Fall/Winter 1999

Membership Dollars at Work: Wildlife Habitat Seed Program

Anyone who has ever spent a cool, fall afternoon perched in a tree stand overlooking a productive food plot will certainly have a deep appreciation for wildlife plantings. Knowing that at any minute, the buck of a lifetime may emerge from the adjacent woods and join the half dozen or so does which are feeding on the lush, green vegetation. Just the thought of this becoming a reality is enough to keep a hunter coming back to this stand.

Even the wildlife photographer, who maneuvers silently through the cypress and tupelo gum into an opening that was planted in japanese millet, benefits from wildlife plantings. The anticipation of capturing on film that photograph of a lifetime when a pair woodies rising from the water's surface and begin to climb skyward and knowing that the food planted there will hold ducks throughout the winter.

Food plots are very attractive to wildlife because they can supplement their daily nutritional needs. Such plots can be established and maintained at a relatively low cost. These plots can be designed to serve as a source of food and, sometimes, cover. Well-managed food plots have the potential to increase numbers of wildlife, quality of health and observability.

Planning For Food Plots
Consistently productive food plots require considerable thought and planning before they are ever planted. Prior to planting food plots, inventory the existing natural foods which are available and manage them for maximum production. In many cases, simply fertilizing native vegetation may supply seasonal needs of many wildlife species.

Utility Rights-of-way provide excellent areas for planting food plots. Photo by Mississippi Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

There are several factors to consider when planning food plots. They include location, size and spacing. Food plots should be located on fertile soils with adequate drainage, and near cover. Soil testing is an important factor in having a productive food plot. To determine how to take soil samples and where to send them, consult a county agent.

Plot size and shape my vary according to the type of planting and the intended wildlife use. Plots should be scattered over the entire property if possible. It would be more beneficial to establish ten plots, two acres in size scattered over the entire property than to have one plot which is twenty acres in size.

Depending on the species that one is trying to manage for, plants can vary. Food for white-tailed deer should be made available during all times of the year. This will provide forage during stressful periods of the year such as late winter, early spring and late summer.

Planting a variety of species which will provide food during these stress periods is a common approach. To accomplish this, both warm and cool season plantings should be used. If corn or soybeans are being produced in the area, leaving unharvested strips of them near wooded areas will also provide forage.

The size of food plots for white-tailed deer should not be less than one acre in order to provide adequate sunlight. Two to five acre plots work best.

During the cool-seasons, small grains, such as winter wheat, and clovers are the preferred plantings of white-tailed deer. During the warm-season, soybeans and corn are the preferred forages.

Just as food plots are important to deer, they are also valuable to other species such as waterfowl. Food plots are important to wintering waterfowl as nutritional needs increase during the winter months. Waterfowl must have access to quality food sources in order to maintain body weights and prepare for the upcoming breeding season. During this period, waterfowl rely heavily on invertebrates for protein and acorns and moist-soil seeds for energy. Food plots can help to supplement the energy needs of waterfowl. Corn is an excellent source of carbohydrates (energy) which can be important in years of poor acorn crops.

Almost any grain can be grown for waterfowl. Some of the most commonly grown crops are corn, browntop and japanese millets.

For bobwhite quail, fall and winter are critical seasons. In the fall, quail move frequently. If an abundant supply of food is available, most birds will remain in the area. During the winter months food is critical to bobwhites for survival. Food plots for bobwhite quail should be 1/8 to 1/4 acre in size and should be located near thick wooded areas, tall grassy fields and brushpiles. Row crops such as corn and soybeans provide adequate amounts of waste grain as long as they aren't covered by plowing or disking after harvesting. A portion of a harvested field adjacent to cover should remain undisked throughout winter, or a row or two of unharvested plants can be left in the field.

The Wildlife Habitat Seed Program makes seed available to landowners at a minimal cost. Photo by Michael Kelly.

Recommended plantings for bobwhite quail include partridge pea, Florida beggarweed, kobe lespedeza, hairy vetch, browntop millet, bicolor lespedeza and wild reseeding soybeans in conjunction with corn.

Wild turkeys eat a variety of plant and animal materials. Young turkey poults require large quantities of insects and other animal matter during the first few months of life to obtain protein for rapid body development. As turkeys mature, plant materials become the primary food source. Mature turkeys prefer acorns, when available.

In years of low mast crops, food plots can supplement the nutritional needs of wild turkeys. Food plots should be made available to turkeys during the fall, winter and spring months to fulfill the needs of the young poults as well as mature birds.

Food plots for wild turkeys should be located near prime turkey habitat. Large tracts of mature bottomland and upland hardwoods or pine-hardwood mixtures interspersed with open areas are preferred habitat. Open areas such as old fields and logging roads are excellent sites for food plots.

Recommended plantings which work well for turkeys include ryegrass, ladino clover, crimson clover, bahiagrass and winter wheat. Many plots intended for white-tailed deer will also provide adequate forage areas for wild turkeys.

When planting food plots, crops should be planted according to prescribed rates and seeding times. Preparing seedbeds properly will increase germination and yield a more productive food plot.

Try different varieties to find which plantings work the best in a given area. When planting large food plots, try combination plantings or try half cool-season and half warm-season plantings. Many of the clovers, small grains and grasses work very well when planted together.

Wildlife Habitat Seed Program
To aid landowners who would like to plant wildlife food plots, the Mississippi Fish and Wildlife Foundation working in cooperation with Resource Management, Inc. and Pioneer Hi-Bred International has initiated a Wildlife Habitat Seed Program. Through this program, Wildlife Mississippi will make seed available to landowners throughout Mississippi at a minimal cost.

Landowners who are not currently planting food plots, but would like to, may seek technical assistance from the Foundation. Staff biologists have assisted many landowners with wildlife plantings through technical assistance which resulted in on-site visits and tailored management plans.

The Wildife Habitat Seed Program is designed to provide an incentive for landowners to establish and maintain food plots that will yield a variety of benefits to the landowner as well as the species(s) of wildlife he or she is managing.

Winter wheat, corn, grain sorghum and sunflower seed will be available through the Wildlife Habitat Seed Program for 2000. All seed has been treated and has excellent germination rates. The seed is provided by Pioneer Hi-bred International and is distributed through Resource Management, Inc. to the Foundation. If planted properly, the plots will be utilized by a variety of species of wildlife. White-tailed deer, turkeys, quail, mourning doves, waterfowl, squirrels and many species of songbirds will benefit from these plantings

The guidelines regarding this program are simple and easy to follow. Anyone interested in obtaining seed should send a written request to the Mississippi Fish and Wildlife Foundation. The order should contain the type(s) and amount(s) of seed requested. The seed source is somewhat limited, so orders will be filled on a first-come, first-serve basis. Placing orders as soon as possible will be beneficial.

The Foundation will be taking orders up until March 31, 2000. Orders which are postmarked after the March 31st will be discarded. This will allow the staff to place the orders with Resource Management, Inc. in a timely manner to ensure that the orders will be filled.

There will be a minimal fee to help cover trucking and administrative fees incurred by the Foundation. The costs will be $6.00 per 50 pound bag, (sunflowers will be in 20 pound bags; cost will be $6.00 per bag). Persons ordering seed will be required to pick-up the seed at a location which will be determined prior to the ordering deadline.

For further information about how you can take advantage of this unique program, please contact the Foundation's Field Biologist, Rob Ballinger, at (662) 686-3375.