Planting Winter Cover for Pheasants: A Row-by-Row Guide for the Dakotas, Montana and Minnesota

Written by Luke Ruffner Robinson, owner of Montana Fruit Trees in Missoula, Montana.

Winter is where pheasants up north run into trouble. This is how we'd plant winter cover for them in the Dakotas, Montana and Minnesota, including a row-by-row belt layout, food plots, cost share and where our Pheasant Winter Cover Starter fits in. Pheasants don't need trees. They need cover that stays standing and snow-free after a blizzard. If you plant woody cover, plant it wide (9 rows or more), put shrubs on the outside to catch the snow, keep it away from your best nesting grass and put the food right next to it on the windward side.

Why winter cover is the bottleneck

North Dakota Game and Fish says "The leading causes of mortality in adult pheasants are winter exposure and predation" (ND Game and Fish). South Dakota GFP lists winter survival as the next thing to fix once you've got nesting cover (SD GFP). Pheasants Forever's habitat guide defines good winter cover as cattail, woody or other stiff-stemmed cover that stays snow-free and upright "during and after a severe blizzard" (Pheasants Forever).

The most recent hard numbers come from South Dakota. Researchers radio-tracked 321 hen pheasants from 2017 to 2019 and found winter survival was 0.66, and it dropped as snow got deeper. During severe winters the hens picked emergent wetlands, didn't select woody features and avoided tall grass. Birds using wetlands had a much lower risk of dying from weather (Kauth et al. 2022, Journal of Wildlife Management). The authors' conclusion: "Pheasants would greatly benefit from conservation of emergent wetlands."

Cattail sloughs are the first-choice winter cover. Woody cover earns its keep where the wetlands drift full or where you don't have any. ND NRCS says the same thing: "Keep in mind that winter pheasants prefer herbaceous vegetation such as cattails for wintering habitat" (NRCS North Dakota). South Dakota GFP senior biologists Andy Lindbloom (big game) and Alex Solem (upland game) wrote in GFP's spring 2026 landowner newsletter that "Woody habitat is not always a necessary addition to a pheasant's habitat in the local area" and that woody cover is valuable when wetlands are snowed over or missing (SD GFP Landowners Matter, Spring 2026). So before you plant a single row, look at what's around you. If you've got big cattail marshes nearby, a woody block may not be what's limiting your birds.

Got sharptails too? Read our sharp-tailed grouse guide before you plant. Trees that help pheasants can push sharptails off a lek.

What pheasants need through the year

Season	What they need	What that means for your layout
Spring nesting	Undisturbed grass. SD GFP calls quality nesting cover "by far the most limiting factor" on most properties, with nesting blocks of 40 to 160 acres ideal. Pheasants Forever says 30 to 60 acres minimum.	Grass first. Keep woody cover away from your best nesting grass. Don't disturb nesting cover before July 15 (SD GFP).
Summer brood rearing	Brood-rearing cover. SD GFP suggests converting some food plot acres to brood habitat.	Mixed grass and forbs near the nesting blocks.
Fall	Crops, stubble and grass. "In our agricultural landscape, food is rarely an issue for pheasants" (SD GFP).	Tall stubble gives food and thermal cover (ND Game and Fish).
Winter	Cattail wetlands first, then wide woody cover, with food close by.	A wide shrub and conifer block on the north or west side of grass and a food plot, with the food on the windward side.

Sources for the table: SD GFP, Pheasants Forever, ND Game and Fish.

Keep the nesting point in mind when you site trees. ND Game and Fish notes pheasants are "six times more likely to nest in grassland than in woody areas such as tree rows" and that studies in South Dakota and Colorado found nest success was lower in and near shelterbelts. Trees give hawks and owls perches and give skunks, raccoons and foxes a place to live (ND Game and Fish; Pheasants Forever). Pheasants Forever's rule is "Separate winter woody cover from nesting cover."

The plants in our starter bundle and why they're there

Every plant in the Pheasant Winter Cover Starter is on South Dakota's eligible list for its Woody Habitat Program (SD GFP). ND Game and Fish recommends "native suckering shrubs that bear fruit for late fall and early winter food sources," and if trees are used, evergreens for thermal cover (ND Game and Fish).

