Wheeler Bags
Eight Pope & Young Deer; Credits Whitetail Institute with his Success
My bowhunting started in 1982 when I was 19 years old. I thought I knew everything. As a matter of fact, it took me six to ten years to figure out just how dumb and naïve I was when I began bowhunting.
I thought all you had to do was put on some camouflage, strap on a climbing stand and find a tree, and the deer would start coming. You know every once in awhile, and I mean once in awhile I would see a doe and a fawn. That got kind of boring after a couple of years, so I thought I’d better change a few things.
Where I was hunting, the owner had a pretty good-size hay/clover field that I always would scare deer out of on the way to my stand or on the way back to my truck. So I started hunting the field. I would always see deer in the field, but they were always too far away or it was dark when they arrived at my stand.
Then I started trying to get closer to where they were coming—that really fouled things up. The deer would see me, smell me or hear me. After a few times of that, they quit coming out to the field until after dark. That’s when I figured out I had to hunt the trails coming to the clover.
Now I couldn’t wait until hunting season again. I moved my stand off the field edge and decided to get the deer before they got to the field. But they still kept smelling me or seeing me. Despite that, in 1986 I arrowed a 21-point buck with a 13 inch drop tine that grossed in the 190s. After that they guy wouldn’t let me hunt the property. He said he decided to save it for his kids to hunt.
The next year I got permission to hunt the property across the road and I knew I had to plant some clover food plots. I went in and planted ten square yard clover plots. It was a long season. I guess they like the big clover field better.
In 1988 I read an article and saw an advertisement about Imperial Whitetail Clover. I called and talked to Steve Scott, Vice President of the Whitetail Institute of North America. Scott told me how great Imperial Clover was and how much more protein it had in it and that the deer preferred its taste to anything available. I thought at first he was just a salesman trying to make a sale.
I still decided to buy a 4-pound bag and planted two ¼ acre plots. By the way, all I had for equipment to use was a garden tiller. By the time deer season arrived there were so many deer eating my Imperial Clover that it was eaten to the ground.
I knew that I had the plant bigger plots so the deer would have enough to eat and make it through the season. I have tried everything from soybeans, sweet corn, alfalfa, other clovers and still haven’t found anything deer like more than Imperial Clover. The only thing that deer might like better is acorns, and they aren’t around when a buck needs the protein and mineral during his 200 days of antler growing.
It’s been 12 seasons since I’ve first tried Imperial Clover. I’ve gotten to know Scott pretty well and he finally has me planting Imperial Clover properly. That means soil samples, as well as the correct amount of lime and fertilizer.
Remember that once you have a good Imperial Clover food plot and the deer find it, they will be there every night. It will take you some time to learn how to hunt these fields, however.
For morning hunts, you have to walk around the clover through the timber to get to your stand. Don’t laugh, but I have mowed paths to my stand so I don’t need a light and won’t make any noise. For evening hunts, you need to enter from the clover so you don’t run into the deer.
Before the rut I try to find active buck trails 200 yards off the clover fields. Most of the time if you hunt right on the clover before pre-rut and rut, it’s too dark when the deer get there in the evening, and you bump them out trying to get there in the morning.
During pre-rut and rut I try to move anywhere from 15-40 yards off the clover. You need to be able to get there in the morning without alarming the deer and also be able to get down and go after a big buck if he is leaving the field on another trail.
There are four main items I feel have made me so successful in hunting whitetails. Well, besides being crazy about deer.
(in order of importance)
The first one is having enough Imperial Clover fields to hunt that will last all season long.
My Scent-Lok suit. A deer’s #1 defense is its nose. I try to keep the wind in my favor, but you know how winds shift. With a Scent-Lok suit you don’t have to worry.
Tree stands. I made several big platform 16-foot ladder stands for around the clover fields because they are quiet and comfortable.
Know your equipments and limits. If you’re a good shot at 30 yards, but not 40 yards, don’t take shots past 30 yards. If you feel comfortable 15 feet high in a tree, don’t put your stand 20 feet in a tree just because somebody says it’s better. Don’t make hunting a job. It’s supposed to be fun.
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If you look at the picture, this story is about the buck that is second to the left.
I had been hunting this buck for a couple of years in my clover field. The buck was mainly a nighttime buck, only a couple times a year would I see him during the day. I had never seen this buck during October or December, it had always been the first 10 days in November.
This year I was going to try something else to help my odds out. I’m not a firm believer in scents, but I decided to try a product called KISScents Trail Bait. A friend of mine from Minnesota sent it to me. What I was going to try to do was cover all three main trails coming out of the Imperial Clover back into the woods. I would make a big V with a drag rag and place the sent canister 25 yards behind me. I sat the point of the V. I saw plenty of deer and a few bucks.
On Nov. 2 I tried again. I sat about 20 yards away from the clover. At 7:50 a.m. I was watching a pretty good 8-point buck. The buck kept checking out a doe and then returned to a scrape. After the third trip back to the scrape, a monster buck stepped out from the timber and started pawing at the same scrape. I couldn’t believe the buck I’d been waiting for was only 70 yards away.
When he started walking away back to the timber, I grunted. Nothing happened. I grunted louder. Nothing again.
I put my video camera down and started rattling. When I put the antlers together the 8-pointer instantly came towards me within 35 yards. The big buck started coming as well.
I didn’t have time to get my camera, so I just left it in my seat, grabbed my bow and got ready. Both bucks came straight across my Imperial Clover field and the 8-pointer was already behind me at the scent canister.
When the big buck got to the edge of the timber he stopped and started watching the other buck. I had already drawn my so that’s when I let him have it.
Another Plus About Imperial Clover
I try to get as many kids involved in hunting as I can. I take them hunting on my Imperial Clover fields one time and they’re hooked. The kids see a lot of deer on these stands.
One of the kids I’ve gotten into hunting is Justin, my girlfriend’s son who is 14 years old. The first morning he bowhunted with me we snuck into one of my ladder stands 15 yards off my little Imperial Clover field. I was sitting down and Justin was standing.
Almost immediately a little buck came from my big Imperial Clover field, but it was too far off to shoot. We then turned and saw a big-bodied deer making a scrape with his head facing away from us. I told Justin to get his bow in his hand because the deer would come into the clover and eat. He put his bow on my knee so he didn’t have to hold it.
Everything was fine until the buck turned and lifted his head up. As the buck got to the middle of the clover he turned and looked at us. I could feel the bow shaking on my knee. The 150-inch buck stepped even closer to within 35 yards.
I turned toward Justin and he was as pale as a ghost around his eyes. I asked him if he was alright. He replied, “I think I’m going to be sick”.
I was worried about calming Justin down so he could get a shot. Justin started to get weary and at that time, a coyote approached the buck as it chased a mouse. The buck got nervous and walked.
As the buck got out of sight, Justin was fine. I shot the buck 10 days later. That’s another story!