Archery season was just days old when
the dark-gray, deep-chested buck stepped into the lush, green food plot. As I
studied his body language to see if he was about to bolt, I tried to figure out
what he was feeding on in the thick plot, which contained a mixture of forages.
Was it soybeans? Or perhaps the lower-growing cowpeas.
Sunflowers were available, too. They brightened my afternoon hunt just to look
at them. Or maybe it was the recent newcomer to this food plot blend, sunn
hemp. As the buck moved closer, I
stopped the pointless exercise. Whatever he was eating in the mixture that grew
like a jungle before me didn’t matter. He had come out 35 yards upwind of my
tree stand. Crossbow season was open, and I knew from his body characteristics
he was a mature buck. I’d seen him before, watched his antlers develop through
August and seen them turn hard, clean and burnished brown with September’s
cooling nights. But I couldn’t help
wondering what he was eating and whether he would have come to the field if it
had been planted in only one forage, such as soybeans or cowpeas. Those plants
grow lower to the ground. And although deer love them, it’s questionable
whether a buck of that age would have ventured from the adjoining thicket to feed
on them in shooting light in our high-pressured hunting area. Without the taller sunn hemp and sunflowers —
plants that grow higher than the peas and beans, and let the peas and beans
wrap around their stalks and grow higher — I doubted I would have aimed my
crossbow scope at the sweet spot behind this buck’s shoulder. With the extra
vertical structure those plants offered (plus two more tasty varieties of
forage), the buck had the security he needed to come out with plenty of
daylight for a clean shot — and a tracking job, if required. In fact, there
was so much cover I had to carefully pick my aiming spot so the buck’s vitals
weren’t hidden by the tangled mass of warm-season foods. By planting the blend
of forages in PowerPlant, I had offered four prime summer annuals that appealed
to the varied taste preferences of deer, plus loads of security cover. But when I squeezed the crossbow trigger, I
wasn’t thinking about that. My thoughts were, “Stay calm, aim carefully, don’t
flinch and follow through.” And after I saw the arrow strike cleanly behind the
buck’s shoulder, different emotions took over. I said a silent prayer of thanks
to be alive, to be fortunate enough to harvest the magnificent animal, to own
the small parcel of land I could manage for wildlife and to have found my
passion in life as a hunter and land manager. As I field-dressed the heavy 4-year old buck,
I couldn’t believe that many food plotters don’t have any of those prime
warm-season annuals in their whitetail nutrition program on their hunting
land. I don’t claim to be a food plot genius, but I realized early in my 30
years of food plotting there was a strong need for plants that grow fast and
produce lots of nutritious forage during the prime spring-through-summer
period, when bucks grow antlers and does raise fawns. The plants that fit that need are
unquestionably warm-season annuals. The personnel at the Whitetail Institute
recognized that long ago, too. And their answer was a carefully and
meticulously developed blend of seeds: PowerPlant. By the end of this article,
I think you’ll realize it’s probably the only spring-through-summer annual seed
mixture you need, too. But I’m getting
ahead of myself. Let’s backtrack and delve deeper into whether there’s a place
for warm-season annuals in the average food plotter’s management plan. What do
they offer? Why do you need them? Which ones are best? Astonishingly, some estimates say only one of
five food plotters plant any warm-season legumes. I’d venture that figure is
considerably higher for readers of Whitetail News, who are way above average in
their knowledge of a deer’s seasonal nutritional needs. But many don’t want to
fool with spring and summer annuals. They figure they have things covered with
a few perennial plots of Imperial Whitetail Clover, Alfa-Rack Plus or Fusion,
and then focus on annuals for their fall and winter plantings. Certainly, those perennials are great
products. I plant them and they are critical for supplying your deer herd a
high-protein food source in the early spring through summer. But by limiting
your spring-through-summer offerings to just clover, alfalfa and chicory, you
miss many advantages you can achieve by including warm-season annuals in your
food plot program. Here are eight
reasons to plant these crops with — not instead of — Imperial Whitetail Clover,
Alfa-Rack Plus and Fusion. 
The Great 8
1.Unmatched Tonnage: Warm-season annuals can produce four to seven
tons of high protein forage per acre and can last more than five to seven
months.