Plant	Row type (SD list)	What it does in the belt	Hardy to
Silver buffaloberry (5)	Shrub	Native, thorny, suckers into thickets. Silver buffaloberry "forms dense, nearly impenetrable thickets" and gives thermal and hiding cover for upland game birds in Montana (USFS FEIS). Outer snow-catch rows.	Zone 2
Sea buckthorn (5)	Shrub	Thorny, suckers hard, and the berries persist through winter (Alberta Agriculture). Outer shrub rows.	Zone 2
Golden currant (3)	Shrub	Native low shrub to thicken the bottom of a shrub row.	Zone 2
Mountain ash (3)	Mid-size tree	"The berries remain on the tree and are available to birds all winter" (USFS FEIS).	Zone 3
Hawthorn (3)	Mid-size tree	Thorny, dense, holds fruit. Mid rows.	Zone 3
Dolgo crabapple (2) and Rescue (1)	Mid-size tree (crabapples)	Fruit for the mid rows. Rescue is in there to pollenize the Dolgos. All on full-size roots.	Zone 1b (Dolgo), zone 1 (Rescue)

Buffaloberry and sea buckthorn come as male and female plants (sea buckthorn is dioecious, per Alberta Agriculture), and these are seedlings, so we can't tell you which is which. That's why they come in fives. For cover it doesn't matter, since they all grow thorny stems either way. There's no juniper or red cedar in this bundle on purpose. Junipers carry the rusts that hit apples and crabs, and University of Minnesota Extension lists hawthorn, mountain ash, serviceberry and pear among the hosts too. Their advice is "Do not plant eastern red cedar and juniper within a few hundred yards" of those plants, and they note spores can travel much farther, so distance cuts the risk without ending it (UMN Extension). Rocky Mountain juniper is an alternate host as well (USFS FEIS). For the conifer rows in a belt with crabs, hawthorn and mountain ash, we'd use ponderosa pine.

How to lay it out

Narrow belts can be death traps

A 3 to 5 row farmstead windbreak fills with snow, and birds that hunker in it get buried. ND Game and Fish says "narrow tree belts (1-4 rows) can become death traps as they collect snow" (ND Game and Fish). ND NRCS is even blunter: "Do not plant three-, four-, or five-row tree belts for the benefit of wildlife. They do nothing for wildlife and are usually filled with snow by December" (NRCS North Dakota).

The agencies don't all land on the same width, but every one of them is well past a farmstead belt:

South Dakota GFP: "For pheasants wide, blocky tree planting of 9+ rows are needed to provide adequate winter cover" (SD GFP). Their cost-share minimum is 8 rows and 1 acre (SD Woody Habitat Program).
Pheasants Forever: a wildlife shelterbelt "should contain no less than 10 rows of trees and shrubs" and be at least 150 feet wide (Pheasants Forever).
University of Minnesota Extension: about 200 feet from the outermost row to the innermost, and at least 3 acres of woody cover (UMN Extension).
North Dakota (NRCS and Game and Fish): at least 15 rows or a solid block, made up mostly of suckering shrubs (NRCS North Dakota; ND Game and Fish).

Todd Bogenschutz, upland wildlife biologist with the Iowa DNR, said "Eight rows of shelterbelts provide awesome winter cover" (Iowa DNR). Out here, where it snows harder and blows longer, I'd lean toward the wider end of that range.

How snow moves through a belt

A shelterbelt is a snow fence first. Blowing snow drops out wherever the wind slows down, and you want it to drop in the outer shrub rows, not on top of the birds. A few numbers from the windbreak people explain the design:

Barrier height drives how much snow gets stored. "Doubling the barrier height will increase snow storage by four times" (USDA National Agroforestry Center).
Density matters too. A barrier that's about 50% dense stores the most snow, and a living snow fence works best when each row is about 50 to 60% dense in winter (USDA NAC; Nebraska Forest Service).
Very dense plantings make "narrow, deep drifts near the tree row" (Nebraska Forest Service). That's what kills birds in a 3-row belt.
A row of dense shrubs set 50 to 100 feet out on the windward side acts as a "trip row" and shrinks the drifts in the main belt (Nebraska Forest Service). Pheasants Forever describes the same idea as a "snow catch" of two tight outer shrub rows (3 to 6 foot spacing) about 50 feet out on the west and north sides of the main planting (Pheasants Forever).

The windward shrub rows are what keep the middle of the belt open after a storm.

