Author Archives: Kristin Armitage

2019 Upcoming Events

If you missed the Wisconsin State Hunting Expo in Green Bay, don’t worry! There’s plenty of opportunities coming up to visit with the HB Seed Team or hear Doug speak on the topic of food plots. Here is the current expo and seminar schedule; we will post additional details and updates as we get them.

  • Tuesday, March 26, 6 – 7:30 pm | Seminar at Scheel’s in Appleton, WI
  • March 29 – 31 | Outdoor Life/Field & Stream Expo at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison, WI
    Multiple Seminars in Madison:
    • Friday, March 29 at 8 pm, Room D
    • Saturday, March 30 at 1 pm & 5:30 pm, Room D
    • Sunday, March 31 at 12:30 pm, Room D
  • Saturday, April 6 | Milwaukee Area | More details to come
  • Sunday, April 7 | Milwaukee Area | More details to come
  • Saturday, April 13, 10 am, doors open at 9:30 am | Seminar in Norton, Ohio | Download Flyer
  • Friday, April 26 | Seminar at Stadium View Bar in Green Bay
  • August 2-4 | DeerFest | West Bend, WI

Check back for more info, and we’ll be sure to remind you as events approach. Follow us on Facebook or Instagram to stay up to date!

Food Plot Seminar March 26 at Scheels – Appleton

Be sure to mark Tuesday, March 26 from 6 – 7:30 pm on your calendars!

Doug will be speaking about all things food plots at Scheels in Appleton, WI. Cost is $10, and registration is required. Visit Scheels Customer Service to get signed up.

All registered attendees will get a $10 Scheels gift card and are eligible to win other prizes, including seed and mineral!

Address: Scheels
4301 W Wisconsin Ave
Appleton, WI 54913

See you there!

The HB Seed Co. Story

Welcome!

If you’re new to HB Seed Co. or food plotting, thanks for checking us out! And to all our customers, thanks for your continued support! Your success is our success, and we’re looking forward to helping you make the most of the upcoming season.

Whether you’ve been using HB Seed Co. products for a while or you’re visiting us for the first time, you may be wondering how a company like this came to be. The story has been told many times, in person and on podcasts, but we’ve never really explained our story here. So, if you sit back and relax, we’ll take you on a brief walk down memory lane.

Meet Doug Kostreva

Doug grew up on a family farm that was established in 1917 in northeast Wisconsin – in fact, he still lives there. He’s a third-generation farmer and still raises beef cattle today. Using the knowledge from his farming background, he started planting food plots in the 80s, mostly for people who were interested in attracting deer so they could watch them in their yards. Through the years it was something Doug did on the side – that is, until life decided to throw the Kostreva’s a curve ball. Both Doug and his wife were laid off, and after some deliberation, he decided it was time to take his part-time gig and turn it into a business.

“But what do we name it?”

Can we just mention really quickly: we do know they’re called antlers.

But have you ever been driving around, spotted a big buck in a field, hit the brakes and said, “Look at the horns on that guy!”?? It can’t be just us. Even Doug’s wife says it, so you know it’s legit. In fact, she says it so much that when it came time to name this new business she said, “Why not Horny Buck Seed?” You know, after their horns. What were you thinking?

You have to admit, it’s pretty clever. And so, this play on words led to the Horny Buck Seed Company (now shortened to HB Seed Co.) being born in 2012. Doug contacted his brother, a graphic designer, and after a few designs, Horny the Buck became the official mascot and logo.

HB Seed Co Today

So, what is HB Seed Co about? For starters, as our homepage will tell you, we’re all about the freshest seed! But not only are the seed blends fresh, they include variety. Just as you wouldn’t want to eat the same thing for every meal, deer also like to mix things up — and HB Seed Co delivers with the deer groceries. The blends are all designed to be high in nutrients to help maintain a healthy herd for bucks, does, and fawns alike.

Beyond the products, though, HB Seed Co. is all about helping customers succeed. We want to provide you with the know-how to plant and grow healthy plots that keep the deer coming back for more. When customers connect on the deer of a lifetime – whether it’s their first, biggest, or somewhere in between – thanks to their HB Seed food plots, that is the ultimate reward.

You don’t need to be a third-generation farmer like Doug to plant healthy food plots. Our goal is to provide you with the information and support you need to attract deer, maintain a healthy deer herd, and see that sweat-equity pay off! We love helping people, so we hope to provide more content in the future to assist you in as many ways as we can – and we hope to keep having fun doing it!

Check back frequently for more tips and updates. If you missed us at the Wisconsin State Hunting Expo in Green Bay, don’t worry! There will be plenty of chances to meet and learn from the HB Seed team in person coming up. More details soon! In the meantime, be sure to keep up with us on Facebook.

How To Start a Spring Food Plot With Little Or No Tools

Most people are not thinking about food plotting in mid-February. But us whitetail-crazed nuts are a little bit different. We are always thinking about what could possibly give us an edge on that buck we are after. If you follow this page, you have probably already seen the advantages food plotting can give you, or you are interested starting your very first food plot to help give you success in the whitetail woods.

Today we are going to talk about one of the best ways to start your first food plot. The great part about this method is it requires minimal tools, and mother nature does the majority of the work for us. So what is this strategy? Frost seeding, frost seeding clover to be exact.

There are many advantages of putting clover in early spring. This can be a very stressful part of the year for a whitetail, especially in early spring when there are still heavy frosts. Providing clover for these deer is a great way to add extra protein to their diet during a female’s gestation period, and a male’s primary antler growing season.

So how do we go about frost seeding? The process is very simple actually, and that is what makes this such an effective strategy for feeding our deer. The first step is timing. Timing is everything when it comes to frost seeding. We need to focus on a time period when we have freezing temperatures at night, and temperatures that are high enough for the ground to thaw during the day. Here in the Midwest this is usually during March that we see these conditions. The reason we need these freezing and thawing conditions, is because it creates an expanding and contracting surface area with every freeze and thaw. This literally sucks the clover seeds into the dirt, and provides perfect conditions for germination.

The fact that the freezing and thawing is getting our seeds into the ground is what makes frost seeding so advantageous. We don’t need a drill or a cultipacker, mother nature takes care of that for us. The next thing we need to look for is a proper place to seed. Really what we need here is an area that is exposed to sunlight, and where we can get good seed to soil contact. Another great advantage to frost seeding is this time of year, we can most likely get great seed to soil contact without any sort of disking or tilling. The grass isn’t growing yet, and we can usually get our seed into the dirt without having to disturb the soil too much.

Now all that’s left is broadcasting the seed. When it comes time to seed, we usually want to apply about 4 pounds per half acre, with frost seeding we want to go a little heavier. Just because of the process it takes, we want to be looking at about 5 pounds per half acre. Horny Buck Seed’s Luck o’ Blend is a great option for frost seeding. This is a great mixture of 5 different clovers, including white and red varieties. It also has rye grass, and birds foot trefoil, two other great seeds for frost seeding.

Birds Foot Trefoil

After we broadcast our seed, all that is left to do is let mother nature work. Our seed will get absorbed into the earth, and germination will start rather quickly. Providing great nutrition for our deer during the spring and summer, and also giving us a great hunting spot come fall. Clover is also a great food source for turkeys, providing us with another hunting opportunity in the spring.

We hope you enjoyed this article, and consider taking advantage of this great food plotting method. Frost seedingis a great way to get food plots in with minimal equipment and time.