Pheasants Require a Quality Habitat Plan, Not Supplemental Winter Feeding
As winter nears a breaking point after two weeks of sub-zero conditions, there’s been an uptick in phone calls from members and the public asking, “Are there any resources available for feeding pheasants? I’d like to offer some grain on the roadside for local birds.”
It’s only natural that -20° to -50° degree temperatures beckon well-intentioned men and women to “help” our iconic gamebirds and other wildlife. So, where does The Habitat Organization stand on the issue? Should you go out and begin tossing grain on the roadsides with the best intentions? The answer is NO.
“Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever do not recommend supplemental feeding efforts for a variety of reasons,” said Ron Leathers, the organization’s Chief Conservation Officer. “Feeding pulls birds out of quality thermal cover, depleting energy reserves and adding to freezing mortality. Additionally, this practice can quickly turn into a focal point for predation, and the threat of disease (avian flu and other risks) is a major concern.
After a few inquiries in 2026, I’m reminded of a phone call several years ago when we had much more snow than our current situation - a wildlife feeding nightmare was taking place:
“Local residents are trying to help our pheasant population survive the winter by dumping milk pails of cracked corn on the roadsides,” explained a county snowplow driver and diehard pheasant hunter. “Their actions are decimating wildlife along my 30-mile route, particularly pheasants, which are being hit by the plow or buried with heavy wet snow in the ditch. Folks need to leave them alone – the birds already survived major blizzard events only to perish from good intentions.”
It’s natural for hunters and land managers to worry about upland birds starving when the snow and cold hit hardest, but starvation during inclement weather is EXTREMELY RARE if adequate winter habitat is available. Here’s another nugget of information you might find interesting: Without any available food, a January rooster can survive 19 days and hens 16 days (Ken Solomon, wildlife biologist; A Year in the Life of a Pheasant).
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“More than anything, feeding is reactionary to the winter,” continued Leathers. “The best thing we can do as hunters, conservationists, and landowners is plan for the worst and hope for the best by designing quality winter habitat for pheasants and other wildlife to weather the storm.”
Following two easy winters in a row, upland birds had a boom year in many parts of the country. Even though it’s been cold, some of the northern pheasant range states – Minnesota, for instance – are low on the scale for Winter Severity Index through January (meant for deer, it’s a general baseline for other wildlife). Good news! But the harsh reality is that our favorite upland birds are designed with high turnover rates. We can, however, improve their situation each year with long-term habitat planning.
Want help designing a quality winter habitat project or food/cover plot for the future? Setup a site visit with our biologist team or visit the PF & QF Habitat Store! A 2-acre food plot next to quality winter cover (think cattails, shrubby cover, native grasses) is the recipe for getting birds through a long, cold winter.
Jared Wiklund serves as the director of communications for Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever on a national scale, as well as is the current secretary of Washington County Pheasants Forever. A diehard upland bird hunter, he can be found following his Labrador retriever throughout the fall while pursuing pheasants, quail, grouse, and waterfowl.