Feeding Wildlife With Pumpkins

Dear Bob,                                                                                            

….. We live in northern Michigan in a small community called AuGres on 160

acres…We plant around 20 acres for the wildlife….We plant corn for

the White Tail deer, and a wildlife habitat for the pheasants…It

consists of sunflower, white tail clover, buckwheat, and shurgum (not

sure if I spelled that right) We are members of a group called

Pheasants Forever….What started out with the pumpkins was I had

planted them to give away to a group one year, but found by the end of

fall that the white tail deer had eaten most of them, so..now since its

one of their favorite things to eat, I have decided to just plant them

for the deer….

We have an abundance of Wildlife here….White Tail Deer, Wild Turkeys,

Pheasants, Rabbits, and a host of other critters….and its nice to see

the game any time just browsing away….In the winter when the white

tail “yard up” we have seen as many as 75 at one time eating the corn

which we leave standing in the field…

The pumpkins took off quite well this year, but we did have some pretty warm

days…..however, again, the critters were most anxious to get to them before

they were ready, and we did not have as many as we had hoped for……Every

morning and every evening we would see all sorts of rabbits, as many as 12 all

together sitting on the edge of the field playing and running in and out of the

pumpkins……A family of raccoons moved in, as I guess they thought it would be

better to go right to the food source….Mind you, we are not complaining, as we

did plant for the wildlife, and they did enjoy it……We were able to supply

many of our “city” friends with plenty of Jack O Lantern’s….and corn stalks to

go with it…..

Both my husband and I are retired, and just enjoy doing this….

Jim and Deann Jacobs of AuGres Michigan