There is no question that
Destination is one of the most attractive fall annual food plot products the
Whitetail Institute has ever offered. There are two primary reasons, both of
which are a result of the Whitetail Institute’s goal-oriented approach to
product development. First, Destination
is designed to meet one overriding performance goal: attractiveness to deer.
And that should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with Whitetail Institute
products. All Whitetail Institute food plot products are designed to maximize
performance in multiple characteristics such as attractiveness to deer, rapid
stand establishment and early seedling vigor, fast growth, high nutritional
content, cold and heat-tolerance and resistance to disease. While the
Whitetail Institute considers all these characteristics important, the most
important of all is attractiveness to deer. Destination meets the Whitetail
Institute’s superior attraction requirement through its components — five
proprietary Whitetail Institute seeds that have all proven themselves through
research efforts and over time to be extremely attractive to deer. Second, Destination is an excellent example of
the Whitetail Institute’s practice of developing blends of complementary
forages in order to sustain maximum attractiveness of the stand over the long
term. You may have noticed that most Whitetail Institute food plot products are
blends of different plant varieties. The main reason is that it’s rare for one
type of forage plant to provide optimum performance in all the categories for
which the Whitetail Institute tests. That’s why the Institute thoroughly
researched, developed and selected several plant varieties to boost attraction
and longevity even further, and then combined them in the optimum ratios as
shown by Whitetail Institute testing. The exhaustive research and testing to
develop food plot products that perform up to the Whitetail Institute’s
relentless expectations is one reason Whitetail Institute food plot products
continue to dominate the market. This is accomplished by combining various
components in different proportions and then testing them on wild, free-ranging
deer until the Whitetail Institute identifies the optimum seed varieties and
ratios to maximize attraction over the longest period of time. Each of its
components have been selected and then combined with the other components in
Destination so that no matter what time of fall or winter it is, deer will have
multiple extremely attractive forages available to them. Let’s take a quick look at Destination’s
forage components and how they interact to deliver remarkable attraction from
early fall all the way through winter. This will help you determine why you
will want to make sure you have Destination planted on your hunting property
this fall and winter and for years to come.
Early Fall Through Late
Fall
Whitetail Oats. Without question, Whitetail
Oats are the most highly attractive oat variety the Whitetail Institute has
ever tested. It’s somewhat unique in that it’s one that Whitetail Institute
didn’t discover on its own. The Whitetail Institute first heard about it years
ago through one of its worldwide agriculture contacts, who told the Whitetail
Institute about an oat variety that had been included in a university research
project comparing how well different oat varieties performed as grain
producers. According to the Institute’s source, the university researchers had
removed the oat variety from the grain-production tests and “shelved it”
because it had been so heavily browsed by deer! Subsequent testing by Whitetail
Institute confirmed the oat variety’s superior attractiveness to deer and,
additionally, found that the oat is more cold tolerant than other varieties the
Whitetail Institute had tested. That oat variety became Whitetail Oats and is
now a proprietary Whitetail Institute forage.
WINA 204 Pea. It’s no secret that deer
love winter peas. When it comes to attracting deer, though, not all winter pea
varieties are created equal — some are simply more attractive to deer than
others. WINA 204 Pea is a high-sugar pea that has consistently proven itself in
side-by-side cafeteria tests across North America to be vastly more attractive
than any other pea variety the Whitetail Institute tested. WINA 204 Pea is also
high in protein and cold tolerant.
Alex Berseem Clover. Alex Berseem is an annual
clover that has long performed double duty in other Whitetail Institute
products — as a complementary early attractant in many Whitetail Institute annuals,
and as a fast green-up component in many Whitetail Institute perennials. In
both cases, its primary purpose is to attract deer to a food plot as soon after
planting as possible.
Fall Through Winter
WINA 210 Kale and WINA
412 Radish. The oats, peas and clover in Destination provide the bulk of
attraction in the months right after planting and well into the cold months.
WINA 210 Kale and WINA 412 Radish also establish quickly, boost early
attraction even further by increasing the variety of food options in the plot,
and provide additional tonnage during early fall. Once frosts arrive, enzymes
in the kale and radishes convert starches in the foliage to sugars, making them
even more attractive to deer and providing deer with high carbohydrates
through winter. The thick, deeply rooted tubers produced by WINA 412 Radish
also continues to act as a much-needed food source for deer through the coldest
winter months. (Editor’s Note: You can find out more about the Whitetail
Institute’s new WINA 412 Radish in a separate article about a new product
called Ravish that starts on page 18 of this issue.) Destination is available in 9-pound bags that plant 1/4-acre.
Sites with moderately light to medium-heavy soils are optimum. Avoid wet bottom
areas. Destination requires a minimum of 3-4 hours of filtered or indirect
sunlight a day. For additional information about Destination, go to
whitetailinstitute.com or call the Whitetail Institute at (800) 688-3030.
