The plot, a quarter-acre chunk of creek-bottom perfection, is a spot where I’ve never killed a deer. If you’re wondering why, it’s because I’ve spent a lot of time there over the years, experimenting with different plantings, and giving my trail cameras a workout.
The reasons I love this plot so much are simple: I have a mock scrape on its edge that provides some of the best buck pictures I get every season. It also has good soil, so the plot serves as the perfect place for me to test different forage plantings each year. In short, it’s already a place bucks want to go, so the better the food plot is that season, the better the pics I get on my cameras. When spring rolled around two years ago, I seeded the plot to Imperial Whitetail Fusion, which is a blend of the newest Imperial Whitetail Clover and the Whitetail Institute’s WINA-100 chicory. The deer were attracted to the Fusion very quickly, they focused most heavily on the clover early, and they began to heavily utilize the chicory too as summer morphed into fall. I soon realized that by planting my favorite food plot to Fusion, I’d made it better than ever before.
Real-World Results
Another huge fan of Fusion is Jason Say, a veteran hunter from northwest Pennsylvania and developer of Wired Outdoors an online portal for whitetail nuts and outdoorsman of all types. “I started planting Fusion as soon as it became available,” Jason says. “Last year, I planted 14 plots here in Pennsylvania. Six of them were devoted totally or partially to Fusion. Last fall, my wife and my daughter shot their first deer ever while hunting a Fusion plot, so that alone would make me a pretty big fan.” Say is a veteran food plotter who knows how to grow forages that attract deer. “Fusion grows best in good soil that holds moisture,” he said. “And like any food plot, a successful Fusion plot will be one where you decide to do everything right. Here in Pennsylvania, we have rocky soils left in the wake of strip mining for coal. It isn’t deep, dark soil like they have in the Midwest. So, getting the soil ready for a plot is a process. “I also preach this hard to people: soil test, lime and fertilize. We do laboratory soil tests through the Whitetail Institute, and then follow the lab’s recommendations for lime and fertilizer,” Say says. “Without a soil test, you’re left to just playing the odds that your plot will be successful. Some guys stare at you with a blank look and never seem to get it. People who nod their heads and do the hard work of preparation, though, are invariably happy with their results. I know we sure are.” favorites — year after year in the same plot. You plant them for a season or two and then shift that section of the plot into perennials for a while to let the soil recover. “Another benefit to splitting plots is it helps increase the attraction of deer to that area even further by adding variety. Regardless of the phase of the season, you’ve got something growing there that whitetails prefer. In the early season here, deer gravitate toward perennials like Imperial Whitetail Clover and Fusion. As fall progresses and colder weather sets in, their preference often shifts toward annuals like Winter-Greens and Beets and Greens. Splitting the plot into two different products helps ensure variety and keeps deer close by during both the early and late seasons.”
Conclusion
As I mentioned earlier, one reason Jason is such a big fan of Fusion is that his wife and daughter shot their first deer ever while hunting a Fusion plot. To that he adds, “The quality of my deer has substantially improved since I’ve been planting food plots. I killed my best buck ever last fall. A great 154-inch Pennsylvania buck.” Like Jason, I’ve been using Whitetail Institute products long enough to know the company doesn’t introduce something new unless it’s been thoroughly researched, tested and proven to ensure it will be a winner. It appears Fusion has met that standard with room to spare, and I expect it to be a cornerstone of my food-plotting strategy for years.
