Even though spring has officially arrived – at least according to the calendar – some days make it feel like winter is just doesn’t want to give up its frigid grip, not just yet. It’s for that very reason that wildlife food plots can play such a vital role when it comes down to winter survival for a few of our furry and feathered friends.
Whether it’s a clover/brassica mix, one of the cereal grains, sorghum or some other type of cover, a simple wildlife food plot can go a long one in providing some supplemental nutrition until everything starts to bud out and green up. And it doesn’t necessarily take all that much. I’ve seen food plots from a half acre to as much 3 or 4 acres of a good quality forage help meet some of the needs of upland game birds, wild turkeys and deer.
Every spring the Erie-Ottawa-Sandusky (EOS) Pheasants Forever Chapter conducts their PF Food Plot Seed Program, whereby any landowner in this tri-county area can submit a request for free seed for the food plot they’d be interested in establishing this coming fall. The seed list this year is limited to field corn, sorghum, and soybeans. From time to time, we may also have a very limited supply of sunflower. And if you have some other type of seed mix you’d be more interested in planting, the PF Food Plot Store has several other options you can purchase online.
For any of the food plot seed offered by the EOS PF Chapter this spring, get you order request in by mid-April and it will be filled to the best of our ability until the seed supply has been exhausted. In addition to the seed you are requesting, we would just need to know the number of acres you are intending to plant. The main stipulation for these food plots is that they cannot be harvested!
Erie County landowners can contact the Wildlife Specialist at the Erie Conservation District at 419-626-5211. Sandusky and Ottawa County landowners can contact Joe Uhinck, Wildlife Specialist and EOS Habitat Chairman, at the Ottawa SWCD office, 419-898-1595. For more guidance on establishing a wildlife food plot, the OSU Extension has put together a fact sheet (below) to ensure your efforts are successful.
Establishing-Wildlife-Food-Plots-OSU-Extension