Ray’s Column – A Message from Ray Scott

Farewell to a Food Plot Pioneer

By Ray Scott

            The Whitetail Institute lost a great friend and team member with the passing of Dr. Wiley Johnson.

            My first meeting with Wiley back in 1987 has become part of Institute lore, and some of you may know the story.  I was very frustrated with the whitetail plantings of the time, but I new from personal experience and amateur testing that my deer definitely preferred certain clovers to other popular forages.  A local feed-and-seed store manager recommended a Ladino clover variety, and my deer liked it.  I later discovered the identity of the very agronomist who had designed that clover variety.  His name was Dr. Wiley Johnson, and I was surprised to find that he lived nearby, at Auburn University.

            I met Wiley for the first time shortly thereafter.  What I found was a delightful and thoughtful man, a brilliant agronomist and a highly respected and popular professor.  I challenged Wiley to create the perfect perennial clover specifically for whitetail deer.  He accepted, and Imperial Whitetail Clover was born.  It was the first deer nutrition product ever offered to American hunters and land managers on a national basis.  Over the years, Dr. Johnson continued to improve Imperial Whitetail Clover and develop other forage blends for the Institute.   

            Everyone at the Institute loved “Doc” Johnson and enjoyed watching him quietly work in the greenhouse and fields, patiently and meticulously tending to his plant breeding.  As soon as he heard that Dr. Johnson had passed away, the Institute’s Director of Special Projects, Jon Cooner, sat down to write the Institute’s tribute to Dr. Johnson.  That tribute appears on page ___ and also includes Jon’s own personal thoughts about this truly remarkable man. 

            Dr. Johnson was devoted to his family, his career and his community.  His gentle presence is, and always will be, missed.