Editor’s Note: Matt Morrett of Pennsylvania has realized every young man’s dream. In 1987, when he was 16-years old, he won the World Turkey Calling Championship in the Friction Call Division, which included slate calls, glass calls, box calls and any type of turkey-calling device that wasn’t used in your mouth. In 1987, Morrett began to work with Hunter’s Specialties. He appeared in 30 to 40 of the company’s videos and many of their TV shows. He started on TV with Tom Miranda on ESPN and has appeared on television for 15-20 years. He recently joined the PSE and the Mossy Oak Pro Staffs.
Last year, after turkey season, we had some really-bad weather in my home state of Pennsylvania. I didn’t have the opportunity to plant any Mossy Oak BioLogic. This year, you can bet your last dollar I’ll be planting some of Mossy Oak’s BioLogic Winter Bulbs and Sugar Beets to better take advantage of Pennsylvania’s late-season bow-only deer season. Two of my best friends are Mark and Terry Drury. I met Mark in 1986, when we were both entering turkey-calling contests. Mark was 18-years old, and I was 15. I met Terry not long after I met Mark. So, I have a long history with those two Mossy Oak pros.
The one thing I know is, if Mark and Terry Drury tell you a product is good, they have thoroughly tested it. They won’t be using any product if it doesn’t give them an advantage in taking deer. If you watch their TV show and take note of how, where and when they plant Mossy Oak BioLogic food plots, you’ll see over the years they have been extremely effective in growing, holding and harvesting mature bucks on the properties they own and lease. Like me, Mark and Terry once traveled all over the country trying to find and take big bucks. As they’ve gotten older and smarter, they’ve learned that by creating, planning and managing food plots on the lands they hunt close to home, they actually can spend less money. They don’t have to travel as much, and they can take more quality deer by growing the bucks on their properties and drawing-in bucks from other properties with effective food plot programs.
What I also have seen and learned is most people plant food plots to take older-age-class bucks in the early season, when there’s plenty of natural forage. The Pennsylvania late-season archery-only deer hunt occurs at the time of year when the state has the least hunting pressure, and there’s very-little food on which the deer can feed. If I make sure to have food plots that can survive under the snow, and that the deer will dig down through the snow to eat, I can hold deer on my land and also pull-in bucks from surrounding lands. Food plots are most effective when the deer have the least food available, and when hunting pressure is the lightest. In my region, all those elements come together in January during the late-season bowhunting season for deer. That’s when I count on my Mossy Oak BioLogic Winter Bulbs and Sugar Beets food plots to pay-off for me.
