Pheasants Forever food plot mixes

We have the past couple of years

Blizzard Buster and Winter Shield, both produced nicely but we have a tendency to seed heavier than normal. This year we will try to not to seed so heavily. I prefer the Blizzard Buster over the Winter Shield.
 
Mustang Tall Sorgum

1GB,

Sorry was really pre occupied yesterday. Let me post a few photos and you can see how the see produced and what kind of cover it provided.

These food plots are in Northeast South Dakota about 30 min from Watertown. Soil is a little on the sandy side. It's at an old farmstead, about 35 acres with the typical L shaped tree belt running South to North then off to the East. We have water and slough to the east, CRP to the south and crop land on the North and South side of the property. So we want to provide a good nesting/food source in the winter for the birds.



This photo is in the middle of the property, Mustang Tall Sorgum planted here. Between 3-4 foot tall 4-5 inch tall heads, some weeds.
 
PF Winter Shield

Here is a picture of PF Winter Shield, most was 4 foot tall with 4-6 inch heads, nice and thick, was planted with a four foot pony press with every other hole plugged. We were dry for most of Aug and Sept. with more moisture the stuff would have been taller. Crop stood up to the winter weather pretty good. I like how tall and thick the crop was because we seem to have a lot of hawks and the hawks couldn't get to the birds in this cover.
 
PF Blizzard Buster

1GB

This is PF Blizzard Buster, it came up thick but shorter most about 3 foot tall, this could be because the soil here was a little sandier. Really wish we would have had the money to fertilize. Heads are smaller 2-3 inches. The stalks were thinner and didn't hold up quite as well when we got snow. We were going to try and see if the stuff would re-seed itself this year but, it looks like the birds consumed most of the seed so not sure how well it would turn out.

Hope the photo's helped out. We intend to plant the three seed types again plus put in two one acre plots of sun flowers and 2-3, 16 row strips of corn on some virgin ground this year. We hope to fertilize a little this year also.

sdviking
 
Food plots that provide heavy cover. :thumbsup:
Good Job!
 
I'm planting brood cover with some small food plots near the best winter cover we have. It's mainly for bobwhite's and turkey but I wasn't sure how many people actually purchased seed from PF and wanted to see if people have had successful plots with their seed.
 
PFE Mix

We are lucky enough to have CRP next to our hunting spots. We plant food plots for the birds to feed on and thick cover to protect the young birds from all the hawks in our area. Viking
 
I was asking because it seems PF has done an about face when it comes to Winter cover and chick rearing plants. Used to be all about winter cover. Now, the crp isn't any good after a couple of years because of the lack of Legumes that attract insects. If I lived in SD I would want winter cover. In kansas I would want more Legumes planted in the CRP. Seems like only coyotes can handle that weather up North. SD is the only State I have hunted that had Legumes in the CRP, even if they were few and far between. Looks like you have it covered. Thanks for sharing your photo's. Would love to see 100 square miles of this!!! Keep up the good work. Every bit helps!!!:cheers:
 
NE South Dakota June Report

It's been a crazy Spring in South Dakota with cold temps through 3 weeks of May, Planting was conducted later than normal and crops were slow to get going due to the temps. But now that it has warmed up and with good rains, if not too much in some places, the Crops are exploding. Attached are three photos:

1st one is of my corn planted north of a tree belt with a low spot about 1/5th of the way down the plot taken 2 May.

2nd one is of a 2 acre corn plot planted next to wheat, pasture and canary grass, this corn is exploding, photo taken 20 June.

3rd photo is of millet planted in a sandy spot next to slough ground and an old farm stead where I planted 3 acres of corn with millet on the edges. Millet was planted on 30 May, and was up on 5 June. This photo was taken on 20 June. Stuff is a little weedy.

An observation this Spring was you could drive for miles and not see any birds, then once you find a farmer that didn't tile his slough, left some cover along a field edge or CPR and you saw the birds. Some of our neighbors are starting to remove the trees in the fields and bury the rock piles along with removing the brush along those areas. Habitat will continue to be challenged. Just my 2 cents

I will be going back on July 2nd will have to spray the millet unless it's too tall. Hope to walk some of the edges to see how the hatch was. No mowing on our property so the pheasants have a chance.

sdviking
 
Now thats how to do things for the pheasants!

I wish you had several thousand acres to manage for the birds. :cheers:
 
Thanks for the feedback

Our biggest challenge is time. It's an 8 hour drive to the old farm stead, and getting equipment to work right away is a challenge since we use the planter, disc, sprayer ect only about 12 hours a year. Plus always in a hurry to get the most out of the time on the farm makes it a challange. Plus if we don't get it done in the short planting window, it's hard to prep land for the next year early because we want to hunt the cover while it's available. Someday we will retire and be able to slow down some and enjoy. I know we all say these words. Nothing better than working the land and getting to observe the results of the labor. sdviking
 
sdviking said:
Here is a picture of PF Winter Shield, most was 4 foot tall with 4-6 inch heads, nice and thick, was planted with a four foot pony press with every other hole plugged. We were dry for most of Aug and Sept. with more moisture the stuff would have been taller. Crop stood up to the winter weather pretty good. I like how tall and thick the crop was because we seem to have a lot of hawks and the hawks couldn't get to the birds in this cover.
Click to expand...
I am new to this site. I also have a question. A friend and I are putting in a 1 plus acre food plot on his woods. He has said I could plant half for pheasants. It has woods on two sides, corn and beans everywhere else. We plow it up yesterday and we are thinking of putting in a cover crop this fall and put in pheasant cover type next spring. The property is by St Croix WI. Any thoughts from some of you that are doing this? There are a few pheasants in the area.
 
Fishspike said:
I am new to this site. I also have a question. A friend and I are putting in a 1 plus acre food plot on his woods. He has said I could plant half for pheasants. It has woods on two sides, corn and beans everywhere else. We plow it up yesterday and we are thinking of putting in a cover crop this fall and put in pheasant cover type next spring. The property is by St Croix WI. Any thoughts from some of you that are doing this? There are a few pheasants in the area.
Click to expand...

Welcome to the site;)

How large of an area is the woods and what kind of trees are within it? I deer hunt a large oak/hard wood woods next to a hunting club. Their birds enter into the woods once in a while but unfortunately leave nothing but a pile of feathers behind. Hawks and owls nail them pretty quick back there. Wild birds in the area won't even bother coming into it.

So I guess it would depend on the size of the woods, and what kind of perching (for predators) opportunities it provides. This can be a deal breaker as far as how much time wild pheasant would feel comfortable spending back there, if any at all.
 
Thanks. Yes we have quite a woods with owls and deer. We will probably try some kind of cover just to try. Thanks again a great site

Dave
 
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