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Wildlife attraction seminar set
CANFIELD
A free, daylong Food Plot and Wildlife Symposium for landowners wanting to learn how to attract wildlife to their properties will be offered June 3 at On Target Outfitters, 7209 W. Calla Road.
With both indoor and outdoor instruction, the event will feature an 8 a.m. sign-in and run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., with a free lunch sponsored by the Bob and Chuck Eddy auto dealership and catered by Chrystal Catering.
Call the Mahoning Soil and Water Conservation District at 330-740-7995 by May 31 for reservations.
“This is the first time we’ve ever done anything like this in our county, and I think it’s long overdue,” said Kathi Vrable-Bryan, SWCD administrator.
“It falls in line with our conservation programming,” she added.
The in-depth symposium intended for the general public will cover food plot, forestry, wetland and pond management and focus on plantings designed to attract whitetail deer, wild turkeys and waterfowl to one’s property.
The program for adults is designed not only for hunters wanting to attract game, but also for others who simply want to attract wildlife for viewing, Vrable-Bryan said.
All wildlife attraction techniques to be taught will conform to Ohio’s hunting laws, she added.
Speakers will include experts on whitetail deer, turkeys, waterfowl, forestry and pond aquatics.
Among the speakers will be waterfowl and turkey biologists from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and an Ohio Department of Agriculture soil scientist.
ODNR, hunting-related organizations and vendors of seeds and outdoor equipment will have display booths at the event.
“It’s centrally located within the county and easily accessible for people to attend,” Blaine Winger, Mahoning SWCD technician, said of the program’s Green Township location.
SWCD is planting chicory, clover and some Brassica mixes at the seminar location in advance of the event in a demonstration food plot designed to attract wild turkeys, whitetail deer, doves and pheasants.
It will also plant millet in a wetland area there to attract waterfowl.
Landowners also need to consider the unintended consequences that may accompany planting a food plot intended to attract wildlife, Winger said.
For example, Winger said he has a food plot and has also planted fruit trees on his land.
“I have to have a 6-foot-tall fence around my fruit trees that I just planted. Otherwise, my fruit trees become part of my food plot, which I do not want them to be part of,” Winger explained.
SWCD offers soil tests for $20 and has planting equipment for rent by landowners, including a broadcast seed spreader, a 35-gallon herbicide sprayer with a 4-foot boom attachment and nozzle, and a 5-foot disc cultivator.
“You don’t need 50 acres. If you have one acre, and you have a [riding] lawnmower, you can rent this equipment and put in your own food plot,” Winger said.