some-times greatly increased buck activity can be linked to high-er than normal buck mortality during the winter season.

There is also mounting evidence that a negative ener-gy balance during autumn can adversely impact the doe’sphysical condition and her breeding success. This meansthat “social stress” can have the same deleterious effects as“nutritional stress.” Increased social (behavioral) stress canresult in elevated activity levels, increased foraging, dam-age to the environment, depressed physical condition,delayed breeding, lower conception rates and ultimatelylead to poor quality (or possibly no) progeny.

These so-called “sociobiological” relationships have

not been thoroughly studied. However, given theirpotential importance, the need to better understandsuch seemingly subtle things as activity rhythms of theestrous doe takes on a high level of importance.

THE SCIENCE OF DOE ACTIVITY

Since I researched activity patterns of estrouswhitetails nearly 30 years ago, I found a more recentarticle in the Journal of Mammalogy by Rick Relyea andStephen Demarais, titled “Activity of Desert Mule DeerDuring the Breeding Season,” rather interesting. I wassomewhat dismayed, however, to learn that, after anextensive literature search, the mule deer researcherscould only find two studies (including one of my own)that quantified deer behavioral changes during thebreeding season. Obviously, this subject has not beenthoroughly investigated and is deserving of furtherstudy.


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Using motion-sensitive radio collars, Relyea andDemarais found that activity for both mule deer bucks anddoes increased from prerut to postrut. They also observedthat bucks were most active around sunrise and sunset(crepuscular) during prerut and postrut, but that femalemule deer shifted their normal daily rhythm from beingmost active during twilight hours during prerut to constantduring peak rut, followed by low levels of crepuscular activ-ity during postrut.

Relyea and Demarais speculated that changes in dailyactivity patterns of females could be due to harassment offemales by males. In their words, “Assuming our radio-col-lared females were bred during peak rut and a male couldnot differentiate a bred female from an unbred female until

he approached her closely, pregnant females could reduceinteractions with males by becoming less active duringtimes of greatest activity of males and more active duringtimes of lowest activity of males.”

Since the behavior of mule deer differs quite markedlyfrom that of whitetails during the breeding season, certainspecies differences in activity patterns during the rut areexpected. For one thing, male whitetails also move outsideof their normal home range but only during peak rut – notnormally throughout the prerut to postrut period, as in thecase of mule deer.

Most studies show that female whitetails move shorterdistances per day and concentrate their activities on asmaller portion of their range during the rut. During peak

rut, females become more active but tend to crisscross in asmaller area. The advantage of this behavior is that thedoe’s urinary signals are concentrated during the breedingperiod, thereby enhancing doe-to-buck communicationduring the doe’s relatively short receptive period.

This means that whitetails are most active during peakrut because males are traveling outside their home rangesearching for females, and females are walking intensivelyin a small area to attract males. Such behavior then ceasesafter the breeding period, and activity patterns return toprerut levels.

THE RESTLESS DOE

While monitoring activity patterns of penned white-tails in the early l970s (using an elaborate array of wiring,microswitches and event recorders), I accidentally discov-ered that does became very restless (especially at night)and began pacing in their pen shortly before they mated.This observation led to a more intensive investigation ofdoe activity patterns during estrus that I later published inthe Journal of Wildlife Management.

Ultimately, I learned to predict a doe’s estrus periodbased upon a sudden rise in her activity. This proved valu-able in other reproductive studies and during some rathersophisticated studies of blood hormone changes aroundthe doe’s estrus period.

My studies with penned does revealed that a doe willaccept a male only during a 24- to 36-hour period at peakestrus. However, in the absence of a tending buck, Iobserved that the doe became about 28 times more activethan normal one to two nights before estrus. This restless-ness is coincident with increased ovarian production ofestrogen – the female hormone that precipitates a doe’smating urge. In fact, I calculated that one doe walked morethan 20 miles the night before she mated.

