Number One. The Gold Standard. The Genesis. The Breakthrough. The Industry’s Benchmark for Quality and Performance. All these distinctions describe Imperial Whitetail Clover. Even so, no single tribute can do Imperial Whitetail Clover justice because it is all of these, and more. In fact, today we can see in hindsight that Imperial Whitetail Clover is the single most important food plot breakthrough ever in the history of the industry.
The introduction of Imperial Whitetail Clover by the Whitetail Institute in 1988 marks the genesis of the entire food plot revolution. Perhaps no clearer acknowledgement of that fact exists than the following statement by the Quality Deer Management Association, which appears in the introduction of its book, Quality Food Plots, Your Guide To Better Deer and Better Deer Hunting: “The birth of the nationwide commercial food plot industry unquestionably began in 1988 with the launch of Imperial Whitetail Clover by the Whitetail Institute.”
Since then, the records of the Pope and Young Club and the Boone and Crocket Club show an increase of more than 500 percent in the average, annual number of record-book buck entries. Imperial Whitetail Clover remains to this very day the number-one food plot planting in the world and the standard by which all food plot products in the industry are measured. The introduction of Imperial Whitetail Clover in 1988 is considered a milestone in deer management because it brought a unique idea to reality. The idea was that just as forages are developed for other specific purposes, such as grazing by cattle, new forages could also be scientifically developed specifically to meet the unique attraction, palatability and nutritional requirements of whitetail deer. That idea started with Ray Scott. Most folks are aware of the story of how Imperial Whitetail Clover came to be, so I’ll give you the short version. One late-summer day back in the 1980s, Ray made his regular annual trip to his local seed store to buy seed for his fall food plots. When loading the seed, the seller gave Ray a bag of clover seed as a “freebie” to show his appreciation for Ray’s patronage. Ray planted the clover seed along with other seeds he had purchased in a large, buffet-style food plot, and by chance he happened to plant the clover seed out in the middle. When hunting the plot later, he noticed that deer walked straight through his other forage plantings to get to the clover. A few weeks later, a friend of Ray’s hunted the plot. Without mentioning what he’d noticed about the clover preference, Ray asked his friend to watch to see whether the deer preferred any of the forages more than the others. After the hunt, his friend reported the same observation Ray had made earlier — that the deer walked through the other forages and “made a beeline to whatever is planted out in the middle.”
That was enough for Ray to start trying to figure out why. He researched the clover variety planted in his buffet plot and found that it had been developed by Dr. Wiley Johnson, a professor of agronomy at Auburn University. Ray contacted Dr. Johnson and asked him if he thought he could develop varieties of clover specifically for deer and food plots. Ray convinced Dr. Johnson to join the Whitetail Institute team, and the rest as they say is history. Development of Imperial Whitetail Clover began with selection of more than 100 clover varieties worldwide to be used as breeding stock. These candidates were then crossbred, and the resulting offspring analyzed for defined traits specifically important to use in food plots. Examples include quick stand establishment, early seedling vigor, rapid growth, sustained palatability (especially important for whitetails!), resistance to disease, tolerance of heat, cold and drought, high nutritional content and, of course, exceptional attractiveness to deer. Only the offspring best exhibiting these traits were retained for further crossbreeding, which continued over seven years until only one clover variety remained — a new clover variety specifically and scientifically designed for deer. During initial development and the continuing improvement of Imperial Whitetail Clover, testing has been performed on wild, free-ranging deer from the Deep South to the far northern states and Canada to ensure that it is as attractive as the Whitetail Institute can make it, and that it will perform well in a wide range of climates. The Whitetail Institute continues to follow a rigorous real-world testing process to this day when improving existing forage products and developing new ones. Today, Imperial Whitetail Clover continues to serve as the standard for both the entire food plot industry and for the Whitetail Institute itself. For the industry, the standard is one of performance and Imperial Whitetail Clover continues to set the bar by which all other food plot plantings are measured. As stated by the NRA in the April, 2008 issue of American Hunter, magazine, “The Whitetail Institute of North America is the preeminent supplier of wildlife seed products that help hunters attract and grow healthier deer” and “To meet the whitetail’s need for protein, some seed companies have developed high-protein clovers and mixtures geared especially for wildlife. At the forefront of this research is the Whitetail Institute.”
As for the Whitetail Institute itself, the standard is one of scientific process. Just as it did when first developing Imperial Whitetail Clover, the Whitetail Institute still relies on exhaustive scientific research, development and testing as it continues to improve its existing forage products and develop new ones. Imperial Whitetail Clover is designed for good soils that hold moisture, and it can last up to five years from a single planting. Planting and maintenance instructions for Imperial Whitetail Clover are on the product bags and also available at www.whitetailinstitute.com. You can also call the Whitetail Institute’s in-house consultants at (800) 688-3030, extension 2. As you read this article, you can be sure that Whitetail Institute forage research, development and testing is ongoing across the United States to make sure that Imperial Whitetail Clover and other Whitetail Institute food plot products are the best the Whitetail Institute can make. And remember, with the Institute’s dedication to exhaustive research, development and testing, you can be sure that when the Institute finds a way to make Imperial Whitetail Clover even better, it will do so. So stay tuned.
