Best Choice for Perennial Plot

As a professional Land Manager I would have to say that across the board, the most frequent question I receive from future food plotters is “What’s the best choice for a perennial food plot?” To be quite honest, no matter how many times I field that question, I never get tired of giving the answer. It’s easy to answer because there is only one answer! Whether you are in the red clay dirt of Georgia, the Black-Foot soils of the Midwest or the light loam soils of the Northeastern tier the best choice for a perennial food plot is Trifolium……….aka CLOVER! Clover is the king of perennials, hands down! Once established and cleaned out, nothing can out-perform or out-attract deer like a good quality perennial Clover….nothing!

I first became intrigued with clover many years ago here on the east coast (before trail cameras) when I watched a group of velvet bucks one summer evening walk out of a standing corn field and through a bean field 200 yards to get to a lush clover field where they stayed face-down till after dark. I witnessed this routine many times that summer and although I would see them eating the soybeans frequently, the draw to the clover was deliberate, obvious and on point. Their late afternoon agenda was to get to the clover--that was it! After seeing this first hand that summer it raised my attention level and I wanted to learn more.

I have found that the same can be said for the Midwest results as well. A couple of years ago I invited my long time Tecomate hunting partner, Blaine Burley (Inventor & owner of The Plotmaster) of south Georgia to join me for a three-day gun hunt at my farm in west central Illinois. We were filming an episode for the Bucks of Tecomate television show and our afternoon hunts were filmed over clover fields. Each afternoon the deer would pour into my clover fields for about 30 minutes of chow-down before moving on to the cut, corn field. Blaine ended up killing a Boone & Crockett on that hunt and the key ingredient to our success was having clover that was healthy and attracting a LOT of does. When does hold strong on a feed pattern with clover, bucks will certainly follow, especially during the rut. The formula is quite simple: Clover + November + Does = Bucks!

Across the board, clover has it all. It is high in protein, easy to maintain, available longer than anything else in a 12 month period and deer naturally love it! And, unlike foreign cultivars that deer have never come face to face with before, you don’t need to train deer how to eat clover. Additionally, one of the strongest attributes of clover is its consistent ability to provide highly digestible protein at the very start of spring. This is a critical time in a whitetail’s life and protein sources are few and far between. Bucks are stressed from the rut and winter. Likewise, does are pregnant and are looking to satisfy nutritional needs in preparation for giving birth to their young. As you can see, having a healthy clover plot on your property can have a significant impact on your deer at an extremely important time of the 12 month cycle.

So, hands down Clover gets my vote as being the number 1 choice for a perennial food plot. When you are spending your hard earned dollars on fertilizer, equipment, fuel and time, it’s important that you select a quality perennial clover seed. Tecomate will meet all of your seed needs, particularly in the perennial clover department. I trust them and have trusted them for nearly 8 years.

Posted by Mali Vujanic