Based upon these findings, I theorized that such anincrease in travel on a doe’s part would be adaptive in thatthe estrous doe would then more likely find a mate if onewere not already close by.

TESTING THE THEORY

Stefan Holzenbein and Georg Schwede tested this the-ory by monitoring the activities of eight radio-collared doesat the National Zoo’s Conservation and Research Center atFront Royal, Va. Instead of wandering extensively, seven ofthe does they tracked restricted their movements to coreareas of their home range around the time of estrus.Apparently, bucks were readily available and quick to locatethe does as they came into estrus. As a result, there was noneed for these does to wander great distances, as all sevendoes were presumably bred within core areas of their nor-mal range. It’s interesting to note, however, that one doesuddenly started wandering and left her home range short-ly before her estrus, probably because she had not beenlocated by a potential mate in a timely fashion.

Holzenbein and Schwede concluded that femalewhitetails usually make their location predictable byrestricting their movements before they become receptive,making it relatively easy for the buck to find them. Also,such a concentration of doe activity likely accounts for abuck’s tendency to cluster his scrapes in certain locationswhere he might attract the greatest attention fromprospective mates. However, if a doe attains estrus withoutbeing found by a buck, she then might wander extensivelyand search for a mate.

SYNCHRONOUS MATING

Some researchers suggest that estrus among all butthe youngest of related reproducing does should be syn-chronous, because estrus can be induced by male-pro-duced pheromones. If so, then it’s also conceivable thatfemales actually compete for the attention of choice mates.


THE HEATER BODY SUIT By Steve Bartylla

Rarely do hunting products come along that radically alter how I approach hunting. Over all the years, I can pointto few products that have taken my game to a new level. First there was the emergence of strap-on treestands.Next came compound bows. After that, Scent-Lok and Scent Killer emerged. Finally, Double Bull Archery opened

my eyes to hunting from the ground. Each one of these products has made me a more effective hunter.

The latest product to accomplish this is the Heater Body Suit. On the surface, one may question how a hunting bag,specifically designed to keep hunters warm in the most brutally cold conditions, can be the target of such a boldstatement. Those that follow my work realize I rarely make statements like that and never do without solid reasons.

Obviously, with an unconditional “You stay warm or your money back” guarantee, the Heater Body Suit does keephunters warm. Also, with the crisscross strap system that keeps the suit up during the shot, along with the ultra quietfabric and a zipper system designed for easy, quiet use, the Heater Body Suit meets the requirements of serious hunters.However, none of that is near enough for me to qualify it as a revolutionary product.

What takes it to that next step is what it enables me to do on those days from the mid 30°’s F. to -20°’s F. It simplyallows me to dress nearly the same from the season’s opener to its close. Previously, I had to either accept sweating onthe way into the stand and the odor that goes with it or deal with adding and removing layers as my activity levels ortemperatures changed. Now, none of that is a concern. Whenever it’s in the 30� ’s F. or lower, I simply dress to the levelthat I’ll be slightly chilled when I arrive at stand, slip into the suit and adjust the zipper up and down to regulate an idealheat level. More often than not, I’m even able to remain unzipped enough to allow me to hold my bow and be ready foraction. I can now have all of this, without sweating, extra movement, and odors caused by changing layers!

The crowning jewel is that I no longer must practice and adjust my sight with each new bulky layer added. Whetherit’s a bow or a firearm, adding bulk changes shooting form. The more bulk the more the form is altered. If adjustmentsaren’t made to the sight or scope, accuracy will be compromised. Since I now always wear minimal layers, my shots arealways as natural as they were on opening day! When all of that is added up, one can see why I feel safe in saying thatthe Heater Body Suit is one of those elite products that have taken my game to a new level.

