By Bill Marchel
My association with the Whitetail Institute of North America began six years ago when I contacted the company with some specific questions about planting food plots on my 70 acres located in central Minnesota.
I was referred to Steve Scott, Vice President of the Whitetail Institute. I told Steve I was “green” when it came to planting food plots, and that my property presented some unique planting circumstances. Steve patiently listened while I explained my situation.
I had purchased the land three years earlier, and since the property consisted mostly of lowland sedge meadows, for my initial habitat project I excavated five ponds to attract waterfowl and other wetland wildlife. The “spoil” (dirt removed for digging the ponds) was to be planted as food plots to attract deer.
There was a problem, however. One of the spoil areas consisted entirely of clay.
“This is not your run-of-the-mill clay,” I told Steve. “It’s yellow, slippery, slimy stuff when it’s wet, and as hard as concrete when it’s dry. Will any of your products grow on this stuff?”
Steve recommended I plant Imperial Whitetail Clover on the clay soil. I was skeptical. But I did recall reading about the Whitetail Institute and about how their products were tested all over the country, so I took Steve’s advice.
“Let me know how it goes,” Steve said.
One year later I contacted Steve with good news. The Imperial Whitetail Clover had grown thick and lush on the difficult clay soil and the deer were really eating it up.
“It looks so good that each time I check the plot I’m tempted to bring a fork and salad dressing and try it myself,” I said.
I asked Steve for advice on planting a food plot on the only bit of high ground I had on my property. The soil was sandy, and according to a local farmer, the spot had been heavily farmed at one time. I believed the farmer because the weeds and grasses growing on the site appeared to be stunted.
Steve recommended I plant Imperial Alfa-Rack on the site since it was high and dry. He also urged me to get a soil sample tested and to lime and fertilize according to the test results.
“Alfa-Rack produces the most forage when the pH is close to seven,” Steve told me.
Sure enough, I followed Steve’s advice and that plot grew well, too.
During the following year, I talked to Steve and the Whitetail Institute’s wildlife biologist about successes and failures I had experienced while working my land. I often e-mailed images to Steve to illustrate my results. The more Steve and I conversed about my acreage and the work I was doing to attract deer and other wildlife, the more he realized that I had something to offer the Whitetail Institute.
“How would you like to be a field tester for us?” Steve asked.
Steve said he appreciated that “I tell it like it is.”
“It’s important to the success of future products produced by the Whitetail Institute that we receive honest feedback from our field testers we need to hear both the positives and the negatives,” Steve said.
Now, four years later, I have 10 food plots on my 70 acres, and always reserve one or two plots for testing the latest products that are in the works at the Whitetail Institute. And the title “field tester” has been changed to the catchier heading “Satellite Research Station.”
It’s been fun over the years to test a number of products currently offered by the Whitetail Institute. For example I was instrumental – albeit in a very small way I’m sure – in the development of PowerPlant, a mix of annual plants that provides both high protein forage and bedding cover. The unique seed blend consists of small amounts of sorghum and sunflowers along with heavy doses of beans and peas.
There is one aspect of PowerPlant that I particularly like. It attracts not only deer but a variety of other wildlife as well. While hunting over plots of PowerPlant, I am entertained by a constant parade of songbirds that find the sorghum and sunflowers to their liking.
Another Whitetail Institute product I tested prior to its release was Imperial Whitetail Extreme. Extreme is a blend of perennials designed for – you guessed it – extreme planting conditions such as poor soil, low pH and dry climate. Extreme consists of an evergreen forb – a robust plant that produces a deep taproot, which allows it to thrive in difficult conditions – and hardy varieties of chicory and clover. My test results showed the product to be highly palatable to deer especially in mid fall and grew well here in the cold climate of Minnesota.
The Whitetail Institute used my Imperial Extreme test report and the reports of at least 200 other Satellite Research Stations scattered across North America to tweak the mix prior to its release to the consumer.
As a Satellite Research Station, I have provided the Whitetail Institute with valuable information on a number of quality products now available to customers. But my association with the Whitetail Institute is not a one-way street. Not only has it been fun to have the opportunity to test top-of-the-line products prior to their release to the consumer, but also and more importantly to me is that Steve Scott and others at the Institute have supplied me with valuable information that has helped me tremendously to better manage my acreage for deer and other wildlife.
That priceless information has come from not only direct contact with the professionals at the Whitetail Institute but also from this quality publication, Whitetail News, from the excellent on-line videos (which by the way are free) and from the Institute’s e-mail newsletter, Whitetail E-News.
So what are the latest products currently being tested by me and the other Satellite Research Stations across North America? If I told you then I’d have to … well, just stay tuned and you’ll find out soon.