By Michael Veine
Mark Trudeau is one of those impressive individuals that you can talk to just briefly and come away with a ton of easily understandable food plot information. He’s also a genuinely friendly, down-to-earth guy, with credentials that any food plotter will certainly appreciate. Mark is an agronomy expert and has been a professional farmer for more than 30 years. He has worked for the Whitetail Institute as a Product Field Specialist for many years and also currently serves as their National Sales Manager.
Mark Trudeau said, “During the summer, bucks and does are targeting food sources that have lots of protein and minerals that they require for building antlers (bucks) and for nursing (does). They also require proper nutrients in mass quantities for overall body growth. This is when deer will really chow down on succulent food plot forages like Imperial Whitetail Clover, and crave and attack mineral and vitamin supplements provided by 30-06 and 30-06 Plus Protein.”
Trudeau continued, “Towards late summer, when antlers harden, fawns are weaned and does stop lactating. This is when whitetails shift their forage preference more towards higher energy foods. I like to call this the beginning of a fattening period that accelerates as the fall progresses. Then you’ll see deer go nuts over fruits like apples or mast crops like acorns. There are also certain high-energy food-plot forages that really get hit hard by deer at this time, especially the annuals like Secret Spot, No-Plow and Pure Attraction. These annuals grow a lot more tonnage of food in a shorter period than most perennials, especially during the fall. These rapidly growing fall annuals with their tender, easily digestible qualities are favored big time by deer during this period.”
Mark Trudeau went on to say, “As the fall season progresses deer focus more and more on high-energy food sources available to them. The problem is that as fall marches on, those high-energy food sources become scarcer, but the smart food plotter can really cash in with the right planting strategy. When heavy frosts cover the ground, Imperial Winter-Greens really start to get hammered by the deer.” Trudeau concluded, “With the onset of early winter, Tall Tine Tubers will provide deer with an awesome high-energy food source that will draw them from miles away. Hunters with these products in the ground will have a huge advantage during the late season.”
It’s no secret that I am a big fan of Imperial Whitetail Clover and I’ve also used Imperial Chicory Plus and Imperial Alfa-Rack Plus with good results. These are all proven perennials that really attract deer and also provide them with nearly year round top quality nutrition. In fact I’ve been using Imperial Whitetail Clover for well over a decade and rely on it heavily for consistent forage production on the bulk of my food plot acreage. Deer love variety in their diet though, so it can really pay big dividends to provide them with some other goodies that supply just what deer are looking for during the key periods from late summer to early winter when hunters are looking to fill tags. The Whitetail Institute has some incredible fall annuals that really fit the bill. No-Plow, Secret Spot, Pure Attraction, Winter-Greens and the new Tall Tine Tubers are premium fall annual food plot seeds that, when planted with a smart strategy, can and will attract deer so well that hunters can play the deer like a fiddle for the ultimate in hunting success.
My food plot layout, forage selection and hunting strategies on my hunting property in Michigan’s U.P. are carefully planned out and executed like a Navy Seal assault on an enemy stronghold. My basic hunting strategy is to hunt the front of my land during the early season and then focus on stands in the rear of my property later in the prime rut phase of the fall. That strategy is supported by the way my food plots are located and also when and where I plant my selected forages.
I have a plot I call “the Big Field” in the center of my land. It’s a five-acre food plot that I bulldozed out of the forest. It has been planted mainly with Imperial Whitetail Clover, but I experiment with various other seeding options in that plot as well. My “Big Field” serves as a central draw for deer on my property and provides a nearly year-round food source for local deer. The deer can feed on that plot unpressured too as I don’t hunt near it. Typically the Imperial Clover is shin high by the end of summer, but by the end of fall it’s been grazed down to stubble with cow-path-like deer trails all along the perimeter that clearly define their travel patterns in and out. The Imperial Whitetail Clover there does a great job of providing maximum forage with minimal hassle and expense. In fact, part of the food plot is in its tenth year without having been replanted and the Imperial Whitetail Clover is still thriving nicely.
Two medium-sized plots that are a little over one acre each in size are located towards the front of my property. Those plots are also planted with Imperial Whitetail Clover. I don’t bowhunt over those plots at all, but we do have gun blinds set up overlooking them from a distance.
There are four smaller food plots that measure fractions of an acre, all strategically situated between those larger clover food plots along natural and man-enhanced travel corridors. These small plots are seeded primarily with Secret Spot and No-Plow and are hunted mostly during the early bow season. Those sites are also seasoned with 30-06 mineral and vitamin supplements and they feature hand-dug water holes for the ultimate in early-season deer attraction. Those small “kill plots,” planted with fall annuals, get hammered during October to the point where hunting success there has skyrocketed; so much in fact, that I often don’t have tags left beyond the early season. The back of my property is much more heavily wooded than the front half and I typically save that territory for bowhunting during the rut (early November) and also for firearm deer hunts, which in Michigan starts on Nov. 15 and runs for about three weeks. I’ve installed three food plots on the back of my land and all of them are planted with a mixture of Imperial Whitetail Clover and fall annuals. 30-06 is also used at those sites, which are all located in prime terrain features (ridges, funnels, edges) where bucks prefer to patrol during the rut. This mixture of nutrition and optimal location really ramps up my rut hunting success there.
My wife only hunts with a rifle. She and I are the only ones that hunt the property during the firearm deer season. If I have any tags left (which is rare), I hunt the back while she hunts the front half. Reason being, she prefers not to walk a long way in the dark with wolves howling, however she has been getting braver in recent years. Even though we are hunting in areas with an overall, relatively low deer population, we almost always see at least one or two bucks on every hunt throughout the firearm deer seasons. Along with our neighbors, we practice QDM and when you manage the deer herd with this type of common-sense approach, and provide the deer with the right vittles in the right places and hunt smartly, the quality of the hunt skyrockets.
Here are some details about the outstanding fall annual food plot choices mentioned. Visit http://www.whitetailinstitute.com/ for more details including planting instructions:
No-Plow If you have food plot sites that are hard to access with traditional food plot prep equipment or just want a fall annual that really pulls in deer like a magnet, No-Plow is hard to beat. Just like the name implies, you don’t have to till the ground with this unique product. The blend of carefully selected clovers, brassicas and cereal grains come up fast and provide plentiful, highly desirable forage for deer. You do need seed-to-soil contact.
Secret Spot This product is another super, easy to grow, yet highly attractive and nutritious food plot choice. Secret Spot even thrives on sites that have tough growing conditions with a variety of clovers, brassicas and cereal grains that deer love to eat. It even comes with a pH booster.
Pure Attraction If you’re looking for a product that will really pull deer in a competitive environment, Pure Attraction fits the bill. This blend of WINA forage oats, winter peas and Whitetail Institute brassicas gives food plotters the ultimate blend for a fall annual that delivers rapid growth, abundant forage and unreal deer-attracting qualities in the fall and on into winter.
Winter-Greens This brassica blend is designed to draw deer in during the late season. Winter-Greens is most attractive to deer at the same time when other food plot choices are becoming less appealing. Winter-Greens actually sweeten up with the first hard frosts and they stand tall, making them ideal when the snows pile up during late fall and winter hunts.
Tall Tine Tubers This new product was developed through extensive research to come up with the most preferred turnip-based product available. Deer will typically eat the tops of the Tall Tines Tubers during the fall, leaving the highly nutritious root vegetable portion for late season. Deer really go after those tubers during the winter providing perhaps the best draw around at that time.