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Subordination tends to have a strong suppressoreffect on a doe’s reproductive performance. Older, mater-nally experienced does within a clan are most dominant.They also control the most favorable habitat, maintain thebest physical condition and usually breed first. Therefore, ifa dominant doe and a subordinate one come into estrus atthe same time, the dominant doe might displace the subor-dinate and copulate first. If this is the case, subordinatedoes are more likely to delay mating, more readily matewith a subordinate (younger) buck and are more inclined tobe the ones searching for mates.

MATE SELECTION

There is some experimental evidence that does areindeed “mate selective,” thereby responding more positive-ly to one particular suitor than another. In our Cusino enclo-sure studies, for example, we found that does were morereceptive to bucks of approximately the same age. That is,mature does preferred to be courted by mature, rut-experi-enced bucks, whereas yearling does seemed to be intimi-dated by the real monarchs. Hence, a good deal of testingand chasing of females by males during the rut is likely inmost herds.

As Larry Marchinton and Karl Miller noted, “The wholeprocess of chasing and courtship is a very visible one thatexposes participants to risk from predators, both humanand otherwise.

This is the only time of the year when … deer, particu-

larly bucks, forsake cover and put themselves into vulnera-ble positions.”

Larry and Karl emphasize that such seemingly neurot-ic behavior has strong selective values. They suggested, “Itallows the doe to be bred by the most physically superiorbuck in the area. She dashes around – in anthropomorphicterms, making quite a spectacle of herself – so that the localbucks become aware of her impending receptivity and joinher entourage, at least until they are displaced by thelargest buck. This competition among suitors usuallyassures that her offspring will be sired by the best buck shecan find.”

On the other hand, if adult females of a clan regroupduring the breeding period, several females might comeinto estrus in the same general area within relatively fewdays. If several socially regrouped females come into estrusonly a day or two apart, a dominant buck might remain withthe clan for a few days and breed several does within fairlyrapid succession. In such cases, your potential trophy maybe pretty well anchored in some distant location for a peri-od of days, leaving you to ponder the reasons for his sud-den deviation from an otherwise predictable daily routine.

REGIONAL DIFFERENCES

Keep in mind that many factors can account for differ-ences in the estrous doe’s behavior from one area to thenext, which may have a strong bearing upon buck behaviorand your hunting success. The timing, length and intensity

of the whitetail’s breeding season, as well as the estrousdoe’s behavior, may differ quite sharply from north to southin particular. Important factors such as herd density andsex-age composition, which are often determined by thetiming and intensity of buck harvesting, will greatly influ-ence the stability and predictability of deer behavior duringthe rut in your area.

In the north, the rut tends to be short but very intense,where we also see distinct regrouping of related femalesduring prerut, especially in moderate to high-density deerpopulations.

Hunting seasons also tend to be held later on northernrange, usually during peak rut.

In contrast, many southern states have early deer hunt-ing seasons, sometimes resulting in a very high buck har-vest prior to peak rut. In some cases, buck harvesting maybe so extreme that a buck shortage develops during thepeak breeding period, which can produce some rathererratic behavior on the part of estrous does searching formates.

CONCLUSIONS

One thing that has always greatly impressed me withwhitetails is their high degree of social order and elaboratecommunication employed during the rut, especially in thepresence of mature bucks. On the other hand, some ratherchaotic rut behavior prevails when intensive buck harvest-ing leaves only yearling bucks to fulfill the role of herd sires.For example, you’ll find that the “seek-and-chase” stylecourtship of yearling bucks differs greatly from the moreritualized soliciting of attention demonstrated by rut-expe-rienced mature bucks.

So, if you hunt a socially unbalanced whitetail herd –where mature sires are absent or in short supply – you canexpect the local does to exhibit some rather peculiarbehavior during that brief period when they are in rut. W


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Research = Results.

My studies with penned does revealed that a doe will accept a maleonly during a 24- to 36-hour period at peak estrus. However, in the absence

of a tending buck, I observed that the doe became about 28 times more activethan normal one to two nights before estrus.


