If You Build it, They Will Come

The Blizzard Buster Food Plot mix will provide varying levels of forage and cover for pheasants

I’m not saying planting a food plot will lead to “Shoeless” Joe Jackson walking out from the field to go hunting with you, but food plots can help wildlife through tough northern winters. As you begin to think about food plots and ordering your seed mixes for next spring’s planting, here are a few important factors to keep in mind.

1)      Nesting cover is the single biggest limiting habitat factor for pheasants across most of their range. If you don’t have quality nesting cover on your land, then spend your time focused here.

2)      Pheasant’s second biggest habitat need is brood cover. Most folks know about the need for large expanses of grass for nesting season, but brood cover is less understood by the general public. When pheasant chicks are young, they have some pretty specific needs:  a) forbs (flowers) that produce lots of insects for a chick’s diet and b) grass cover that provides concealment over the chick’s head from avian predators, but not so dense at the ground level that chicks can’t get through the understory.

3)      Food plots are beneficial to pheasants when they are planned properly. It is important to keep food plots close to winter cover to minimize predation and exposure to the birds. It’s even more beneficial to plant a food plot that doubles as thermal cover such as Pheasants Forever’s Signature Blizzard Buster mix. 

4)      Perennial food plots consist of native grasses and forbs providing different levels of vertical cover and different food sources available at different times of the year. In the spring, the forbs will attract insects that pheasant chicks depend on for a protein source. As we move through the year, seeds from the grasses and forbs will provide an additional food source. Grasses such as switchgrass, Indian grass, sideoats grama, and Canada wildrye are an excellent food source for pheasants. These are also considered bunchgrasses and provide thick, thermal cover for the birds throughout the year.

5)      Perennial food plots provide additional benefits when compared to their annual (corn, barley, rye, etc.) counterparts. They provide food and cover year-round and do not need to be replanted every year. Perennial food plots do require more weed control before, during, and after establishment but the dividends are worth it.

For questions concerning food plots and other pheasant habitat needs, contact your local Pheasants Forever Field Representative or Farm Bill Biologist.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 2nd, 2010 and is filed under Conservation, Habitat, Hunting, Outdoors, Pheasants, Pheasants Forever, Quail. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.