Food & Feeders
The second element important to pheasants during Minnesota's winters is a secure source of high-energy food. Pheasants rarely if ever starve, so why then do pheasant biologists consider food to be important to pheasant management? First, food will attract pheasants to high quality winter cover. Second, by placing food near winter cover, pheasants spend less time exposed to predators and the weather.
Food Plots or Feeders?
There are two types of food sources commonly used in pheasant management: food plots and feeders. Feeders are highly mobile and can be placed in areas where food plots cannot. If there is an area with high quality winter cover lacking a food source, a feeder can be used to provide pheasants with a stable source during the cold winter months. They can be used effectively in emergency situations after blizzards where large groups of birds are concentrated while foraging. Feeders do not provide protection to pheasants from predators or the elements while feeding, and recent concern with Avian Influenza and Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) has made their use even less desirable. In areas with high deer populations, feeders can be used with exclosures.
How to construct an ear corn feeder crib
How to construct a shelled corn barrel feeder
The greatest benefit of a food plot compared to a feeder is the shelter it provides. In addition to providing vertical and horizontal cover from avian and mammalian predators, food plots also provide shelter from winters blustering winds which winds which reduces energy demands and results in less feeding exposure time. A 1-acre food plot provides approximately 8,100 lbs (150 bushels at 54 lbs each) of corn for pheasants and wildlife which can feed 400-600 pheasants depending on the severity of the winter.
What to Plant?
Plan your food plots carefully, keeping the previous discussion in mind, and taking the worst-case scenario into account. Don't bother to create a project that is going to be buried by the first winter blizzard. Corn and grain sorghum are among the most reliable food sources (see Table). Planted separately or in combinations, they retain grain on stalks, stand well in winter weather and provide very high-energy food. Large blocks of corn, and combinations of forage sorghum and grain sorghum can also provide excellent cover. Wheat, soybeans, millets, rye and buckwheat are good food sources, but are often buried by snow, forcing birds into the open to utilize them.
Sorghum food plot instructions
Food plot mixes combining many of the crops above are available commercially or from PF, and can be broadcast for easy establishment. In addition to providing a variety of food at different levels, mixes may reduce the impact deer and turkey can have on small food plots. Pheasants Forever produces a number of proven, high-quality mixes for pheasants and other resident wildlife. When choosing what to plant, be sure to select crops and maturities appropriate for your area, fertilize the plot, and control weeds to avoid excessive competition. Some weed cover benefits pheasants, but grain production will be reduced if weeds become a serious problem.
How much and where?
The two most critical design factors for food plots are location and size. Food plots can be established almost anywhere, such as on Conservation Reserve or Wetland Reserve Program land, or right next to your farm grove. The key to a successful food source is its location next to heavy winter cover that is frequented by pheasants and other upland wildlife.
Besides the weather, the size of your food plot depends on 2 critical factors: other wildlife populations and protection from blowing snow. Deer and turkey can consume a great deal of grain daily and can quickly exhaust food resources before winters end. Feeders can be used to supplement smaller food plots, or larger food plots (3-5 acres) can provide enough food for all resident wildlife in the area.
In open country, up to 50 rows of standing crop can be filled in by a single Minnesota blizzard. There, large (3-10 acre) square or block-type food plots are preferable to smaller, linear food plots. Food plot size can be significantly reduced (1-2acres) by protecting it from blowing snow. If plots will be small, minimize drifting by establishing snow traps (leave 4-6 rows windward, then harvest 12-20 adjacent rows as a snow catch) in open country. This same approach can be used to make wetlands, and small patches of woody cover more effective wintering areas—by placing food plots on their windward side to catch snow before it enters the winter roosting cover. Alternatively, woody cover located on the windward side (northwest) of a food plot can slow winds and deposit snows in an open catch area (50-100 ft) between the woody cover and the food source.
How do I plant this?
Whether by standard tractor and corn planter or grain drill, or via broadcast seeder mounted on ATV or pickup truck, there is a way to get a food plot in the ground where it will do the most good for wildlife (see Table below). If you are without planting equipment, it may be available to rent from local conservation offices. Some agencies and some PF chapters provide planting services at nominal rates, and there are often local custom operators willing to plant these areas.
Check Local Sources for Help:
It often works well to dovetail with farm programs like the Conservation Reserve and Wetland Reserve, which have acreage eligible for food plots. Food plots on these acres make valuable use of land that is already taken out of production. Many Pheasants Forever chapters offer landowners free food plot seed and some offer cost share. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) may provide food plot assistance to landowners near state wildlife management areas (WMAs).