ILLINOIS

QDM Produces Trophy BucksBy Aaron Zobrist

inal Imperial Clover strip in between two pieces of tim-ber. That night I had seen plenty of buck activity check-ing does. One of the bucks, a nice 3 1/2-year-old we hada picture of, came charging into the field after somedoes. When he burst onto the field, the does scattered.

That gave me my first major rush of the year. Wedecided we’d pass on this deer because of his futurepotential. About 10 minutes later he reappeared andwalked directly under my stand, making my trigger fin-ger very jumpy. I almost talked myself into harvestingthat 140-inch, 10-point buck.

That was really hard to do, but to hang out withJustin, you have to pass on those deer. That night I metJustin as he arrived at the farm for the next full week’shunt. On the morning of Nov. 5, we chose the stands wewere going to hunt and agreed to call one another onthe progression of the morning. It was about 8:15 a.m.,and after seeing only a few does and one young buck,I decided to call Justin on his cell phone to see what hewas seeing. As he was telling me he had seen about 15deer and the same 10-point I passed the night before, Itold him I was going to sit until 9 a.m. because I thoughtI saw a flash of a deer in the timber below about 15 min-utes before.

I continued to talk for a few seconds when on myleft side a monster buck came up over a hill 20 yardsfrom me. I quietly said, ‘Monster,’ and hung up thephone. The deer came from a surprising direction andgot through my shooting lane very quickly. It was evi-dent he had been chasing that morning because hismouth was hanging open. I grabbed my bow off thehanger as fast as I could, but he was already 40 yardsaway.

Then I grabbed my grunt call to stop him from histrot. He stopped on the first grunt and looked my way,but proceeded to walk away. I grunted a second timeand he stopped. After a brief pause, he started walkingagain. As he took another step I grunted once more,then he turned, grunted at me, and started walkingstraight toward my opening.

I drew and the arrow fell off my rest. After lettingdown, putting my arrow back on the rest and drawingthe bow again, I made the shot and stopped him at 20yards. He ran about 60 yards and disappeared into thetimber.

I immediately called Justin with the news. Whenwe found the deer, we knew it was the 10-point we hadon camera. It all happened so fast I just knew he was ashooter. We try and harvest only mature 150-inch-classand larger deer, and he fit the book perfectly. The deerscored 155. Thanks to Justin, I finally stepped foot in atree stand five years ago, and now I’m addicted for life.I have five Pope and Young bucks harvested now andreally have been a QDM “extremist” since. W

It has been four years now since my friend JustinHillman bought his farm in Fulton County, Ill. Fromthe start, we decided to manage this property for

deer. While scouting that first spring, we found a shedthat was enormous. We think it belonged to the samedeer he killed (a monster 10-point that grossed 193inches) that fall. Right away we knew the genes of thedeer herd were what we were looking for. And wedecided we had to give these deer the highest proteinsources available.

The first step we took was to add a food plot ofImperial Whitetail Clover. In one year, the 1 1/2-year-oldbucks were healthier and their racks were makingnoticeable improvements. That previous year wenoticed a bunch of young deer with spikes and poordevelopment. The protein and nutrition from theWhitetail Institute’s products have dramaticallyimproved the overall health of the deer.

Over the past four years we have planted ImperialClover, Alfa-Rack and Chicory Plus, which they love.The terrain is basically made up of hilly timber groundwith a nice creek bottom that runs through the middleof the farm. In 2004 CRP fields were planted in the topfield that has high erosion potential. It seems wechange the deer’s’ patterns every year from all of theimprovements we make with food plots, CRP and tim-ber stand improvements. This year we will be workingon our CRP fields.

There are about 20 acres of mixed perennials andgrain food plots planted on about 400 acres. We dohave trail cameras out throughout the year to try andmonitor the population and see the possibilities for theupcoming year.

