The Benefits of Pheasant Food Plots

The Benefits of Pheasant Food Plots

By Troy Hoepker

If you’re a bird hunter reading this I bet I can take you along with me and you can picture this journey because you’ve seen it before with your own eyes. You’re slogging through the bluestem, the switchgrass, or other grassland flushing the occasional bird as you go but the real desire, the real anticipation, is just a little further away yet. It’s that food plot over yonder that you can’t wait to hunt because every time you do, it is the pheasant mecca of the property! It is pheasant hunting gold and you just know that’s where the birds are. Once you begin the push into it, you start seeing more birds, the dogs quicken their pace, gunshots ring out to the right and left from your hunting party and if you still don’t have your limit by the time you near the end of it, just wait. Because it’s going to get even better at the end when those last birds relinquish their final stand in the last plants of the plot and go airborne in unison!

A good food plot in the right location can make for some of the best pheasant hunting once fall comes around and we take to the fields, but there is a lot more to it than just the rewards of the hunting when food plots are concerned. Location, type of seed, weed management, plot size, planting times and the benefits year-round for birds all determine whether that plot is successful or not.

Getting Started
Whether you own a large tract of land or a smaller acreage of land, food plots can help draw pheasant populations to your farm. Begin by considering your desires for the land based on what you already have. Look at the habitat around your property including the neighbor’s adjoining land and consider what value is already there from the perspective of the pheasant’s needs. Where are the roosting locations and the shelter they need as well as the water? Where is the best winter cover located on your property? Where are the best nesting areas and the best chick brooding areas? What type of food sources are already established nearby, if any? The answers to these questions will help you narrow down the right locations for establishing a food plot.

While a food plot can be located almost anywhere, it is wise to place it very near to the best heavy winter cover you have. Planting it right beside winter cover establishes safer feeding patterns and minimizes movement for birds. You’ll lose fewer birds to predation and extreme weather. It’s important to plan for extreme weather and build your plot to benefit the pheasant’s health in the worst of times. Therefore, the less winter cover you have, the larger the size of the food plot that is needed to increase the food available as well as the shelter within the plot for the safety of birds. Where winter cover is scarce, place food plots on the windward side of woody or herbaceous cover. Keep in mind that various wildlife will be using the plot including deer and turkeys and that they can consume a large amount of grain and exhaust the resources of the plot before winter ends. In areas of large deer populations and areas that lack winter cover, it is suggested to increase the size of the food plot up to 5-12 acres. You may need multiple food plots on the property to help pheasants survive.

Land already enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program or Wetlands Reserve Program usually have eligible acres for food plots and it’s important to check with your local USDA office to know the guidelines before getting started. Call your local Pheasants Forever Farm Bill Biologist as well. They are a wealth of knowledge and can guide you through every aspect of adding quality food plots to your land. Pheasants Forever as well as state wildlife agencies can also help you with financial assistance that might be available to you when wanting to achieve your habitat goals.

Type of Plot
Now that you’ve selected the right size and location and considered the costs, it’s time to look at what type of seed you want to plant. There are many varieties of seed mixes on the market to choose from. If your winter cover is lacking, give extra consideration to planting sorghum blends or other similar grain based mixes. They will provide structural cover in addition to food sources and help bring hens through the winter in a healthier condition for spring breeding. Birds will feed on the seeds and use the large leafy plants for overhead cover and shelter. Corn or corn mixes can also be a good option especially if you want to attract deer to your food plot in addition to the pheasants. Corn and sorghum each have the ability to withstand heavy snow loads in the winter.

In areas where heavy winter cover is already established, you can think about beans, rye, millets or wheat plantings. They each offer good nutritional values, however these plants lack the stamina to withstand the heavy winters of the northern landscape. Some browse mixes are good forage and provide good brood habitat encouraging insect rich environments.

Planting and Weed Management
Before you plant, conduct a soil test on the location to give you an idea of how much fertilizer or lime you may need to apply to get the nutrients in the soil to grow optimal plant life. Give yourself plenty of time between soil sampling and planting. It can take several months for an application of lime to get the desired PH level in the soil.

Even if you do not own the equipment for ground preparation and seeding there are many ways to get your food plot in. Equipment such as drills, seeders, discs and harrows can be rented from your local conservation offices or your local Pheasant Forever chapters. Food plots are relatively small so a small tractor, an ATV or even a pickup can do some of the work. There are also many custom operators that can do it all for you. You want to first establish a good seedbed through the use of chemical treatment and tillage or just tillage if chemical treatment isn’t necessary. Planting depends on the seed mix you select and you should follow the planting instructions on the bag.

The most serious threat to your food plot success is weed competition. A few weeds in the plot can be fine but they can quickly take over. Suppress weed competition with tillage several times over the growing life of the plants until they have began to canopy over the ground or use a herbicide treatment. Before using a herbicide, consult with a professional.
Converting a few acres of your property into a beautiful, well-managed food plot could be all that is needed to turn your property into a pheasant hunting hot spot! Give it a try this spring, and reap the rewards this fall.