Dovefield question/millet

[king george]

This is only the second year I have plowed and planet a Duffield, we have a pretty good stand of millet right now. When do I need to start prepping? What do you spray your millet with tequila? And would you till it under or Burn it? Thank you for all your information guys it is greatly appreciated! Good luck to everyone this season

 

[sportsman94]

When did you plant your millet/what stage is it in? Turning yellow/brown? How big of an area? In my opinion, you want to look at your forecast. You dont want to do any prep work before rain because it will cause your seed to germinate and be useless to the doves. I would go with a mix of ways prepping the field if you have the time and energy. Burning would probably be the best if you were just going to do one thing. You can mow strips now, then in another couple weeks disk those strips and then mow on each side to throw seed on the freshly turned dirt. Whatever you do, just give them variety. Burned ground, mowed ground, freshly turned dirt, etc. Good luck!

 

[king george]

I was able to get the millet planted at the end of May, there was also some stuff that was already growing. Some of it is turning brown some of it is still green. I am keeping the edges mowed down really low and plan on tilling that up to contain the burn. Thank you for all the info!

 

[antharper]

When did you plant your millet/what stage is it in? Turning yellow/brown? How big of an area? In my opinion, you want to look at your forecast. You dont want to do any prep work before rain because it will cause your seed to germinate and be useless to the doves. I would go with a mix of ways prepping the field if you have the time and energy. Burning would probably be the best if you were just going to do one thing. You can mow strips now, then in another couple weeks disk those strips and then mow on each side to throw seed on the freshly turned dirt. Whatever you do, just give them variety. Burned ground, mowed ground, freshly turned dirt, etc. Good luck!

Great advice !

 

[sportsman94]

I was able to get the millet planted at the end of May, there was also some stuff that was already growing. Some of it is turning brown some of it is still green. I am keeping the edges mowed down really low and plan on tilling that up to contain the burn. Thank you for all the info!

Depending on how close you are to the field and how much you want to spend, you can put seed out on the edges until you work up the rest of the field. That way you get birds used to using it without having to cut it if its not quite ready. Sounds like ours is about the same stage. I think I planted mine the first week or two of June. I will probably start cutting in another week and a half or two weeks. My field is small though, so I cant start cutting too early or I wont have anything left to hunt

 

[king george]

Depending on how close you are to the field and how much you want to spend, you can put seed out on the edges until you work up the rest of the field. That way you get birds used to using it without having to cut it if its not quite ready. Sounds like ours is about the same stage. I think I planted mine the first week or two of June. I will probably start cutting in another week and a half or two weeks. My field is small though, so I cant start cutting too early or I wont have anything left to hunt

I’m only about 10 minutes from the field, the field is pretty big I only have strips that are planted throughout. I did a lot of the planting below the power line that runs through the field, hoping that will help them out. I also have three huge trees that run right next to the powerline as well, I notice a lot of birds bouncing around in them while I’m over there watching in the afternoons. So I believe I will do the same thing start cutting in about a week or so. Thank you for the info!

 

[across the river]

I’m only about 10 minutes from the field, the field is pretty big I only have strips that are planted throughout. I did a lot of the planting below the power line that runs through the field, hoping that will help them out. I also have three huge trees that run right next to the powerline as well, I notice a lot of birds bouncing around in them while I’m over there watching in the afternoons. So I believe I will do the same thing start cutting in about a week or so. Thank you for the info!

If you have areas that aren’t planted that you can Harris to clean ground, just feed them there for a couple of weeks before you start cutting. Then plow that under your 14 days or whatever it is you have to have it removed before the season and cut some strips in what you planted then as you need to in order to carry you until opening day. The seed will last a little while dry on the stalk, but once it hits the ground and gets wet your done pretty quickly because they either eat it up, it sprout, or the fungus gets it. If you are planning on hunting it throughout the year you don’t want to put anymore than you have to on the ground early in the year.