Justin and I had planned to take a week’s vacationto hunt this year. So on Nov. 3, I took off work early toget in a stand that evening. I hunted a spot off the orig-

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BILL HUNEYCUTT – ALABAMASantanna Thornton, 17, of Sellers, Alabama had hunted

for several years without harvesting a deer. Last Decemberthough, her luck changed when she harvested the 6-point-er with the strange rack shown in the attached photo. Thatafternoon, Santanna had accompanied her boyfriend andmy son, Mathew Huneycutt, to a ground stand adjacent toa food plot. Several does appeared after the pair had wait-ed only an hour, and although Santanna wanted to take oneof the does, Mathew urged her to wait in the hope that abuck might appear later in the afternoon. The pair did nothave too long to wait. At 3:00 the buck entered the foodplot 200 yardsfrom the stand, andSantanna took itwith Mathew’s .270.Shortly thereafter,Santanna’s mother,Mary Jones,received an excitedphone call from herdaughter. I thinkMathew was evenmore excited thanSantanna. Eventhough a year haspassed since the event, Mary Jones, an employee of TheWhitetail Institute, still smiles at the thought of it.

MICHAEL STRICKLAND – ALABAMAMy daughter, Anna shot her first deer this past week-

end. Main frame 6 ptwith two kickers atthe base of eachbrow tine. The deerthat Anna shot cameout with 3 otherbucks. Two whichwere bigger thananything that I haveever shot and a onehorn cow horn. Thetwo big ones nevergave her a clean shotso I told her to shoot

this one. It was shot on one of our No Plow fields.

SUSIE MARIETTA – KANSASMy love for hunting started early. I was raised in the

country and hunted small game, upland birds and varmintswith my Dad. The fact that the three oldest kids in our fam-ily were all girls did not stop us from hunting, fishing, driv-ing combines and tractors and various other activities oftenreserved for the male gender in other families. We now liveon a small farm in the middle of Kansas with a large pondand a meandering river. Deer and wild turkeys are abun-

dant. My huntingmemories are aspecial part of me;so getting my kidsstarted huntingmeans more thanjust taking time outto get it done. It’ss o m e w h e r ebetween a “keendesire” and“instinctual behav-ior.” That objectivehas now been metfor all of my kidsnow that Tom, myyoungest, was old enough to deer hunt this year.

It’s almost a daily activity here; deer hunting, that is.Besides spotting and keeping track of deer activities, I liketo help insure that they stick around for the “fun stuff.”Planting trees and shrubs attractive to deer is an ongoingprocess, as well as maintaining a food plot planted withImperial Whitetail Clover. As hunting season approacheswe spend more and more time watching and patterning thedeer. Since this was the first year my son Tom was going tobe old enough to hunt, I wanted to do everything I could toinsure that he had a successful hunt.

In the days before his hunt I spent time watching ourclover patch from our platform tree stand where his huntwould take place. Since Tom was in school he wasn’t ableto do a lot of the spotting with me. Mostly I saw does andtheir babies in the clover on a daily basis. This was good, Ithought. Where there are does, the bucks will follow.Finally I managed to see an odd young buck in the clover. Iknew I would recognize this buck if I ever saw him again.He had a rather small but very upright, narrow rack withmain beams that almost touched in the front.

Now, with hunter’s education behind Tom, shootingpractice completed and his rifle sighted in, all he had to dowas wait for the special youth weekend so he could hunt.When that morning arrived we were ready. Tom was curi-ously calm. He didn’t seem near as excited as my other kidshad been on their first hunt. I didn’t think much about it. Itwas still dark, so we slowly worked our way to the cloverwith the help of a flashlight. As we reached the last gatebefore crossing into the clover I heard something. I point-ed the flashlight toward the sound. Holy cow! Eyeballseverywhere! The clover field that Tom and I needed tocross in order to reach our stand was filled with deer! Withthe sound of our approach they all ran to the hedgerow onthe north edge of the field. We quietly crossed the field andclimbed into the stand.

