blake
Life Member
NEWS:
From the IDNR:
Food Plots for Pheasants Provide Needed Shelter
Boone – Each winter, food plots of corn, sorghum, or other grains are used by all kinds of wildlife to help them survive. Well-designed food plots also provide important cover and additional food to help pheasant, quail, and other wildlife survive, especially during a period of heavy snow.
“There have been few documented cases of pheasants actually starving to death in Iowa,” said Todd Bogenschutz, upland wildlife research biologist with the Iowa DNR. “Virtually all of Iowa’s winter mortality is attributed to severe winter storms with the birds freezing to death.” With next winter in mind, now is the time to begin planning food plots.
So why plant food plots for pheasants if they seldom starve in winter? First, food plots provide winter habitat as well as food. In fact, if properly designed and large enough, the habitat created by a food plot is much more beneficial to wildlife than the food itself. Second, food plots allow pheasants to obtain a meal quickly thereby limiting their exposure to predators and maximizing their energy reserves.
“If hens have good fat supplies coming out of the winter, they are more likely to nest successfully,” said Bogenschutz. Food plots also provide habitat and food for many other species like deer, turkey, partridge, squirrels, and songbirds.
Bogenschutz offers the following suggestions for planning food plots for pheasants:
Corn and sorghum grains provide the most reliable food source throughout the winter as they resist lodging in heavy snows. Pheasants prefer corn to sorghum, although sorghum provides better winter habitat. Sorghum is also less attractive to deer.
Place food plots away from tall deciduous trees, that provide raptors with a place sit and watch food plots, and next to wetlands, CRP fields, and multi-row shrub-conifer shelterbelts that provide good winter habitat.
The size of food plots depends upon where they are placed. If the plot is next to good winter cover, the smaller (2-acres minimum) it can be. If winter cover is marginal, like a ditch, then plots must be larger (5 to 10 acres) to provide cover as well as food.
Depending on the amount of use some food plots can be left for 2 years. The weedy growth that follows in the second year provides excellent nesting, brood rearing, and winter habitat for pheasants and other upland wildlife. Food plots that have heavy deer use generally need to be replanted every year.
Cost-share assistance or seed to establish the food plot is available from most county Pheasants Forever chapters or local co-ops. Contact the local Iowa DNR wildlife biologist for information on how to establish and design food plots that benefit wildlife.
From the IDNR:
Food Plots for Pheasants Provide Needed Shelter
Boone – Each winter, food plots of corn, sorghum, or other grains are used by all kinds of wildlife to help them survive. Well-designed food plots also provide important cover and additional food to help pheasant, quail, and other wildlife survive, especially during a period of heavy snow.
“There have been few documented cases of pheasants actually starving to death in Iowa,” said Todd Bogenschutz, upland wildlife research biologist with the Iowa DNR. “Virtually all of Iowa’s winter mortality is attributed to severe winter storms with the birds freezing to death.” With next winter in mind, now is the time to begin planning food plots.
So why plant food plots for pheasants if they seldom starve in winter? First, food plots provide winter habitat as well as food. In fact, if properly designed and large enough, the habitat created by a food plot is much more beneficial to wildlife than the food itself. Second, food plots allow pheasants to obtain a meal quickly thereby limiting their exposure to predators and maximizing their energy reserves.
“If hens have good fat supplies coming out of the winter, they are more likely to nest successfully,” said Bogenschutz. Food plots also provide habitat and food for many other species like deer, turkey, partridge, squirrels, and songbirds.
Bogenschutz offers the following suggestions for planning food plots for pheasants:
Corn and sorghum grains provide the most reliable food source throughout the winter as they resist lodging in heavy snows. Pheasants prefer corn to sorghum, although sorghum provides better winter habitat. Sorghum is also less attractive to deer.
Place food plots away from tall deciduous trees, that provide raptors with a place sit and watch food plots, and next to wetlands, CRP fields, and multi-row shrub-conifer shelterbelts that provide good winter habitat.
The size of food plots depends upon where they are placed. If the plot is next to good winter cover, the smaller (2-acres minimum) it can be. If winter cover is marginal, like a ditch, then plots must be larger (5 to 10 acres) to provide cover as well as food.
Depending on the amount of use some food plots can be left for 2 years. The weedy growth that follows in the second year provides excellent nesting, brood rearing, and winter habitat for pheasants and other upland wildlife. Food plots that have heavy deer use generally need to be replanted every year.
Cost-share assistance or seed to establish the food plot is available from most county Pheasants Forever chapters or local co-ops. Contact the local Iowa DNR wildlife biologist for information on how to establish and design food plots that benefit wildlife.
