Deep snow/ice and a deep feeze

S

scott county vizsla

Member
In eastern iowa the fields are burried in deep snow and ice, most cover is drifted over and the pheasants are struggling. We are in a deep cold weather pattern and pheasants can only take so much, they carry little body fat in a good year. I've been putting out corn where i know birds are. I made another round today and the birds were clearly hungry, not wanting to go far when i pulled over next to where they were comfortable, as i dumped corn. I'm getting a 1000lbs of corn tomorrow from an elavator, the guy that runs the elevator has been making the rounds as well. This is one of 'those winters' where we will see a major winterkill,at least in east central Iowa . If the pheasants don't get some assistance, next year will be tough hunting. The bird numbers this year were as high as they've been in the last twenty years and I figure spending several hundred dollars on corn to tide these birds through is better than the bar tabs I'll rack up next year if the pheasant population tanks. I implore other hunters in areas affected as severely as mine to contact their local grain elavator, make the rounds where birds are grouping up and consider it a small investment in being able to recreate in the fall.
 
Yah,10 below right now here in the NW part of the state, another dusting of snow, several inches down now. I have been feeding for awhile now, I walk in about 3 eights of a mile, to the barrel of corn where I feed them. The deep snow and cold makes that a job. The next week plus, temps will be burtual cold, see a -20 as a low in the forecast.
 
I posted in a different thread here, but got more corn today and put out about 15 gallons in a few different spots, plus added to where I had been feeding, 4 more buckets full there. This is shaping-up to be a tough winter for them here.....and not halfway through February yet.
 
Fed again today. Received another 3-4 inches of snow since I fed last and low temps have been below zero for a while now and will be for almost another week....very hard on all wildlife. Hope others are putting out grain for the pheasants. I am trying to do what I can to still have a good population of birds when spring comes. If I can get the food plots to produce better, this wouldn't be an issue.
 
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I put out 1200lbs in the last 2 weekends, I got a heck of a deal by going to a local grain elevator where I know the owner. Even paying market price of $5/bushel is a lot cheaper than buying bags at farm and fleet. There was a country block I drove that had 150 pheasants that were hanging out near the road in 4 different groups in brushy creek bottoms. There was a spot i stopped to dump corn where there were 6-7 birds in a bush, turns out there were about 40 underneath the snow in a cave formed by the brush and grass. That was really cool to see, I'm glad the wife was with to see what the animals go through in a winter like this and why I've bought north of 2,000lbs of corn so far. Looks like the deep freeze is about to end in my neck of the woods, thankfully.
 
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