Imperial Whitetail Clover: The Next Generation Raising the Bar on Food Plot Performance — Again

 By William Cousins

·         Revolutionary  

       ·         Genesis of the Food-Plot and Deer-nutrition Industries  

       ·         Quality and Performance Benchmark for All Food-Plot Products  

       ·         Gold Standard  

       ·         The Number One Food Plot Planting in The World  

 

Only one food plot product can claim all these titles: Imperial Whitetail Clover. Without question, Imperial Whitetail Clover is the single most im­portant food plot breakthrough in the history of the industry, and it has remained the king of food plot products ever since. Now, the Whitetail Institute has raised the bar yet again by including its most recent proprietary clover, WT-177, in Imperial Whitetail Clover.  

 

The Development of Imperial Whitetail Clover. The introduction of Imperial Whitetail Clover by the Whitetail Institute in 1988 marked the genesis of the entire food plot industry. The introduction in Qual­ity Deer Management Association’s book Quality Food Plots, Your Guide to Better Deer and Better Deer Hunting said it well: “The birth of the nationwide commercial food plot industry unquestionably began in 1988 with the launch of Imperial Whitetail Clover by the Whitetail Institute.”  

 

The idea behind the development of Imperial Whitetail Clover was that just as forages are developed for other specific purposes, such as grazing by cattle, new forages could also be scientifically developed specifically to meet the unique attraction, palatability and nutritional requirements of whitetail deer. Development of Imperial Whitetail Clover began with selection of more than 100 clover varieties world­wide to be used as breeding stock. These candidates were then cross­bred, and the resulting offspring analyzed for defined traits specifically important to use in food plots. Examples include exceptional attrac­tiveness to deer, high nutritional content, quick stand establishment, early seedling vigor, rapid growth, resistance to disease, and tolerance of heat, cold and drought. Only the offspring best exhibiting these traits were retained for further crossbreeding, which continued over seven years until only one clover variety remained — a new clover variety specifically and scientifically developed for deer.  

 

During initial and continuing development of Imperial Whitetail Clover, testing has been performed on wild, free-ranging deer from the Deep South to the far northern states and Canada to ensure that it is as attractive as the Whitetail Institute can make it, and that it will perform in a wide range of climates. The Whitetail Institute continues to follow a rigorous real-world testing process to this day when im­proving existing forage products and developing new ones.  

 

For the industry, the standard is one of performance and Imperial Whitetail Clover continues to set the bar by which all other food plot plantings are meas­ured. As stated by the NRA in an issue of American Hunter magazine, “The Whitetail Institute of North America is the preeminent supplier of wildlife seed products that help hunters attract and grow healthier deer” and “To meet the whitetail’s need for protein, some seed companies have developed high-protein clovers and mixtures geared espe­cially for wildlife. At the forefront of this research is the Whitetail Institute.”  

 

Making the Best Even Better. The Whitetail Institute has never been content to rest on its successes. Perhaps no better evidence of this fact exists than Imperial Whitetail Clover. Over the years since it originally developed Imperial Whitetail Clover, the Whitetail Institute has continued to improve Imperial Whitetail Clover whenever it found a way to do so. One way it has done so is by continuing to de­velop new clover varieties specifically for food plots for deer and adding them to Imperial Whitetail Clover.  

 

Today, Imperial Whitetail Clover continues to serve as the standard for both the entire food plot industry and for the Whitetail Institute itself. The recent addition of the Whitetail Institute’s newest propri­etary clover, WT-177, raises the bar yet again. Here’s how the White­tail Institute’s Director of Plant Breeding, Dr. Wayne Hanna, describes the process by which WT-177 was developed, and how it improves Imperial Whitetail Clover’s performance even further:  

 

“Over a decade ago I started collecting white clover samples from 16 states. Many were selected from old stands that had exhibited ex­traordinary longevity. We planted the test plants in 5 or 10-plant plots with 4 to 5 seeds in each area to allow the strongest plants to domi­nate. This left us with only the best 20 percent, which we then eval­uated to determine which best exhibited numerous characteristics we consider crucial to the performance of a food plot planting for deer. These include plant “vigor” (height and width), leaf size, plant quality, pest resistance, cold heartiness and drought tolerance. This is the group that produced WT-177,” Hanna said.  

 

He continued, “WT177 grows more vigorously than any clover the Whitetail Institute has developed to date, and its development of WT-177 from clovers collected from such a broad range of states ensures that Imperial Whitetail Clover will continue to provide top perform­ance in most any area of the country with good quality soils and proper seedbed preparation and normal maintenance.”  

 

In the future, you can be sure that Whitetail Institute forage re­search, development and testing is ongoing across the United States to ensure that Imperial Whitetail Clover and other Whitetail Institute food plot products are the best the Whitetail Institute can make.  Imperial Whitetail Clover is designed for good soils that hold moisture, and it can last up to five years from a single planting. Plant­ing and maintenance instructions for Imperial Whitetail Clover are on the product bags and also available at www.whitetailinstitute.com. You can also call the Whitetail Institute’s in-house consultants at (800) 688-3030.