Dove field [with complications] advice

[Turkish]

I have a food plot currently in rye and crimson clover and (unfortunately) ryegrass. Most summers it gets a flush of dense volunteer ball clover. I want a field to dove hunt on. Sunflowers in the past required an e-fence that I’m unable to swing this year. I’m considering the following sequence: burn down with glyphosate, no-till plant sorghum with a 2-row planter, then broadcast brown top millet. Maybe burn strips just before the season. These species are selected because of deer browse pressure.

Alternative is not to plant anything and just disk, sow wheat late summer (in a legal fashion). This has provided decent dove shoots in the past.

Caveat: this will be a fall food plot this fall and we’ve been trying to stick to a throw and mow strategy.

Tia

 

[SwampCat]

How big is your field?

 

[Turkish]

Good question. Small. Close to 3 acres, surrounded by open pasture. We’ve had a dove field here 2 times and had acceptable hunts each time, and once when we didn’t even try.

 

[SwampCat]

With a three acre field, that is probably a decent plan. What are your planting dates for the milo and millet?

 

[Turkish]

With a three acre field, that is probably a decent plan. What are your planting dates for the milo and millet?

Ehh. Not too sure. Probably mid-May. This is along I-20 corridor in west MS. Got some planter tune-up to attend to between now and then.

ETA: mid-June was too late last time I tried sorghum.

 

[Booner21]

Doesn’t help you this year but put wheat in the fall can add some clover and radishes. I haven’t found to many things better to hunt over than a burnt wheat field.


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[SwampCat]

I plant wheat for doves. It is to supply wheat seed to doves until Aug 1 - when my millet gets ripe. I spray gly on the wheat after the seed matures - usually late Jun. the only problem is, the deer, coons, and hogs also gorge on wheat heads. Every grain of seed is gone long before dove season opens

 

[yoderjac]

I have a food plot currently in rye and crimson clover and (unfortunately) ryegrass. Most summers it gets a flush of dense volunteer ball clover. I want a field to dove hunt on. Sunflowers in the past required an e-fence that I’m unable to swing this year. I’m considering the following sequence: burn down with glyphosate, no-till plant sorghum with a 2-row planter, then broadcast brown top millet. Maybe burn strips just before the season. These species are selected because of deer browse pressure.

Alternative is not to plant anything and just disk, sow wheat late summer (in a legal fashion). This has provided decent dove shoots in the past.

Caveat: this will be a fall food plot this fall and we’ve been trying to stick to a throw and mow strategy.

Tia

I think it is a good plan. I would either mow or burn strips through it before the season as long as you don't hunt waterfowl over it. Doves love some bare ground. I would consider broadcasting winter rye in those strips. It will still be bare ground for dove, but come deer season it will be more of a draw than the millet. The sorghum will be a short-term draw when the seed heads ripen. Once they are gone the sorghum offers vertical cover to make deer feel more comfortable using the winter rye during daylight hours.

Thansk,

Jack

 

[Nightvision]

No help this year but another vote for wheat next year.

 

[Telemark]

I really like millet for doves, so that's what I would go for. And I would probably spread a bag of sunflower seeds too, just in case the deer missed some and they got to mature.

 

[SwampCat]

I dont know what is considered legal farming practice in your state - but in my state, it is legal to top sow up to 240 lbs of wheat per acre beginning Aug 15 - on disked soil. I spread about 150 lbs per acre - and that seed will sprout and become a fall and winter deer plot, and then head out and supply wheat seed the following summer for all sorts of critters. A lot of states do not allow that practice. Large scale Aerial seeding is a popular planting method here for wheat. Doves are finicky creatures. I have seen many times when five acres of ripe millet and five bare acres with top sown wheat seat did not provide enough doves for a three man shoot - where the year before, with the exact same food supply, you couldnt load your gun fast enough.

 

[Nightvision]

I dont know what is considered legal farming practice in your state - but in my state, it is legal to top sow up to 240 lbs of wheat per acre beginning Aug 15 - on disked soil. I spread about 150 lbs per acre - and that seed will sprout and become a fall and winter deer plot, and then head out and supply wheat seed the following summer for all sorts of critters. A lot of states do not allow that practice. Large scale Aerial seeding is a popular planting method here for wheat. Doves are finicky creatures. I have seen many times when five acres of ripe millet and five bare acres with top sown wheat seat did not provide enough doves for a three man shoot - where the year before, with the exact same food supply, you couldnt load your gun fast enough.

Here in Georgia, the top sown date varies north to south. I can’t do it at the beginning of the season but I can after October 1st. ……I think.

