Recently I had the pleasure of interviewing Steve Scott, the Vice President of Whitetail Institute of North America about the basics of food plots. As you may already know, Whitetail Institute of North America produces seeds for various crops that are designed for wild game food plots. Below you will find a few of the basic questions I asked and the answers he gave.
Q: Why should someone use a food plot?
A: Number one reason is to attract deer to their property, secondly is to grow bigger and healthier deer.
Q: It sounds to me like food plots are not just something we think about for the fall hunting season, it sounds more like a year round process?
A: If someone ultimate goal is to attract more deer to their property then they would want to plant in late summer. If they want to produce a high yeild and provide protein during the antler growing process then they want to plant right now in the spring. Then there are annuals that last six months to one year, then there are perennials that last several years without having to re-seed the planting.
Q: What are the advantages of a food plot over a baiting site?
A: The benefits of baiting over food plots would be simplicity, food plots take a little bit more effort. But the benefits of food plots over baiting are numerous. Number one your providing something a little more natural and more spread out, so there is less chance of passing or spreading disease from one deer to the next. Next, the food plot is there for most of the year if not all year as opposed to a bait pile that is there for just the hunting season. Also food plots benefit all wildlife.
Q: We’ve now made the decision to put in a food plot, how do we go about choosing a site for the food plot, what are we looking for?
A: Your going to need a spot that is going to recieve a minimum of three to four hours of sunlight a day, ideally I would like to see people keep their plots a 1/4 acre or bigger. Generally that is a good rule of thumb, but if you have a small clearing in the woods you can go in and in a couple of hours with hand tools you can create a food plot.
Q: Now that we are going to do this, what do we need to do to put a food plot in?
A: No matter what we talked about before or what we talk about after, this is going to be the most important thing I’m going to say during this conversation. The first thing they need to do is they need to do a soil test! It is simple to do and takes a little time, but it gives invaluable information. They need to take the soil sample and send it off to a reputable lab that will analyze the soil and give them a report that will tell the food plotter exactly what they need to do from a standpoint of how much lime they need if any and how much of each type of fertilizer they need. It is basically a map to success. There are numerous places that they can get soil tests done, at any of the agricultural universities, any of the soil conservation services, and we do them here at the Whitetail Institute.
Q: You just don’t go out and scrape the top of the ground and fill a bag of dirt, can you explain the process for proper soil testing?
A: When they send in a soil test, they are going to send in about a pound of dirt. That one pound of dirt is going to be representing millions of pounds of dirt in an acre. They need to get a clean five gallon bucket with a garden spade type shovel, go to different parts of the field. Go to the sides or maybe crisscross the middle and in an acre field they may want to take eight or ten samples from different parts of the field and put it in the clean bucket and stir that dirt up. Then take about a pound of that dirt and put it in the container to send off, then they have soil from various parts of the field so that it is representative of the entire field and not just one spot where they happen to dig.
Q: Now that we have got our report back, what do we need to do to get ready to plant?
A: The soil type is going to dictate what product they are planting in their plot. Then they will go in and brake up that soil whether it be plowing, discing or tilling. Then they are going to apply what ever lime is recommended from the soil test if they need it. Then apply the fertilizer and cut that in with a disc or rough it in two, three or four inches deep. At that point in time they are going to want to smooth the seed bed out with a cultipacker or a heavy roller that smooths and firms the seed bed up. Then they broadcast the seeds right there on top, roll back over them with the cultipacker type device, their done!
Q: Talking about annuals and perennials, how do we make that decision and which one should we plant?
A: That is one of those beauty is in the eye of the beholder type thing. But a good general rule would be somewhere between a 60% – 40% split, with 60 being in perennials.
Q: Typically we think of food plots helping antler growth, but herd health and antler growth go hand in hand. How do these two go together?
A: On antler development research has shown that a buck is going to need 16% to 18% protein in his diet every day during the antler growing process roughly March through August. So they need 16% to 18% protein every day to maximize their antler development. Typically mother nature is only going to provide 6% to 10% of protein, so without doing something like supplemental feeding or food plots they are going to have a hard time getting that protein level up. Imperial Whitetail Clover provides up to 30% to 35% protein year round. So as a deer is growing his antlers he is browsing around on bushes, shrubs, and grasses but he will also be browsing on this food plot. As he fills his stomach hopefully that 8% protein in that browse he is eating and the 30% protein in the Imperial Clover he is eating averages out to 16% to 18% that he is consuming that gives him the chance to express his full genetic potential.
As the does goes, we can’t improve the quality of the milk that they are going to be providing their fawns, but with a high protein diet we can improve the amount of milk that she has available for her fawns. Your right people typically think about big bucks, but in reality it is those fawns that hit the ground in the spring and summer that are going to be the trophies we are going to be hunting in three or four years. So the better shape they are born in, the better shape they will be at maturity.
Q: Seeing that this is the time of year to get going on food plots, if someone puts one in, when is he going to see results meaning the number of deer on his property, how long is it going to be before he sees something substantial?
A: Let’s say this, if you’re going to put a food plot in are you going to see Boone & Crockett’s running all over the property this fall? No probably not, but hopefully you might have one or two you might attract in. But what you will see the first year is you will see more deer on your property and you will see increased buck activity. You will notice more scrapes and rubs in the vicinity and around those food plots. What happens is those food plots become the congregation area for those does and family groups and you know what happens when the rut starts, when the does gather in the food plots the boys will be there soon! Also those fawns that hit the ground this spring will have a better food source available for their entire life! From the day they are born they are going to have the best food source available and it will manifest itself with better quality antlers when they reach maturity.
So if your ready to get started with a new food plot and want to know a little more about them, be sure to listen to the entire interview I did with Steve Scott of Whitetail Institute on Episode 108 of the “Up North Journal Podcast in segment 2. If you have additional questions that need answering you can contact Whitetail Institute at 800-688-3030 or go to their website www.whitetailinstitute.com for more information.
