Whitetail Institute Products
Whitetail Deer
I'm thinking about ordering some food plot products from Whitetail Institute and am curious to learn who uses it and what the results have been.
I've used Deer Creek products and have been happy with their brassicas thus far, but am thinking of adding a new plot or two (about an acre each) in another part of our farm and wonder if their Fall Fusion (bean/sunflower/sun hemp) or other products are worth a try.
Thoughts???
Thanks
I used them a long time ago. Have since went with ordering seed from the local CO-OP at a fraction of the price of BOB products. What I did buy from them grew as expected and I'm sure you'd be happy with it.
^^^Agree with Catscratch. Most of the seed I plant anymore, is a generic variety/blend. Definitely a considerable markup with most “deer on the bag” products. I was satisfied with my results using WINA clover mix, when I used to plant it. I’ve not tried the Fall Fusion mix. Are you in ag county, Rick? Might be tougher to get brown bag stuff, if you’re not. You’re only talking a couple of acres’ worth, so it’s not tremendous increase in cost for you.
I just discovered a seed company in SC that ships seed all over. They are called Mixon Seed Co. They have dealers all over too. I am going to get the Fall Blend. It has triticale, clover, rye and chicory i believe. I just got two bags of buckwheat this week. No shipping charge if they have a dealer hub nearby. https://mixonseed.com/wildlife-blends/
FALL BUCK BRUNCH PERCENT 50 to 75 # Triticale 24% Wheat 24% Oats - Cosaque Black 32% Clover 4% Winter Peas 10% Rape 4% Radish
Its called Fall Buck Brunch
Thanks guys. We've got about 66 acres, 30 are wooded and the rest tillable. (We've got 2 creeks and a spring fed pond to keep the deer and turkey close).
I've we've got 10 that are in white and red clover. We usually keep the food plots to an acre or so in size.
My neighbor rotate 50 acres or so of corn and soybean. This year its corn, so the objective is to find something they'll find hard to resist once the corn is harvested.
I dont think you'll get much out of a one acre plot with beans if you are in a high pop area. I have had good luck with WTI products, really like wintergreens and beets and greens.
Have you thought about a soybean plot, Rick? Standing beans are one of my best draws in the fall. The biggest downside is trying to get them to maturity without the deer mowing them off in the summer. E-fencing works well for that purpose. You could also interseed some cereal grains into them in September, and have another attractive food source along with the beans.
I've tried most. Last fall I started planting real world whitetail products and was amazed! I planted their beans right beside co op beans. Huge difference in deer activity. I also used deadly dozen. The deer pounded it early and late. I have had almost zero success with any other bulb varieties and I've tried many. The radishes in deadly dozen drew deer all winter. They also are some of the beats and turnips. I plant about 6 acres a year and have switched exclusively to their products for this spring. Just my findings in Wisconsin. Good luck!!
Ranger Rick……have you planted the RW Nutri-graze corn, yet?
I think that a lot of us hunters are very gullible in buying all sorts of stuff because there is a deer picture on it. I listened to a Don Higgins seminar a few years ago; he said that real farmers would never buy the seeds that we do. The local feed mill has better stuff for cheaper.
T Roy, I have 1 acre of it on the shelf waiting for planting season. I'm going to plant it next to a large cornfield. I like to compare and then evaluate whether the extra cost is justified. I can give you my honest unbiased opinion after this season. I run a ton of cameras to gauge how deer use each product. I don't care who makes it or what's on a bag. I have been managing this 200 acre farm in Wisconsin for almost 20 years. Tim, I agree that some feed store products work just fine. Some times the extra cost doesn't equal more deer activity. However, the real world products have been lights out for our sheer activity. That's a fact! That bean product they sell 8s nothing like anything I have ever used. I literally emailed the company last August complaining that the feed store beans were prodded out and look great. The real world was much taller and green but no pods. They told me it was designed to pod out late. I was sceptical. But by mid September, there were thousands of pods that lasted right up til spring when the deer finally finished them off. Right next to them was a feed store blend that still has 1/2 the beans on them today. Yes the were grazed on, but it was like night and day with the real world blend. These are merely my observations. I'm no expert or biologist, but I watch the farm/deer extremely close and I will buy what they tell me too. Ps. Their clover is very flgood too, but so is whitetail institute and feed store blends. That is where I havnt seen a huge difference. All were eaten. I plant the cheapest I can find in non key areas like fire breaks, but i put real world in my key kill plots. Jmo.
Ranger rick………I have a buddy that sells RW products, and he talked me into trying a couple acre’s worth of the nutri-crave corn last year. I’ve also planted their beans a couple of years ago, but we were super dry all summer, that year, and the beans didn’t do all that well (but neither did the ag beans in our area either) so not really a fair test on them.
I planted the RW corn in a two acre plot, and had another corn plot about 150-200 yards away, that I planted to regular GMO ag corn. Both fields grew pretty well, as we got adequate moisture last year (barely). I had a couple of really nice bucks on my other farm, that I spent all of my time chasing, so I didn’t even hunt over either one of these plots, and observe any visual type of preference. I finally made it over to that farm in early December to check on things. The GMO plot (1 acre) had approximately 50% of the ears still on the stalks. When I checked the Nutri-crave field (2 acres), what I found, blew me away. I walked through it pretty extensively, and could not find a single ear left on a stalk anywhere.
Had good results with WI, but like others said not better enough to pay for their marketing expenses.
Good luck!
You pay a lot extra to have a picture of deer on a bag of minerals or food plot seed.
So true. Although I will say a couple of their products are worth the extra $.
I hear about gmo not being as attractive. I should do some side by side comparison in a future seed review. Assume you guys are spraying atrazine?
