Imperial Whitetail Clover

[SalmonSlayer]

Anyone hear anything about Imperial Whitetail Clover? I bought a small bag of it at Bass Pro in Gurnee Mills. I was wondering if it really helps hold the deer in the area. I plan to plant 5 or so acres of it this spring and cut it once or twice and then let it grow up as fall nears. The manufacturer recommends to cut it to about 4-8 inches tall, that way it stays sweet and tender for the wildlife.

Ben

[Barney]

SalmonSlayer, I to have purchased some whitetail clover. I am going to plant some this spring. A friend of mine planted some last spring and said he saw more deer this fall and watched them all summer. I don't know if it will work for me or not. I'm going to try to use it to hold more deer during the firearms season. Good luck !

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Barney

[Steve]

Guys, I have emailed this thread to the gentleman who is the distributor of Whitetail Clover in this area. I have been trying to get him to come on over and moderate this forum.

[RealDcoy]

One thing to remember to do is take a soil sample in to be tested. Farm bureaus do it pretty cheap. I am definitely going to start with a test early in the spring. The area I am planting is in Kalkaska and is in a field that conatined an old gas well, The soil is EXTREMELY sandy, but hardwoods surround the feild. Last year I threw out some field rye and it took decently. In the area that I tested with pre-treating with lime, it came up at least twice as well.

I definitely suggest everyone soil test before choosing what to plant. ( Especially a product as expensive as this one.) I do like the high protien contained in their product. I also need a way to increase available minerals. There are lots of buttons and spikes in my area, but that seems to be all that is ever there. Good luck all.




[This message has been edited by RealDcoy (edited 01-18-2000).]

[marty]

FWIW I planted a bit of it on my place and the deer never seem to go for it last year. This year they hit it a bit but not all that much. Maybe I have picky deer don't know but the deer really hit my drawf essex rape the best. Wabting to try some buckwheat has anyone got it a try? just wondering..marty

[Tim Baker]

Has anyone tried Bio Logic sold by Mossy Oak, I was thinking of planting some this year? They make three different products depending on the time of the year you would like to attract deer, it sounds great on their web page (it is down today for some reason). Any opinions would be appreciated.

Tim

[SalmonSlayer]

Real Decoy- good advice. I have had my soil tested for ph level. It ranges from acidic to alkaline. The specific area I had in mind to plant has a ph of 7 which is in the range for whitetail clover. I have mostly clay around my house, and the field hasn't been worked in at least 5 years. I'll have to disk it up pretty good and probably spread lime out to get the nutrients up. I've been told that by adding lime your yield goes way up.

Marty- how much clover did you plant? Did you cut it at all during the year? Just curious as to why the deer didn't seem to touch it much. Also, what is that other stuff you planted? I haven't heard of it.

Ben

[marty]

Ben I went with about an 1/3 acre of it. I even got some growth stimulant from the dealer. I kept it around 4-5 inches. The other stuff is called drawf essex rape it's grown as sheep feed but the deer really love it here in northeast michigan. The only fall back is that you have to plant it every year but at 65 cents per pound not a big deal. Whatever you go with be sure to get a soil survey first its worth every penny....marty

[wcoutfitters]

If you need food plot seed. Check out Wildlife buffet. This special blend is great and I feel is a better deal than imperial clover. It's protein is just as high and is less expensive than imperial, biologic, etc.

If you want information about this or want to order some. email me at wcoutfitter@edmail.com

[leon]

One of the best foodplot articles I have seen for Michigan landowners is the article on the website of the Mid-Michigan Chapter of QDMA. You can get there by going to QDMA.com and then to the local chapters. This article, written by Ed Spinazzola, has lots of practical advice for selecting, preparing and seeding foodplots.

I planted two large foodplots following Ed's instructions late last fall and plan to plant several more this spring in remote locations in the Eastern Upper Peninsula where liming and disking are difficult. Anyone with experience in this practice would be someone I would like to hear from.

[Grouse Hunter]

Many times these whitetail seeds are produed in southern states. These seeds usually do not do as well in our climate. I would suggest going to your local seed store and getting bags of annuals and pereannuals. Clover seed and rye are good choices. The annuals will come up quick and keep the weeds out until the pereannuals get established. The seed is gonna be cheaper and it will probably grow better than "billy bobs big buck mixture".

All good! There are a lot of quality products and ours is just one of many. There is a large difference in seed, seed preparation and coatings just to name a few. It is true that many seeds are harvested in the southern part of the country, however our Imperial Whitetail Clover and our Imperial Whitetail Alfa-Rack seeds come in a northern and southern blends. One is frost tolerant the other is drought tolerant. Believe me, unless your co-op/seed dealer has my Imperial Whitetail product there is no way they have anything near our product. They are in the agricultural business, we are in the deer nutrition business, two different worlds. We go through this all the time. Our Imperial Whitetail Clover has a constant protein value of 30-35% and stays green under the snow. Ask your seed person to equal that! Now ask them to prove it in writing! We are watched by the best in the business and believe me if our Imperial Whitetail products did not do what we say they would we would be out of business today! One thing you will notice when talking with the various "all ya gotta do" seed/deer nutrition people is they all compare themselves with the Imperial Whitetail products. Our products have been on line for 12 years commercially and have been researched longer than that. It takes 3.5-4.5 years for a deer/buck to mature. My question is how can products be introduced into the country and boast success in less than 5 years? If the product is not scientifically tested on WHITETAIL deer then how do we know that it will do as well with the WHITETAIL deer as with say, Red Deer or some other deer that is not a whitetail deer? We hear all the kitchen formulas for antler growth ect...The fact is if these back yard formulas worked so well why are some of the biggest/best clubs/ranches in the U.S/world calling us when these formulas are suppose to be just as good as our Imperial Whitetail products but much cheaper? You get what you pay for. Ed Spinozzola uses our product, look for our ads in Woods-N-Water and you will see his name in our ad. You don't honestly think we would have put his name in our ad if we had not gotten permission from the Buckmaster himself? The post above nailed the major consern with food plot planting in the state of Michigan, LIME! Please feel free to contact us for any information you may need. We never try to sell anything, we advertise who we are and our product sells itself to those who know what they are looking for. We are in the information business. Sales of our product is almost incidential to the information to we provide.

