feed plot or spreed feed

[Stokes]

i live on 120 acers in southern ca outside of ramona. local birds are quail turkey and dove. was looking at doing some feed plots to attract more birds. with this looking to be a dry year i dont think planting would work as well as i would like. woundering if i would be wasteing time doing feed plots or just spend time spreading feed

[JIM K]

when i trained toby my lab on grouse, i would put crushed shelled corn out.
i could go out every morning and flush 2 grouse easy with him.
great training.

but it failed. those lousy hawks that PGC stocked here in pa kill everything. coyotes were hiding near corn also.
so i stopped.

[fishvik]

those lousy hawks that PGC stocked here in pa kill everything.

I this true? A state game agency stocking hawks or did the habitat become so good that they moved in from surrounding areas. PA to my recollection always had a major flyway for hawks. Hawk Mountain in PA has always been a big draw for hawk watchers. I remember our science class in 7th grade going there over 40 years ago.

[RoostersMom]

Food plots are always better than spread grain. They provide cover and feed for multiple species and don't seem to attract predators like a spread seed would. Find some milo - it grows well in dry conditions.

[Stokes]

well i have plenty of red tails and coyotes out here
guess ill have to find some thing for turkey dove quail that does well in a dry enviroment

[ezzy333]

Sunflowers and Milo
Both will work well

Ezzy

[Angus]

Food plots are much better. Milo is a good one for birds. Grasses also hold bugs for birds as well as cover for some. There are also shrubs that produce berries, trees that produce nuts or shelter, and berry vines or canes that can help improve the habitat as well.

[vols fan]

A friend of mine does a food line thru the fields and cut honeysuckle, plenty of cover on each side of food line for birds to hide. His cover count has gone from 12-15 per day to 17-23. I'm convinced it is because of the food line.I will say that trapping predators has also helped out along with burning. One afternoon we moved 11 coveys in 3 hours, all wild birds .This is on 1200 acres in south ga.

[jimbo&rooster]

I prefer a food plt my self. As some have said, a food plot provides cover for the birds, as well as a fairly continuos supply of food as the crops mature.

It has been my experience that spread grain whether by hand or from a feeder attracts alot of critters such as coons and opossums to an easy meal. A buddy of mine has several trail cam pics that show the coons getting to the feeder about 5mins before the timer starts spreading grain.

Jim

[crappieguy]

Don't worry about the Red Tailed Hawks...buteos are slow will take the odd grouse. The ones that you have to worry about are Coopers and Goshawks...I'm a falconer of over 50 years. The main birds that I flew were the latter two.