2.Not Wasting Land: Why leave some potential areas of your property
unplanted during summer? You might have a fallow plot or another in which
you’re waiting to plant Whitetail Oats Plus in September. Perhaps there’s
another plot you could work into shape during a spare weekend. 3.The Ability to Double-Plant: In some parts of the country you can get two
plantings in the same plot. Put in PowerPlant during April or May, and then mow
and disk up some sections of it for fall/winter plantings, or use strategically
placed food plot paths near your stand (as Jon Cooner has outlined in previous Whitetail News articles). Put in Winter-Greens, Tall Tine
Tubers, Beets & Greens, Pure Attraction or Whitetail Oats Plus in trails or
strips you’ve mowed and tilled under in September. Those doubled-up plots will
produce forage almost all year.
4.Variety: This has been pointed out but deserves repeating. Some deer like
one forage, but others might prefer a different one. Why just offer clover and
alfalfa during summer if some whitetails might have a strong craving for peas
or soybeans?
5.Competition: If you don’t offer those tasty, high-protein
forages, your neighbor might. When bucks find that buffet of attractive summer
annuals just across your boundary, then you will have to work and hope to get
them back on your property.
6.Nutrition: The payoff is clear: The high protein these
annual forages contain helps bucks reach their maximum antler potential and
allows does to provide their fawns more milk.
7.Drought Tolerance: Although clover produces bountiful crops
during spring and fall, dry spells can cut back production during July and
August. That’s when these drought-resistant annuals take up the slack.
8.Cover: This is an ingredient few food plots offer. Perennials and fall
annuals provide lots of nutrition, but few of them offer tall enough vegetation
to also supply prime security cover. PowerPlant can. The cover is so good that
some old bucks simply bed down in it after they stuff their bellies.
Critical Ingredients
We’ve established solid reasons to consider
putting in warm-season annuals. But which ones are best? We’ll go through them,
but the folks at the Whitetail Institute have researched this far more than you
or I could in a lifetime. They’ve settled on the best forages and the best variety
of each plant type for the premier warm-season annual offering: PowerPlant. The most frequently considered annuals for summer
food plots include three legumes: soybeans, peas and sunn hemp, plus
sunflowers.
Soybeans: We’re not discussing the beans planted for seed, meal and oils
but those grown for leaf production. Forage soybeans are a great warm-season
annual. You can spray them with Arrest Max to reduce grass competition, and
they rate high in protein content, palatability and digestibility. They’re an
absolute must for any warm-season blend.
Peas: These plants originated in Ethiopia and offer great nutrition,
with 20 to 28 percent protein. They are fairly tolerant of poor-quality soils
but do best when the pH is brought close to neutral and fertilizer is added
according to soil-test recommendations. They’re reliable and easy to grow, and
deer devour them until the first frosts of autumn. Soybeans and peas have one drawback: early heavy browsing pressure
on young plants can hurt them. That’s where the final two ingredients of
PowerPlant come into play — another legume, sunn hemp and sunflowers. And
here’s where a crucial word comes into play: synergy, which means the total
effect of certain elements combined is more beneficial than the parts added
together would imply. These plants provide benefits to the beans and peas and
also receive positive effects from them.
Sunflowers: These beautiful plants grow fast and tall, protecting and
helping shield the peas and soybeans from overbrowsing when they’re young and
vulnerable. They also provide structure so the vinous, climbing beans can
cling to their stalks and grow higher. Deer can then feed on the pea and bean
forage at higher levels without hurting the plants. Including sunflowers with lower-growing
legumes also provides other synergistic benefits. They provide shade, which
keeps moisture levels higher. And because deer like the green leaves of the
sunflower plant and the oil-rich seeds, the sunflowers also divert some feeding
pressure from the peas and beans. The
synergy goes both ways, though. The low-growing legumes produce more nitrogen
than they need, which the sunflowers can use. And they also help retain soil
moisture with their dense canopy of leaves, from which all the plants in the
blend benefit.
Sunn hemp: The final PowerPlant ingredient offers many of
the same structural and security benefits as sunflowers but also much more. Its
inclusion in the seed mixture testifies to the Whitetail Institute’s
philosophy of always experimenting and researching to find ways to improve a
product. It plays a role in PowerPlant that was originally filled by sorghum.
