Just an regular guy that loves duck hunting. No high dollar leases or heavy equipment, just focusing on what the average guy can do to increase the enjoyment of his time in the field. Follow along as I work to improve habitat for waterfowl hunting. We'll plant crops for ducks like rice and millet as well as work to improve natural moist soil habitat. All in the name of duck hunting!
It’s been a difficult July - September for us duck hunters. I saw tonight we have had over 20” of rain above normal so far this year and we have 3 months left. Going to be an interesting duck season for sure.
@@fowlplayoutdoors68 Then you can spend it going down east to hunt. I just got back from Canada boy was that the hunt of a life time. Then I have a hunt booked with my son in-law as he is a guide down in Currituck the week of Thanksgiving. I’m excited about that. How did your friends impoundment work out down east?
Wow If you can afford Dare to Hyde prices you should buy some land and build your own impoundments. Back more than 12 years ago the dues were over 10,000 a year. I would assume they are over $20,000 now.
Oh heck no. I think you’re referring to bear hunting. Or maybe they have changed. For 4 days of duck hunting which included 5 nights of lodging it was $2k. About what you’d expect to pay for a similar hunt with a guide service in Arkansas.
How much rain did you get from the tropical system that passed through Monday 9/16. I got nearly 6 inches but some areas closer to the coast got much more. I you did get a lot of rain I would place the boards and start flooding. Noting is 100% but who knows what the season will be.
As said i would definitely go with moist soil management on at least 1/2 of your flooded acreage. I do virtually the same thing your doing, i aim for about 40% planted crops( usually jap millet ) and the rest moist soil. If it would have been wild millet / smartweed, theres a very good chance it would have made it. Ive had my moist soil crops completely over toped with water for several days, and it completely survived. The stuff that god plants is just so much stronger.
@fowlplayoutdoors68 Sometimes, they may not get it all. Possibly, it was something else, but they're known to be awful this time of year in the South. There are some chemicals that you can spray on your crop that's good for several weeks incase there's a hatch. Army worms are known for whipping out darn near entire hay fields in less than 48 hours.
I will add to the army worm theory. I have replanted jap twice in my small impoundment and like you had it coming up the first week. Come back a weak letter to black dirt. Did have some panic grass left but it was chewed up so bad there wasn’t much green left. Eventually found an army worm crawling on my leg which confirmed what I had surmised. They will wipe out a millet patch in no time flat. This is the fourth time I’ve experienced it.
@jamesgibson1605 they love that tender new growth. I'm planting fall deer plots for customers currently. I'm about 10 days too early, but with so much to do and the weather not being on my side, I'm taking a chance and hoping and praying I don't have a hatch of them.
@@bobbywatts222 Interesting. In the bean hole there there was damage but some of the small stuff was still left. It only seemed to hurt in in the low lying areas. But, in the big hole, some lower lying stuff survived. Maybe that's what it was because I didn't think we had enough rain the flood it out.
I would throw some Jap millet on there and let it grow. I live in MAaland and planted early Sept. We are having warmer and warmer weather every year and you all have warmer weather longer - it might go to a small head??? You might be able to hit it in the last season if it doesn't freeze. Good luck and thanks for the videos. Roby
You still have time if you do it now. Buckwheat and millet. Might eat into your season a little. I’m not sure when you posted this. Just fertilize the hell out of it.
I appreciate you showing the ups as well as the downs. Same thing happened to my duck hole. Japanese millet got flooded and died. I replanted yesterday. Lets see what happens .
I sure was hoping that millet was gonna make a crop for you, I guess I’d try again. So much work and nothing to show…I know I went through it last year. Hopefully something will work out 🤞🤞
I have always been a little weary of guided impoundment hunts. Most coastal guides have several blinds they can shuffle you around to if birds not working, but impoundment hunts seem like hit or miss.
