The 2.5-minute video below is from a YouTube channel called Kapper Outdoors 2.0 Excavation & Land Management. The host wrote the following in describing his channel:
“Join me on the adventures of the average Joe (former Marine, served in the Gulf War, and retired law enforcement) who wanted to learn to use a mini excavator and other equipment for land management projects, property management, fixing roads, clearing trees, small ponds and watering holes, creating new food plots, land clearing, installing culvert pipes and much more.”
The content below focuses on food plots, and specifically those land managers who plant clover for whitetails and turkeys. Yes, clover is a fantastic perennial, but as the host explains, it does have one downfall: “During times of extreme droughts and high temperatures, clover food plots will shut down and ‘brown out’ for many weeks at a time. But I learned many years ago that if you add chicory to your clover food plot mix, that you can mitigate these drought brown outs. Chicory has a very deep tap root and is very drought tolerant, and it does well when mixed with clover for an all-around perennial deer food plot.”
I agree 100 percent. On my Wisconsin food plots, I’ve had tremendous success when planting perennial clover blends that contain chicory. All of the major food plot seed companies offer a clover-plus-chicory blend, so the next time you’re ready to plant a perennial field, make sure to check the label. Of course, if you currently have an established food plot that contains only clover, you could overseed it with pure chicory. Spring is a great time to broadcast clover and chicory, but it can also be planted in late summer.
P.S. The host of Kapper Outdoors recently posted a video where he finds the deadhead of the biggest buck he captured on trail cams last year in southern Missouri — a tall-tined 14-pointer. Dang! The video is 21 minutes long; if you’re short on time, fast-forward to the 7:50 mark to get right to the action. Click here to watch the deadhead video.
