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Ray Scott, founder and
president of the Whitetail Institute of North America, began experimenting
with clovers years before he founded the company. |
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Ray Scott, founder and
president of the Whitetail Institute of North America, began experimenting
with clovers years before he founded the company. |
The American sportsman is without question the most quintessential consumer of every imaginable hunting related accouterment. This propensity to acquire any and all merchandise perceived to aid, comfort or better the modern day hunter’s situation as he embarks into the deer forest each autumn continues to drive the entrepreneurial geniuses that create these new inventions. Let’s face it folks, pick up any deer hunting magazine today and you will find saturated throughout the pages scores of advertorials extolling the marked advantage of owning these products. Some advertisers will go so far as to guarantee you and I a greater percentage of success by just simply utilizing their creation.
Without getting too deep into the psyche of how advertising works, let’s take a look at the mental process undertaken by the prospective buyer. He first sees a product that could possibly aid him, or at least simplify his quest to kill a whitetail. Perhaps the chap has heard talk around the water cooler by fellow hunters who have used this specific item to their satisfaction. Now his interest level is heightened. More than likely he will then begin to read the fine print examining to what extent this will benefit him. Once the psychological line is crossed from what was initially a want to what has become a perceived need, the hook is set and nothing, including price, will deter him from eventually owning it. Upon securing the item the content hunter becomes convinced he indeed has the needed edge to fulfill his deer hunting aspirations. And so the cycle goes, manufacturers continue to expand and create new products each year that hopefully will entice prospective buyers into thinking they cannot possibly go on another deer hunt without it.
Historically, most every hunting-related product has been one sided. These items are either designed to comfort the hunter, assist him in his pursuit or be utilized in the actual dispatching of the animal. The hunter’s choice of apparel in the form of coats, pants, socks, boots, gloves, hats, fanny warmers and the like, are all designed and purchased with one thought in mind, to keep the hunter dry, warm and comfortable under every possible condition he may face.
When it comes to accessories such as, scents, scent elimination, calls, rattling antlers, map and compass, release aids, trail timers and cameras, binoculars, spotting scopes, rangefinders, tree stands and a myriad of other gadgetry too numerous to mention here, these are all manufactured to solely benefit the individual that eventually owns the product.
Then there is the actual weaponry used in the pursuit that is available in every conceivable size, caliber, weight and design. These tools range from the simplicity of an archer’s bow, be it recurve or compound to the broad selection of muzzleloaders and ultimately, the high-powered centerfire rifle. All of these choices will require some form of sight system, scope, iron or pins to be attached and the necessary projectiles, arrows or bullets to launch from them. The hunter carries his choice of weapon that has been fashioned for one distinct purpose, to kill his intended target.
So there you have it, the hunting industry is predominately skewed towards the needs, wants and desire of the consumer, and due to the increasingly high demand for more sophisticated and advantageous merchandise, product development continues to escalate.
Make no mistake about it; in my mind, the better prepared and outfitted the hunter becomes, the more proficient and successful he or she will be with a greater degree of consistency. But, with so much emphasis placed on equipping the army of orange, has any consideration gone into enhancing the well being of the object of our affection, the whitetail?
In the autumn of 1986, Ray Scott planted three small test plots of an experimental clover on his property. To his amazement and delight, the deer gravitated to their newfound fodder. Intrigued, Scott set out to find the individual responsible for creating this blend with this thought in mind, “quite possibly we could make it even better for whitetails.”
Once locating the agronomist that developed this unique blend, Dr. Wiley Johnson, Scott hired him on the spot to create superior forage exclusively for whitetails. Two facts were resoundingly clear to this well-traveled entrepreneur, hunters were looking for something that would attract deer to their properties and they were eager to see the size of those same deer increase both in body and antler. With nothing more than that in mind, Ray Scott set the wheels of his plan into motion.
No expense was spared as this venture began to unfold. Additional property was purchased where experimental food plots were established, and a greenhouse was built along with a research enclosure for deer. Because Scott held to the belief that despite genetics, if whitetails were fed nutritionally the same diet, no matter where they resided geographically, there would little disparity in their antler size. In his quest to prove this he imported 19 fawns from Montana and Alberta. These deer were tagged and placed with indigenous fawns from Alabama of the same age. Within a couple years of growth, the disparity in size between the Northern and Southern deer feeding on the experimental clover was reduced significantly. It also proved to Scott that not only is good nutrition important to producing body mass and antler size, but allowing the animals to mature plays an equally important role.
Not one to produce anything inferior, Ray, along with his assembled team, ran several test plots of various sizes throughout the country under a variety of climatic variances. It wasn’t until they were completely satisfied that they indeed had a product that would provide the year-round protein necessary for whitetails to maintain a healthy body mass, grow their potential in antler size and completely attract the palates of these deer to the degree of them preferring it over other available food sources, did they officially open the door for business. Imperial Whitetail Clover hit the market in 1988 and essentially revolutionized the deer-nutrition industry.
Here now is a product, which benefits both man and beast. The food plot attracts and holds deer on the property, and the hunter has nutritionally sound deer available to hunt that may other wise not have been there.
The old cliché, “the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach,” is not far off when it comes to whitetails. In fact, short of a few weeks in the autumn when the urge to breed governs the buck’s psychological make-up, the way to a whitetail is through his belly. Deer naturally gravitate to preferred food sources and will actually take up residency nearby as long as shelter and security is prevalent. It is true that the genesis for most land managers who begin growing food plots do so for one simple reason – to attract, hold and grow bigger bucks. But, in the process, many beneficial changes occur in the landscape, the animals and attitude of the hunter.
The hunter quickly realizes that through his investment many animals are now dining at his bountiful table of plenty. More than likely, this same hunter has become much more selective in the deer he chooses to harvest and practices QDM principals. He maintains deer-population levels that will have little impact on the land, while at the same time, promote building a well-balanced age structure within the herd. He maintains doe-to-buck ratios at no more than 3-to-1 to insure an efficient rut rather than a taxing, drawn out affair, which can lead to early mortality for over zealous bucks.
Despite the stereotypical stigma attached to hunters as being blood thirsty killers by the ill-informed antis, deer hunters have, and continue to provide far more incentives to the whitetail population than all of the emotionally charged protests against our sport. While it can be argued as to what the motivation is behind building food plots and promoting new growth by practicing sound forest management, the end result speaks for itself – whitetails reap the reward. Hunters have demonstrated through their time, money, energy and sacrifice that they indeed are more than just consumers. In fact, far less deer are harvested each season on any given plot of ground in relation to the number of animals that benefit from the huntsman’s efforts.
Rewards come in many various stages and become the compensation for the individual’s toil. Gratifying as it may be to grasp the heavy beam of a fallen buck at the end of a successful hunt, there are other more subtle delights to be gained by those who routinely give back. For instance, to observe a buck bedecked in his auburn red summer coat voraciously feeding on the vegetation that was planted by your hands, engenders a feeling of delight. Spying a doting mother doe with her twin spotted offspring emerge from a secluded wooded glen more than validates your contribution. She, because of your selfless efforts, had the necessary nutrients to not only survive the brutality of a tough winter, but to birth two healthy fawns as well. How do you put a price tag on that?
The rewards to the steward lie in the self-satisfaction of knowing that you’ve played a role in helping the resident deer see yet another day, and in the process, have provided a gift that will continue to give.