A5 Sweet 16
Well-known member
So, some of you have heard me mention already that in some of my favorite areas, very little corn or soy beans got planted due to all the water.
I know pheasants will eat any number of things, but as we get closer to winter, their preference turns to corn, beans, sorghum/milo.
Whether the crop is standing or has been picked, it's easy food.
Standing crops also provide cover.
The bugs & much of the "green stuff" they might eat all summer long are either gone or extremely difficult to get at.
Corn provides the nutrition they need to get through a hard winter. (I've heard beans are really difficult to digest, yet they eat them a lot.???)
I'm beginning to think that even though pheasants hatched in a great field & thrived there all summer long, 1 of 2 things are going on now:
1. They've migrated & found new roosting cover near corn/beans. (In my hunting areas, this could require moving several miles.)
or....
2. They're travelling great distances daily from roosting cover to corn/beans & back. (Maybe this is 1.5-3 miles???)
What are your thoughts? Is anyone else thinking this is going on? How far will a pheasant family migrate (if at all) in order to be near corn/beans? Or how far will they travel daily to get it, only to return to the same roost?
Been hunting these infernal birds nearly 40 years & don't know the answers. Never really had to worry about it. Food sources & roosting cover have always been virtually adjacent to one another.
I know pheasants will eat any number of things, but as we get closer to winter, their preference turns to corn, beans, sorghum/milo.
Whether the crop is standing or has been picked, it's easy food.
Standing crops also provide cover.
The bugs & much of the "green stuff" they might eat all summer long are either gone or extremely difficult to get at.
Corn provides the nutrition they need to get through a hard winter. (I've heard beans are really difficult to digest, yet they eat them a lot.???)
I'm beginning to think that even though pheasants hatched in a great field & thrived there all summer long, 1 of 2 things are going on now:
1. They've migrated & found new roosting cover near corn/beans. (In my hunting areas, this could require moving several miles.)
or....
2. They're travelling great distances daily from roosting cover to corn/beans & back. (Maybe this is 1.5-3 miles???)
What are your thoughts? Is anyone else thinking this is going on? How far will a pheasant family migrate (if at all) in order to be near corn/beans? Or how far will they travel daily to get it, only to return to the same roost?
Been hunting these infernal birds nearly 40 years & don't know the answers. Never really had to worry about it. Food sources & roosting cover have always been virtually adjacent to one another.