Row by row

The University of Minnesota's minimum wildlife planting is "Two shrub rows on the windward side to catch drifting snow," "Four or more rows of conifers," and "One or two rows of shrubs on the leeward side," with about 200 feet from the outermost row to the innermost (UMN Extension). South Dakota adds a rule if you want cost share: tall trees (pines, spruces, poplars and so on) can go in the middle rows only if there are at least 4 rows of shrubs or mid-size trees on the outside on both sides (SD Woody Habitat Program). Put those together and you get a belt like this, running along the north and west sides of your grass and food plot:

Row (windward to leeward)	Type	What to plant	Spacing in row	Gap to next row
Optional trip row, 50 to 100 ft out	Dense shrubs	Buffaloberry, sea buckthorn	3 to 6 ft	50 to 100 ft open
1	Shrub (snow catch)	Buffaloberry, sea buckthorn	3 to 6 ft	6 to 10 ft
2	Shrub (snow catch)	Buffaloberry, golden currant, plums, other eligible shrubs	3 to 6 ft	about 20 ft
3	Mid-size tree	Hawthorn, mountain ash, crabapples	10 to 15 ft	20 ft
4	Mid-size tree	Chokecherry, crabapples, hazelnut	10 to 15 ft	20 ft
5 to 8	Conifers (tall trees)	Ponderosa pine or other pines/spruces	12 to 20 ft	20 ft between each
9	Mid-size tree	Chokecherry, crabapples, mountain ash	10 to 15 ft	20 ft
10	Mid-size tree	Hawthorn, plums, crabapples	10 to 15 ft	about 20 ft
11	Shrub (leeward)	Currants, buffaloberry, Nanking cherry	3 to 6 ft	6 to 10 ft
12	Shrub (leeward)	Any eligible shrub	3 to 6 ft	edge of grass/food plot

Spacing comes from UMN Extension's wildlife planting page: shrubs 3 to 6 feet in the row and 6 to 10 feet between rows, small trees 10 to 15 feet in the row and 20 feet between rows, conifers 12 to 20 feet in the row and 20 feet between rows (UMN Extension). That conifer spacing is for a wildlife belt and runs a bit tighter than you'll see in some farm windbreak plans. Add up the gaps and this 12-row layout comes out right around UMN's 200 feet deep. It also meets South Dakota's tall-tree rule, with 4 non-tall rows on each side of the pines. If you'd rather skip tall trees altogether (ND Game and Fish says trees "should be limited or not included at all"), make it 15 or more rows of mostly suckering shrubs, which is the North Dakota recommendation.

Where it goes: UMN describes the ideal as "at least a 15-acre block comprised of a 3- to 5-acre shrub and conifer/evergreen planting" sitting "north and/or west of an adjacent block of heavy herbaceous cover and a 2- to 4-acre corn food plot" (UMN Extension).

Where our bundle fits

A 12-row belt a few hundred feet long takes hundreds of plants, and most of it is ordinary shrub and conifer seedlings you'll buy in bulk through whatever program is paying for it, or straight from a state nursery like North Dakota's Towner State Nursery (100 tree minimum, ND customers get priority), the Montana Conservation Seedling Nursery (150 seedling minimum for new plantings) or the Minnesota DNR State Forest Nursery (300 seedling minimum). Our starter bundle is 22 plants. Here's how we'd use it:

The 10 buffaloberry and sea buckthorn plants go in rows 1 and 2, at 4 to 5 feet apart. That's a 20 to 25 foot run of the snow-catch rows, or you can set them as a block at the windward corner where drifting is worst. Both sucker, so they'll fill in.
The 3 golden currants go in row 2 or the leeward shrub rows.
The 3 hawthorns, 3 mountain ash, 2 Dolgos and the Rescue go in rows 3, 4, 9 or 10 at 10 to 15 feet apart. That's about 80 to 120 feet of one mid-size row, and it's where the winter fruit is.

That's the fruiting core of a belt, not the whole thing.

Food plots: windward and close

Pheasants Forever's advice is "Place food plots on the windward side of winter cover to catch snow before it enters that winter cover" and "large food plots should be located directly adjacent to woody and herbaceous winter cover." They point out it's "not uncommon for snow to fill the outer 25-50 rows of standing corn or sorghum in a single storm," which is why 3 to 10 acre plots are best (Pheasants Forever). ND Game and Fish says food plots "should be located within a quarter-mile of winter cover," around 10 acres, in blocks rather than strips (ND Game and Fish). Lindbloom and Solem at SD GFP: "Woody habitat should be placed in proximity to food sources to minimize the distance traveled for pheasants to feed" (SD GFP).

South Dakota GFP also warns, "The number one mistake is adding too many food plot acres." Food is rarely what's short in farm country, so put those acres into nesting and brood cover instead (SD GFP).

