FOOD PLOT SEED

 Currently unavailable...

Food Plots...a necessity or just a wive's tale?The relationship between food, winter cover, movement and bird mortality make food plots a critical component in upland wildlife management. Winter food is generally abundant and is not a limiting factor most years for pheasants, quail and other wildlife - starvation is very rare. While infrequent catastrophic winters drive home the necessity for food plots, most biologists consider food plots an essential part of good game bird management regardless of winter conditions.

CORN PICK-UP DAYS

Currently unavailable!
Next pick-up is...
December 2012

Keeping corn in crib feeders often makes the difference in whether or not pheasants survive the winter months. Monthly corn pick ups are scheduled for the FIRST Saturday of each month, through March, from 10 am to 2 pm

Both cob and shelled corn will be available.  Please be prepared to show proof of membership in SCPF.  Your cooperation in picking up corn during the scheduled pick up times is appreciated & will be the only day of the month that corn will be available. Any questions concerning this or directions, please contact President Jim Legg @ 1.507.665.6300

THANK YOU

 To Roman & Ruth Hoofhower for hosting our chapter’s corn pick-up days throughout the winter months at their farm in
rural New Prague.

FEEDING TIDBITS  

Most of you probably know these things, but thought I’d include a few tips and tidbits about feeding pheasants in our great state.

1. Hunger and starvation are rarely an issue for pheasants in Minnesota.

2. A primary purpose of feeding pheasants in Minnesota is to attract birds to high quality winter cover.  Core wintering acres (CWAs) should be at least 15 acres in size and ideally include a minimum of 3 acres of short woody cover (conifers and shrubs), 10 acres of heavy herbaceous cover such as cattails and 2 acres of undisturbed grass.  If the CWA has high quality nesting cover it is even better, since 90% of pheasants move less than 2 miles from winter cover to nesting cover.

3. When pheasants have to travel any distance from cover to food, they expend tremendous energy and become vulnerable to predation.

4. Once a feeding program is started, it must be continued through the winter.  If a reliable food source disappears during the winter, the birds will be forced to look for other food, again expending energy and opening them to predation.

THE BLACK-EYED SUSAN, is a biennial forb about 3’ tall with yellow ray flowers and dark brown spherical centers. Black-eyed Susan’s typically bloom from June to September. This plant offers protection and food to several song and game birds.

FarmBill Programs

Conservation Reserve Program (CRP): CRP offers annual payments for 10-15 year contracts to participants who establish grass, shrub and tree cover on the environmentally sensitive lands. Enrollment offers are ranked for selection using the Environmental Benefits Index (EBI), which weighs six environmental factors and cost

ADDITIONAL PROGRAMS

Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP)
Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP)
Farmland Protection Program (FPP)
Conservation Security Program (CSP)
Grassland Reserve Program (GRP)Environmental Quality Incentives Program
Conservation Practice (CP33)
3rd Party Technical Assistance (TA)
Forest Land Enhancement Program (FLEP)Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program  

  
Beer For Wildlife....www.beerforwildlife.com  The Build a Wildlife Area is a campaign designed to raise funds for the acquisition of land that is critical as wildlife habitat. These land acquisitions become new Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs) and are opened to public use In this campaign, every dollar of your donation is multiplied x3 through matching grants that Pheasants Forever has in place with state natural resource agencies and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service