Through constant research, the Whitetail Institute staff discovered that this
plant, which dates back to 600 B.C., could do everything sorghum could, only
better. Never rest on its laurels. Never keep a product the same because it’s
easier. Always strive for improvement. That’s the Whitetail Institute way. This
wasn’t a change the company had to make. It did so to make PowerPlant even
better. After research and extensive field testing, finding the best version
of the product and then producing the huge amount of seed needed, the company
made the switch. Sunn hemp offers up to
30 percent protein, provides strong vertical structure for soybeans to cling to
and adds to the security feeling in a plot for wary bucks. Its small elliptical
leaves are highly palatable to deer, and it comes back strong after being
browsed. It’s also a soil builder that recycles phosphate, nitrogen and potash,
bringing them out from deep levels and leaving them higher in the topsoil for
peas and beans and future plantings to benefit from. Sunn hemp also suppresses
weeds.
The Easy Case for
PowerPlant
It’s clear from this rundown you have some
great choices for warm-season annual food plot forages. The obvious conclusion
is that it’s best to plant all of them rather than trying to pick the best and
put in three or four plots with those seeds. That way, you’ll offer a variety
of plants that will appeal to deer while gaining the synergistic benefits
mentioned. But if you think you can cut
corners and throw together a mixture of various generics, think again. To
thrive and complement each other, the best varieties of each of these seeds
must be selected and then blended in the right proportions so they don’t
out-compete each other or negate the advantages the other plants offer. Years
of research goes into finding or developing the best varieties of seed and
perfecting the best ratios. Hopefully
this article has shown you why warm-season annuals are a great idea and that —
unless you have a very small parcel — you should consider including them in
your food plot program. You’ve also probably concluded that a blend is best,
offering many benefits individual plants sown separately wouldn’t. That’s why
the Whitetail Institute offers one summer-annual food plot product, covering a
whitetail manager’s needs for warm-season forages from April through October.
It’s one product because it covers all the bases, with components that
complement and enhance each other. PowerPlant
is easy to establish, grows quickly and creates incredible tonnage of
high-protein, highly digestible forage. It’s a great choice for improving the
soil after a perennial planting has declined, and it’s perfect for
double-cropping with a later planting of Whitetail Oats Plus, Winter-Greens,
Pure Attraction or Beets & Greens in September or October. And PowerPlant sells out virtually every year.
To me, that says it all.
Strategies For Extending The
Utilization of PowerPlant
PowerPlant provides an abundance of highly
nutritious forage that lasts until the first hard frosts of fall. After frosts
arrive, deer can continue to use the residual beans and peas, but the forage
growth will be finished. Even so, the remaining PowerPlant will still continue
to provide cover for deer. New PowerPlant stands up tall in the cold much better
than the original PowerPlant. Here are some strategies to help your
PowerPlant plot remain attractive through fall and winter and create one of the
best harvest plots possible: Most areas
have a common prevailing wind direction during hunting season. (In central
Alabama, for example, the wind usually blows out of the northwest during the
season.) Once you determine your prevailing wind direction during hunting
season, locate a permanent stand site on the downwind corner or edge of the
PowerPlant plot. Then, 3-4 weeks before the start of your fall planting window,
mow lanes through the PowerPlant, wait a few weeks for the clippings to dry,
and then disk or till the plant matter into the lanes. When your fall planting
dates arrive, plant the lanes in an Imperial Whitetail annual such as Beets
& Greens, Winter-Greens, Pure Attraction, No-Plow or Whitetail Oats Plus. When deciding how much lane area to add, keep in mind that you
want enough lane area to keep the plot attracting deer even after frosts, but
not so much that you destroy the feeling of safety deer have in the tall, thick
PowerPlant. If you do it right, you'll likely find that deer continue to bed in
the PowerPlant and step in and out of the lanes throughout the day. The lanes
are skinny and provide a feeling of safety for deer inside the tall adjacent
PowerPlant. Then, the Beets & Greens, Winter-Greens, Pure Attraction,
No-Plow or Whitetail Oats Plus in the lanes will make the plot an attractive
source of nutrition all the way through the late season.