Ah, now I could relax. It’s such a wonderful feeling tobe in the woods with the trees and stars overhead and deerall around. It gives me a feeling of peace and serenity Icherish. What a morning! As the sky slowly started tolighten Tom and I could see deer playing in the clover.

As the clock ticked on, I was beginning to think I was

going to have to take a break and perhaps continue ourhunt later that evening. Oh, well, if he doesn’t get a deer, atleast he had already had a great morning with lots of deeractivity. I’d give it 30 more minutes. Another deer steppedout to the edge of the field. It was the strange little buck Ihad spotted the week before. Yes, it was unmistakable.Slowly and quietly I said, “Tom, there’s your buck.”Suddenly the kid who was so non-chalant earlier perked up.“Really! Where?” “Move over here… I think you can see himfrom here.” “Oh, Mom! My heart’s going ninety-miles andhour!” “Just take your time and make sure you’ve got thatcrosshair right where you want it then squeeze the trigger.”BANG! As I watched, the buck folded and took off. I couldsee the deer was hit hard. The thing I couldn’t see waswhere the heck he went. Two jumps and he was out ofsight due to all the trees. By then, Tom was a bundle ofadrenaline, wondering about his shot and where the deerwent.

Tom and I walked to where the deer stood when heshot. Yes, there was a little blood, but not much. We couldfollow the tracks, but which ones? There were deer tracksgoing every which way. It was a whitetail dance hall. Hemust have run back into the woods. We combed throughthe woods to the south of where we last saw him, butcouldn’t find a trace. It was thick woods with briars, tangledvines and loaded with poison ivy. As much as I hated to, Itold Tom let’s wait until Mike got home in an hour or so. Wemade our way back to the house to cool off and rest.

After going back and looking for what seemed foreverwe found Tom’s buck. We breathed a sigh of relief. Tomtook hold of the deer’s antlers and looked them over. Hewas the same upright eight point for sure, with a few smallkickers and one side of his main beam somewhat palmatedand nearly crossing in the front. Tom gave the buck a fewgood, confident pats. His smile told me he was a happyboy. What a feeling of satisfaction. And another deerhunter was born.

TOM MANNING – KENTUCKYMy son Cody took his first buck this year in Grayson

county Kentucky during the 2005 gun season. Severalthings made this an interesting story. First Cody is ADD andhas a hard time sitting still in a deer stand but this year hewas able to overcomethe urge to fidget bystaying focused onwhat he was there for.Secondly he has onlyfired a gun 3 times inhis entire life and tookthis deer at 150 yardswith a perfect heart /lung shot. He’s a greatkid and worked reallyhard for this deer andis now hooked on deerhunting. Thanks forwhat you guys do. W

The FutureOf Our Sport


Send Us Your Photos!Do you have a photo of a relative or friend who killed his 1st deer? Ifyou do, send it to us with a 3-5 paragraph story about the hunt andthe emotions involved with the hunter and mentor. You may find it inan upcoming issue of “Whitetail News.” Readers of the “WhitetailNews” love these stories. Send them to:

Whitetail News, Attn: First Deer239 Whitetail Trail, Pintlala, AL 36043

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Myles KellerBowhunting legend

Greg MillerNorth AmericanWhitetail TV

Mike WheelerWhitetail Expert

Jack BrittinghamWorld of HuntingAdventure TV

Jay & Tammi GregoryThe Wild Outdoors

Tom MirandaAdvantageAdventures

Terry and Mark DruryDrury Wildlife Obsessions

Will PrimosPrimosHunting Calls

Tiffany & Lee LakoskyGettin’ Close

Gordon WhittingtonNorth American Whitetail

David BlantonRealtreeOutdoors

Bob FrommePerformance Archery

Michael WaddellRealtree Road Trips Dick Scorzafava

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Dave WatsonBushnell Outdoors

Bryon TaborOn Target For Christ

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Documents

Whitetail News Vol 16.2