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www.deerclover.com (http://www.deerclover.com)

[Slugshot1]

I have to agree with Feedbag. Imperial Whitetail Clover is definately better than the clover seed that I have helped pass out through Pheasants Forever. We looked into purchasing some, but with lilmited funds we could not buy the quantities needed for the habitat acreage we wanted to put in. Protein..protein..protein...that is the main reason to go with IWC. You could get some of the other food plot mixes for a variety, but for a small area that you want to attract deer (and turkeys) you can't do any better.
At least as far as everything that I have researched.

[Grouse Hunter]

All that is very good. I have no doubt that your product is in fact superior to regular seed, however are the benefits that much greater? Enclosed deer, where most feed research is done, eat only the product all day long. Of course they will experience lots of growth on high protein food. In the wild its a totally different story. There are so many factors that influence buck growth and deer health. The truth is unless you can plant a ton of this stuff on your land, you will probably not expereince big bucks or healthier deer. In fact it will probably increase the carrying capacity of land and bring more deer in, resulting in no net gain in deer protein ingestion. In high agricultural areas it probably helps even less. I use food plots on a regular basis, but not for big buck growth. I use them to provide an alternate food source and to help direct deer movements. The best things you can do to have healty deer populations are to Harvest does and to protect young bucks. Do this and you will see more bucks a better B/D ratio and you will see bigger bucks. This is based on my experience and on the research that I have read.

[Grouse Hunter]

Ed is awesome and I know that his reputation is incredible. And I am a complete supporter of many of the QDM management philosophies. I have got a 5-6 page right from Ed on my shelf. It discusses food plot establishment and he describes all of the different seed mixtures he uses. His reccomendations are for different clovers,ryes, etc. It seemed to work well for him or he would not of put it together to help other people. As far as Northern and southern mixtures go. Seed distributors will tell you don't go more than fifty miles north and 300 east or west. of where it is to be planted. Again this what I have found, I am not trying to hurt the reputation of IWC or your business.

[hypox]

What does anyone know about Imperial Whitetail NoPlow? Like what kind of soil and sun does it need, and do the deer like it?..I would like to plant some on my property, perhaps a few little plots.

Michigan-Out of-Doors featured us this last year doing a food plot in the Clare area. The man whose property we used as the planting area had hunted this piece of property fo over 30 years. His parents owned the ajoining property. The man, Mr. Chuck Gaskill, had never got a buck with a decent rack. All his deer were of the "Clare scrub rack" size. We planted about 3/4 of an acre and used about 60 lbs of our Imperial Whitetail Protein Plus vitamin/mineral. In 99' he harvested a 8pt with a 14 inch spread and his brother harvested a 10 pt with a 20 inch spread. This last season Chuck harvested a 8 pt with a 22 inch spread, as reported by James Ford. If you plant 1/4 + and use a quality vitamin/mineral you should make a difference the first year if you know your deer herd. Our products, Clover and Alfa-Rack, have the capacity to produce 4-7 tons(wet) per acre/year. hypox...The Imperial Whitetail No-Plow wildlife seed blend has Rape, rye grass, and 3 types of clover in it. Any type of seed/forage plant will require 3-5 hrs/day minimum to grow. We always suggest that you do a soil sample for Giant White Clover first. Go into the area to be planted and mow/round-up the weeds/grass. This will reduce the competition for nutrients. Burn if possible after 3 weeks and broadcast the seed. Add fertilizer and lime if possible. There is no magic seed. The more you put into the seed/soil preperation the better you crop will turn out. Contact us if we may help.


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www.deerclover.com (http://www.deerclover.com)

[trout]

Can you tell me what the seed cost is per acre?An average would be fine.As far as lime goes I can buy that locally.

[wcoutfitters]

The cost of Wildlife buffet is

6lbs=1/2 acre=$30
12lbs=1 acre=$58
50lbs=5 acres=$175.00

You can buy this through Weldon Creek Outfitters and Supplies www.angelfire.com/mi/weldoncreekoutfitter (http://www.angelfire.com/mi/weldoncreekoutfitter)

[SalmonSlayer]

I got some info from Tom at the makers of Imperial Whitetail. He stated the cost for a 3 acre bag is about $135.00. If you'd like email him at deerfeed@pop.flash.net for more info.

Ben

[Grouse Hunter]

I think that the people that push this product are giving people unreal expectations. This seems to be a miracle product. "Just plant this stuff and you wil see the biggest buck of your life." No one is actually saying this, but they are surely implying it. I don't this should be a forum to sell imperial. There are a million other sources for food plots. Maybe this forum should be changed from "food plots" to "Buy Imperial witetail clover".