Paying for it: cost share

South Dakota Woody Habitat Program

This is the clearest program in the region (SD GFP):

GFP pays 75% of planting costs, or 90% if the land is in a public hunting access program. Max payment is $10,000 per planting.
New plantings must be at least 8 rows wide and 1 acre.
Eligible costs include trees, shrubs, weed barrier fabric, tree tubes, native grass seed between rows, and planting and installation. Site prep like disking or tilling isn't covered.
Applications, with a tree plan and a color aerial photo, are due by November 1.
Contracts run 10 years from planting. Pull out early and you pay back the cost share. Enrolled landowners have to allow some hunting and can't charge a fee.
Cottonwood, blue spruce, Russian olive and Siberian elm aren't eligible.

To do it, call your GFP Private Lands Habitat Biologist this summer, walk the ground with them, draw up the plan, get the application in by November 1 and line up plants for spring.

North Dakota, Montana and Minnesota

Start with your local NRCS field office. NRCS funds tree and shrub plantings through EQIP under practices like 612 Tree/Shrub Establishment and 380 Windbreak/Shelterbelt Establishment, along with micro irrigation (441) and fencing (382), plus renovation (650) and mulching (484). In Montana, the Roosevelt County Tree TIP pays for planting trees and renovating shelterbelts for upland wildlife through fiscal 2027 (NRCS Montana). In North Dakota, talk to a Game and Fish private lands biologist too. Every program will want its own plan approved before you buy plants, so get that done first.

Planting and the first three years

Kill the sod first. Prep the planting strips the season before so seedlings aren't fighting established grass.
Go easy on fabric. Weed barrier fabric can work on the conifer rows, and South Dakota counts it as an eligible cost. Keep it off the shrub rows. Montana State's shelterbelt MontGuide warns that "fabric sheets can reduce or eliminate the suckering ability of many shrub and tree species" (MSU Extension), and suckering is the whole point of those rows. Use mulch and a weed-free circle there instead.
Plant early in spring while the bare-root stock is dormant. Soak roots, don't let them dry, plant at the same depth they grew.
Run drip. We don't recommend any other way of watering young trees and shrubs. A line down each row with an emitter at each plant gets them through the first dry summers.
Keep weeds down for three to five years between rows and around every plant. MSU notes many shrubs and trees "send up shoots from their root systems within two to five years after planting" (MSU Extension), so mow and cultivate shallow and work around those new stems.
Replant the gaps each spring. A belt with holes funnels wind and snow right through.

Protecting the planting

Deer. Deer will find your crabs, mountain ash and hawthorn. A 5 foot tall, 3 foot wide welded-wire cage around each one does it. Deer use winter belts too; see our whitetail guide.
Voles. Voles girdle trunks under the snow, and "voles often thrive under plastic weed barriers," which is one more reason to keep fabric off the shrub rows. Nebraska Extension recommends controlling grass "through cultivation, herbicides, and mowing" and notes "voles are less likely to traverse weed-free zones that are 15 feet wide" (UNL NebGuide G887). Keep the grass between rows mowed short.
Rabbits and voles on the fruit trees. Put a hardware cloth cylinder around each crab, hawthorn and mountain ash trunk, base buried. UNL says it should reach "at least 18 inches above the snow depth" where possible (UNL NebGuide G887). A wide belt holds rabbits too; see our cottontail guide.

Timing it to hunting season

Montana's 2026 pheasant season runs October 10 to January 1 (Montana FWP), and North Dakota's tentative 2026 opener was also October 10 (ND Game and Fish). Dates change every year, so check current regs before you go. Early on, birds are in the grass and crops. The winter belt is what holds them on your place in December. I'd go easy on hunting the belt itself late in the season, especially right after a storm. Pushing birds out of the only good cover in a blizzard costs you birds next spring. That's my opinion, not a rule.

When it pays off

Woody cover is a long game. The shrubs start catching some snow once they're a few feet tall and really go to work once they've suckered into solid rows. Full-size crabs usually take about 5 to 6 years to bear. In the meantime, the grass, the cattails and the food plot carry your birds. That's another reason to fix nesting cover first and treat woody cover as the next project.

Mistakes to avoid

Planting a narrow belt. Under 8 rows, you've built a snow trap.
Putting trees next to your nesting grass. Raptor perches and predator dens.
Planting trees when you already have cattails. Look at what's limiting first. A GFP or NRCS biologist can tell you.
Too many food plot acres. SD GFP's number one mistake.
Food on the leeward side. It drifts in and the birds have to walk through open snow to reach it.
Fabric under the suckering shrubs. It stops the suckering and houses voles.
Juniper or red cedar near your crabs, hawthorn or mountain ash. Rust. Keep them a few hundred yards apart where you can.
Invasive species. Pheasants Forever: "Avoid species that will spread easily and can take over grasslands." Russian olive is ineligible in SD and ND NRCS says to avoid it. Sea buckthorn suckers hard too, so plant it inside the belt where it has room and keep it out of native prairie.