 

[swat1018]

What kind of rye stand do you have? I've seen wheat left for dove and mowed down prior to season.

 

[Bassattackr]

FWIW - I've found Japanese Millet to be a great dove attractant as well.. A great short, warm season crop.

 

[Turkish]

I dont know what is considered legal farming practice in your state - but in my state, it is legal to top sow up to 240 lbs of wheat per acre beginning Aug 15 - on disked soil. I spread about 150 lbs per acre - and that seed will sprout and become a fall and winter deer plot, and then head out and supply wheat seed the following summer for all sorts of critters. A lot of states do not allow that practice. Large scale Aerial seeding is a popular planting method here for wheat. Doves are finicky creatures. I have seen many times when five acres of ripe millet and five bare acres with top sown wheat seat did not provide enough doves for a three man shoot - where the year before, with the exact same food supply, you couldnt load your gun fast enough.

We can legally do that and have done so in the past. Trying to do something other than disking the entire thing, though.

What kind of rye stand do you have? I've seen wheat left for dove and mowed down prior to season.

The rye stand is sparse. Ryegrass dominated, unfortunately.

 

[yoderjac]

What kind of Ryegrass? The reason I ask is that not all ryegrass is the same. I have always avoided ryegrass and suggested that others without a lot of experience do so as well. It can take over a field and be a bit hard to get rid off. Having said that, I known a few well respected guys who use ryegrass as part of their programs successfully. Recently I had an opportunity to where I thought it might be a good fit, so I took a bit of a deep dive into it online. Here is what I found:

There are both annual and perennial forms of ryegrass, but more interestingly, there are diploid and tetraploid forms of ryegrass. Tetraploid ryegrass is much higher in sucrose (sugar) and much more palatable as a forage. Most of the stuff I found is related to livestock, but it appears tetraploid is more digestible as well.

My application is along a rural driveway that was overgrown and I just cleared as well as a drain field. I hate fescue, but need something that will stabilize the soil and can be mowed. So, I planted a mix of perennial tetraploid ryegrass and clovers. They were planted earlier this spring and are just now coming up. I figure that the ryegrass is at least a better bet than fescue.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[SwampCat]

You dont want annual or perennial ryegrass for doves. They will eat it - but it will not draw and concentrate them. Winter rye does very little to attract doves at my place, either

 

[yoderjac]

You dont want annual or perennial ryegrass for doves. They will eat it - but it will not draw and concentrate them. Winter rye does very little to attract doves at my place, either

Yes, I wasn't suggesting he plant it, but since he has it, I was asking if he knows what kind it is. That my indicate how hard it will be to get rid of. If I understand it correctly, diploid is more aggressive and tillers more.

 

[Turkish]

What kind of Ryegrass? The reason I ask is that not all ryegrass is the same. I have always avoided ryegrass and suggested that others without a lot of experience do so as well. It can take over a field and be a bit hard to get rid off. Having said that, I known a few well respected guys who use ryegrass as part of their programs successfully. Recently I had an opportunity to where I thought it might be a good fit, so I took a bit of a deep dive into it online. Here is what I found:

There are both annual and perennial forms of ryegrass, but more interestingly, there are diploid and tetraploid forms of ryegrass. Tetraploid ryegrass is much higher in sucrose (sugar) and much more palatable as a forage. Most of the stuff I found is related to livestock, but it appears tetraploid is more digestible as well.

My application is along a rural driveway that was overgrown and I just cleared as well as a drain field. I hate fescue, but need something that will stabilize the soil and can be mowed. So, I planted a mix of perennial tetraploid ryegrass and clovers. They were planted earlier this spring and are just now coming up. I figure that the ryegrass is at least a better bet than fescue.

Thanks,

Jack

Thanks for the thoughts. I do not know what kind it is. We certainly did not plant it. I suspect it is annual. Even without tillage, this stuff seems to be more of a problem every year. It almost feels as though we’ll have to forsake having a fall plot there for a couple years in order to poison this stuff. 2 years ago, we disked for a sown wheat dove field. We disked again before planting other fall crops and hoped that may have disturbed some germinated ryegrass. It didn’t have a noticeable impact.

 

[WeedyJ]

Last year we killed off 2 acres of a pasture with gly and planted millet in June. Matured well. Kept putting out seed through the summer for bait or hopefully new plants. Cut 2 bare strips to put seed on through the summer. Had a great shoot. Planted Abruzzi rye with some clover the weekend after we shot. Rye is heading out nicely. Will let it mature, then get some millet out again late May. Planning on wheat this fall.