I live in northeastern Missouri on 300-plus acres of land. My land consists of row-crop ground, CRP ground and hilly wooded areas with the river running through it. The deer have access to many multiple crops in a year’s time.
I started using Imperial Whitetail Clover around 1990 with two plots, three to five acres each. Before that we had many deer — big herds — but the antlered deer had small racks, five to eight points to maybe 10 points but it wasn’t more than a 10- to 11-inch spread. They had very small racks. Occasionally I would find a large rack or shed, but not too often. After planting I began to see much bigger antlered deer, and within the next five to seven years we had taken five or six 120- to 140-class deer anywhere from eight to 12 points. Not really too big but bigger than I noticed before and the antler growth was more predominant in a wide range of deer. Not just one occasionally — every deer was getting bigger antler growth and they were all coming to the Imperial Whitetail Clover food plots. I started to use Arrest and Slay herbicide in the last few years and they help control the grasses and weeds much more than any other products I used before. Of course I fertilize and lime the plots as well. I don’t have a picture of the food plots, but here is a photo of a buck I took with a bow this past November. I haven’t gotten this rack scored but think it is in the neighborhood of 160-plus. Thanks for the products, Whitetail Institute. I know it has improved the deer herd on my land. Keep up the good work. 