ARE YOU A VICTIM?

Unfortunately, hunters and landowners often fall prey to “food plot hype,” paying a lot of money for very little results! Without a doubt, oats are the most preferred food plot variety for whitetails. Yet, every year, folks make big mistakes in selecting an oat product. Some think, “an oat is an oat,” and buy the cheapest seed at the farm and ranch store. We even have seen landowners buy feed oats for food plots! Others are deceived by slick advertising, claiming a variety has been scientifically tested and proven to be the best for whitetails. Lately, almost every company claims to have a cold hardy oat, “just as good as Buck Forage Oats.”

Every year thousands of hunters ask for Buck Forage Oats, instead they get switched to a cheap, common agriculture type variety, or in some cases are sold spring varieties. Planting a spring oat in the fall, especially in the north, is like planting banana trees in Michigan! You are not going to have much of a crop come the first freeze.

Many retailers try to convince hunters all oats are identical. That is as deceptive as saying all peppers are identical. Over the past 15 years we repeatedly have invited hunters to compare Buck Forage with all others. These are a few of the criteria you should use to evaluate any oat variety:

 Scientific Testing? Ask for proof.  Only Buck Forage has a privately funded whitetail deer winter oat breeding agreement with LSU Agricultural Center. It also is the only food plot with independent, national testing specifically for white-tailed deer, conducting by Dr. James C. Kroll, a.k.a. “Dr. Deer,” at the Institute for White-tailed Deer Management & Research, Stephen F. Austin State University.

1. All other companies claim scientific testing. But, it never is mentioned who is doing the testing, or specifically what the testing is for. Truth is, most companies are packaging very common, unprotected varieties that can be bought and sold by anyone. At one time or other, all seed has been put through scientific agriculture testing. These tests look for grain yield, disease resistance, and forage production. None of those tests have anything to do with white-tailed deer or whitetail preferences. Call your food plot seed provider. Ask who does the research and what that person’s qualifications are. Testimonials from “field testers” do not qualify as “research.”
2. Products? Most wildlife seed companies go for the “shotgun approach,” meaning they package an assortment of seed varieties, hoping at least one will produce for you. Most of these blends consist basically of the same seed, available at any feed and seed store across the country. And, of critical importance, check the amount of each seed variety in the package. We bet you the amount of seed in the bag does not even compare to the recommended per acre seeding rate for that variety. Many products under-seed by as much as 10X. We also bet you the most abundant seed in the bag is the cheapest! Some companies also try to get your money by offering a confusing line of products. Buck Forage only offers two products, the ones that passed exhaustive testing! After 20 consecutive years of testing by us and Dr. Kroll, we only have found two we will put our names on, Buck Forage Oats “The Harvest Plot,” and Buck Forage Chicory “The Nutrition Plot.” Buck Forage’s parent company, Arkansas County Seed Co., has specialized in one of a kind winter oats for over 35 years. There hardly is a seed being marketed for deer we could not sell ourselves if we chose. There is no seed being marketed for deer we or Dr. Kroll have not looked at or tested at one time or another.
3. Experience? Ever notice how some “experts” show up endorsing almost every product you see on TV or in magazines? Dr. Kroll has over 40 years of scientific white-tailed deer research. The Buck Forage staff has over 50 years experience in breeding and marketing winter oats. How long has your food plot seed provider been in the seed business? What are their qualifications concerning white-tailed deer?
4. Copy Cats and rip-offs? We do not copy anybody. To the contrary, if being imitation is the greatest form of flattery, we are the most flattered people on earth! Our name means a great deal to us and we strive to improve our products with credible research. This is why we have an exclusive deer oat breeding program. Others usually put a cheap cattle grazing variety in a bag, or even worse sell spring varieties for fall planting. Spring oat varieties should never be planted in the fall, even in the south

Over the past years we have had tremendous problems with unethical companies claiming their oats are the same as Buck Forage. Some retailers have gone so far as to tell a hunter Buck Forage sells them their seed; they just bag it in their bag. These are blatant lies!

We currently have a competing company using similar, confusing labeling as a marketing gimmick designed to trick hunters into believing they are getting Buck Forage’s products and testing.

Please call us or email us if you have been taken advantage of. We will see that you are directed to true Buck Forage dealers in the future.

These are a few very common varieties used to trick hunters:

Bob oats
Buck oats (no such thing, mislabeled)
SS76-30
Spring varieties such as Jerry Oats, Ogle Oats, Larry Oats
These oats never should be planted for fall use anywhere. They will freeze out.

The variety in Buck Forage is LA604, a PLANT PROTECTED VARIETY, with the best winter-hardiness of all LSU releases. No other variety released by LSU Agricultural Center has been tested for white-tail deer by Dr. Kroll!

Buck Forage Products P.O. Box 43 Stuttgart, Arkansas 72160
Phone: 1-800-299-6287 or 870-673-2706 Fax: 870-673-2468
Email: buckforage@centurytel.net