Very sorry to hear that. Its alot of work especially when you do it all by hand, believe me i know, thats what i do as well. I planted about 5 acres of jap millet and it was growing awesome. About a foot tall, then army worms came by the thousands and completely wiped it out in literally 2 and a half days. My heart just sank when i drove up and seen it. Where i live its to late to replant. I still have quite a bit of sedge and smartweed, but ya i feel ya bud. If i where u, i would burn it, disk it then sow jap, if you usually dont get frost till the end of October. Best of luck my friend
Its going to take a hot burn to get all that stuff to burn clean. If you know anyone who is a forester with experience burning could be a benefit. A positive note a good hot burn will get rid of a lot of built up undergrowth and you will have a clean seed bed for next year
The same thing happened to me. It killed all my corn in my impoundments. I’m planning on replanting with golden millet. What I would do is burn what you have plant golden millet as it will come to maturity in 45 to 50 days. The first frost date is the last of October first of November so it will be good. You can buy the golden millet from Mack’s Parie wings. If you can’t find it let me know I may have an extra bag for you. I live in Greensboro.
Thanks man! I actually ordered jap yesterday and they say it can mature in as little as 45 days as well. Mack’s was out of Golden. Would love to hear how it does for you.
That is absolutely devastating to see, I think your on the right track with Japanese millet. Maybe try and rid the dead stuff and just do those areas. Keep the faith brother 👍
Thanks. I still have a bunch of surfactant left but when I run out I’ll take a look. Looks like it’s not recommended for use with glyphosate. On my yard, I poured in a jug of DEF when spraying other chemical.
Yes it does and you can also specify how long you want between the pictures. I think it can be a pretty small interval. Less than a minute but 5 minutes seems about right to me. Note that most brands don’t do a very good job of documenting these functions in standard product descriptions you see on the box or in an online description so try to download the manual if you can. That will give you a better understanding of what it does. Also, the uploading of the pictures really eats batteries so I keep it to twice a day.
@@fowlplayoutdoors68 sounds good. I have a few spy point flex m and it has a time lapse feature I just can’t toggle to what time of day I want pictures taken. Sounds like stealth is a better option for seeing duck activity
@cameronbarstad9355 I’ve been using Stealth cameras for a couple years and they work hard pretty good. I use the solar panels as well. They won’t stay charged indefinitely with the lack of sun in winter but better than a bunch of AA batteries.
Good video guys if your ever interested in hunting the pacific flyway out west I can put you on world class hunting with cinnamon teal a chance at sea ducks and every puddle duck imaginable for free
Millet is looking much better than mine. I had 6 weeks without rain. 😖 Your problem weed looks similar to Horsenettle to me. I've got some in mine too but it not quite as bad.
The millet is looking awesome Bruce, I was at our swamp today and put 100 lbs of granulated lime on both spots. Our millet is about 15” tall but it was put out on June 1st. Probably gonna go down tomorrow and pump some water on it
I was going to say sicklepod, but I see someone else has mentioned it already. You can try products with these chemicals in it for sicklepod control: flumetsulam-, imazaquin-, or metribuzin. My understanding is that 2,4-DB works on both the siklepod and cocklebur. That's good because I have crab grass to deal with in my millet and it being a grass is almost impossible to control in a grass stand of millet. Another weed it could be is Coffee weed (Coffee senna) that is very similar to siklepod. As for when to spray I'd wait until the millet plants reach the the 3- to 5-leaf stage. It can also hurt the plants that are stressed by heat and drought which is where my plants are at the moment. The entire month of June I got a 1/4 of rain and it has been hot too. Good luck and I hope you have a great shoot on your field.
Thanks for the great comment. Yeah, 24d works and I did use some. Used 1/2 quart to an acre. It killed what it touched but I either miser some or more came up. I did wait until the 4-5 leaf stage as you said. Have another video on this. We’ve been in a drought so haven’t sprayed again but I am going to do some spot treatment.
Well with all the rain and that fertilizer the millet went bananas and I can’t even see the cocklebur to spray it now! Looks like the millet is choking everything else out.
