New PURE ATTRACTION ™ blend offers rapid growth and attraction early season and prolific forage late season
When our Field Testers asked us to develop a fall forage blend that would provide rapid growth, attraction and abundant forage in both the early and late seasons, the Institute was listening. After exhaustive research, development and testing, we are proud to announce our newest product, Imperial Whitetail Pure Attraction.
We are often asked, “What makes the Whitetail Institute different from other food-plot and deer-nutrition companies?” There are a number of reasons, but they all go back to one thing: our business is built on relationships. As I have heard Ray Scott say many times, “The only way a company can prosper over the long term is to provide only the highest-quality products, and then back them up with the best customer service in the business. That way, once a customer honors you with his business he comes back again and again.”
In that way, we see our company as a service company in a sales industry, and that’s one of the biggest reasons for our continuing success. It is as much the quality of our follow-up service as it is our diligence in developing products tailored to our customers’ needs that sets the Institute apart from other companies.
In fact, everything the Institute does is customer-driven, even including how we choose many of our research and development projects. Pure Attraction is a great example. The only reason we even started to develop Pure Attraction was because our customers asked for it.
As part of our commitment to customer service, the Institute provides a toll-free line that is manned by highly trained consultants to answer questions about our products and anything else related to deer and deer hunting. (And this is a free service) Several years ago, our consultants noticed a trend in requests from Field Testers all across North America. They wanted a forage blend that would establish quickly in a broad range of soil types and climates and provide exceptionally high attraction and nutrition during both the early and late hunting seasons.
That prompted our R&D team to create the finest possible blend to give our Field Testers what they had asked for – something that that would deliver a “one-two punch” of rapid growth and attraction in the early season and prolific forage availability in the late season. That blend is Pure Attraction.
WINA-Brand Oats and Winter Peas for Early Season: The backbone of Pure Attraction’s early-season attractiveness and nutrition are WINA-Brand oats. These oats are winter-hardy, drought-resistant, and their high sugar content makes them exceptionally attractive and palatable to deer. These early-season plants establish and grow very quickly. And here’s the kicker: after exhaustive, side-by-side testing, the conclusion is clear: WINA-Brand Oats outperform all other forage-oat products available. Period.
WINA-Brand Forage Brassicas for Late Season: By now, the word is out that Imperial Whitetail brassicas outperform all others on the market. Our Winter-Greens brassica blend, introduced just last year, has been an overwhelming success with deer hunters even in the southern United States where winters are comparatively mild. Whitetail Institute forage brassicas are also included in Pure Attraction to provide abundant forage during the coldest months of the winter.
Once our R&D team had found what it thought was the ideal answer to our Field Testers’ requests, we still weren’t ready to introduce Pure Attraction to the market. As with all our potential new products, Pure Attraction first had to prove itself to its harshest critics – The Whitetail Institute itself. It had to convince us that it would be the top performer in a wide geographic range and in a broad variety of soil types and climates – and do so convincingly – before we would allow it to bear the Whitetail Institute’s name and logo. During exhaustive testing in-house and through our extensive system of Certified Research Stations throughout the U.S. and Canada, it did just that. Here are a few examples of the many excited reports we received from our Certified Research Stations during the testing phases of Pure Attraction:
A Certified Research Station in Virginia wrote, “The Pure Attraction blend is extremely winter-hardy and lasted through the winter. It really grew well the whole time too. Even though it was heavily grazed, it continued to provide food for the deer during the cold weather.”
Similar results were reported by a Certified Research Station in Michigan. “The deer ate the Pure Attraction like crazy. The WINA-Brand oats and winter peas came up first and then the brassica. The deer hit the WINA-Brand oats and winter peas first. As of Nov. 18, both plots had been grazed low, but the plants were still green.” In Maine, a Certified Research Station reported, “Pure Attraction is awesome. The blend seemed to click with my soil and the deer. Another great product.”
These spectacular results were mirrored in the Midwest. A Missouri Certified Researcher reported that the new Pure Attraction blend was “among the most attractive he had ever planted.” And these results were not limited to the North and Midwest. In Alabama, the results were similarly impressive. “As you can see from the attached photo, the deer completely mowed the Pure Attraction plot down. Even so, it continued to provide forage and grew well all through the winter. Deer were in the plot every night.”
One of the strongest reports we received came from Ken Eastman of Wildlife Habitat Consultants in Vermont. “In our experience in testing a broad range of oat products currently available on the market, it is our belief that deer heavily prefer the oats in Pure Attraction over all other oat products we have ever tested. Even the turkeys ate the WINA Brand oats before they seeded out, which they did not do with the other oat products. Pure Attraction is going to blow all existing oat products right out the market.”
With testing completed, the answer to our Field Testers’ requests is now ready and available. Pure Attraction is designed for fall planting during the same dates as the fall-planting dates for Imperial perennials, and it is even easier to plant since it does not require the sort of deeper ground tillage required for planting some perennial blends. Optimum soil pH for Pure Attraction is 6.5 or higher, and if lime must be added to raise soil pH, it needs to be tilled only into the first inch or two of soil. Also, smoothing the seedbed prior to planting Pure Attraction is not as critical as it is with many perennial blends. Just leave the surface of the soil loose, and once you broadcast Pure Attraction, drag over the seed very lightly to seat it into the soil.
Fertilize Pure Attraction with 400 pounds of 17-17-17, 20-20-20 or equivalent at planting, and if possible hit the plot again 30-45 days later with an additional application of 33-0-0, 34-0-0 or similar high-nitrogen fertilizer to further boost forage growth. Also, be sure to place an exclusion cage in the plot when you plant. You’ll be amazed at how quickly and hard the deer will hit it.
Thanks again to all our Field Testers who let us know they needed an annual blend that would perform well in both the early and late seasons. Thanks also to the folks at our Certified Research Stations and Field-Tester researchers across the U.S. and Canada who helped us test and fine-tune Pure Attraction. To all of you, keep the suggestions coming. In return, we promise to keep our service-oriented philosophy. In the meantime, if you are looking for a product that will establish quickly and give your deer the one-two punch of both early- and late-season attraction, give Pure Attraction a try.
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