Safety and the law

Planting isn't baiting. Wildlife plantings and food plots are habitat work. Rules on grain or fruit you pile or scatter vary by state. South Dakota's bait station rule (ARSD 41:06:04:03) covers big game and wild turkey, not pheasants, and it exempts food that comes from "wildlife food plantings." Check current regs before you hunt over anything you've moved.
Deer feeding bans. A belt full of crabs pulls deer. Minnesota's 2026 emergency rule bans deer feeding in 37 counties for chronic wasting disease, but it exempts "feed that is present solely as a result of normal agricultural, forest management, or wildlife food-planting practices" (MN DNR). Planting is fine. Piling picked fruit isn't.
Cost-share contracts have strings. SD's is 10 years, and you can't charge hunters.
Bears. In western Montana, fruit trees pull in bears. Pick up fruit and use electric fence near the house.

Ready-made bundle for pheasants

Pheasant Winter Cover Starter: 5 silver buffaloberry, 5 sea buckthorn, 3 golden currant, 3 mountain ash, 3 hawthorn, 2 Dolgo crabapples and 1 Rescue applecrab. Hardy to zone 3. It's the fruiting shrub and mid-size rows of a 9+ row belt. For the conifer rows, add ponderosa pine. Check your spot with our cold hardiness calculator, and see all the wildlife bundles.

More planting guides

Sources

South Dakota GFP, Pheasant habitat management practices. habitat.sd.gov/resources/pheasants.aspx
South Dakota GFP, Woody Habitat Program guidelines. habitat.sd.gov/resources/woodyhabitat_programguidelines.aspx
Lindbloom, A. and Solem, A. Woody Habitat for Pheasants and Deer. SD GFP Landowners Matter, Spring 2026. habitat.sd.gov
Sagor, E. et al. Manage woodlands for wildlife. University of Minnesota Extension. extension.umn.edu
University of Minnesota Extension, Cedar-apple rust and related rust diseases. extension.umn.edu
North Dakota Game and Fish, A Farm and Ranch Guide, Section 4: Pheasant. gf.nd.gov
North Dakota Game and Fish, Tentative 2026 Season Opening Dates (Jan 9, 2026). gf.nd.gov/news/8997
Montana FWP, Hunting seasons. fwp.mt.gov/hunt/seasons
USDA NRCS North Dakota, Planting Trees in North Dakota Prairies. nrcs.usda.gov
Pheasants Forever, Pheasant Habitat Essentials Guide. pheasantsforever.org/habitatessentials
Kauth, H.R. et al. 2022. Snow and land use alter pheasant survival in South Dakota. Journal of Wildlife Management 86(6). AGRIS record; doi.org/10.1002/jwmg.22243
Iowa DNR, Habitat planning for bad weather key to supporting pheasant populations (Dec 2024). iowadnr.gov
Nebraska Forest Service, Windbreaks for Snow Management. nfs.unl.edu
USDA National Agroforestry Center, Living Snow Fences. fs.usda.gov
Menalled, F. 2011. Weed Management in Shelterbelts. Montana State University Extension MontGuide MT201104AG. montana.edu
Vantassel, S.M., Hygnstrom, S.E. and Ferraro, D.M. 2011. Controlling Vole Damage. University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension NebGuide G887. unl.edu
Esser, L.L. 1995. Shepherdia argentea. USFS Fire Effects Information System. fs.usda.gov
Sullivan, J. 1992. Sorbus americana. USFS Fire Effects Information System. fs.usda.gov
Scher, J.S. 2002. Juniperus scopulorum. USFS Fire Effects Information System. fs.usda.gov
Alberta Agriculture, Shelterbelt Varieties for Alberta: Sea Buckthorn. agric.gov.ab.ca
USDA NRCS Montana, Roosevelt County Tree TIP. nrcs.usda.gov
Towner State Nursery 2027 catalog. ndsu.edu
Montana DNRC, Montana Conservation Seedling Nursery brochure. dnrc.mt.gov
Minnesota DNR, Spring planting planning starts now (Oct 12, 2026). dnr.state.mn.us
South Dakota Administrative Rules 41:06:04:03, Bait stations. sdlegislature.gov
Minnesota DNR, Emergency rule 5013: deer feeding ban (effective June 29, 2026). files.dnr.state.mn.us