How Does a Pheasant Find Food?
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A Pheasant's Diet
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A pheasant eats a diet of grass, weeds, grains and insects. They also eat corn and soybeans. As for crops, pheasants eat berries, apples, oats, peas and alfalfa sprouts. During most seasons of the year, they rarely have trouble finding food to eat due to the diversity of their diet.
A Pheasant's Foraging Habits in Winter
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Winter is the season in which pheasants have the most difficulty finding food. Many pheasants in the northern U.S. die from exposure to snow or from their food becoming buried in snow However, pheasants have a keen sense of smell and can find even scarce amounts of food. Moreover, they can use their feet to dig through over a foot of snow.
Pheasants may also have to venture deeper into the woods to find food, which means risking contact with predators. On the whole, pheasant can go for long periods without food, living off the fat they stored from summer and fall.
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Food Plots and Feeders
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Often, a pheasant will encounter a food plot, which is a small area of plant growth containing grains, seeds and grass. Food plots are put in areas of a forest by pheasant hunters. A pheasant will be attracted by the plot and unsuspectingly approach the plot, where it will be easily shot by a nearby hunter.
The same concept works with a pheasant feeder. This feeder contains shelled corn and is placed on the ground near a pheasant's habitat. A long rectangular structure, it also acts as a shelter for pheasants.
Wildlife preservation organizations also use food plots and feeders to conserve the pheasant population. Today, an increasing amount of food plots and feeders are arising to compensate for the destruction of pheasant natural habitats.
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