Has anyone ever planted japanese millet in their duck pond before the season? Im trying it this summer and was wondering how it works

Where are you planning on buying it?

How much water will be over it when you flood it?

I tried Japanese millet one year, wasn't impressed. Also known as Barnyard millet, this will save you cash if you buy it from a feed store.

The next year planted pearl, proso, foxtail and browntop and the results were much better. The seed heads were longer, plants were taller and handled moderate periodic flooding and the birds loved it. I just ordered a bag of each from my local feed store and had them mix it for me. I also threw in vetch, chufa and milo in several of the locations, the results with the milo were mixed, but the Turkey went nuts with the vetch and the chufa.

We have a lease in Pampa, and we planted a 3 acre playa that has flood control gates. We flooded it one weekend with about 6" of water, then went back the next weekend and broadcast seeded it with the mix, then bordered that with the chufa/vetch mix followed by a 30 yd buffer of milo. We drug an old metal box spring over it and left it for a week, came back and flooded it with another 2-3" water. We did this about once a month after that and it was night and day difference over the Japanese. The only thing that came to the milo were antelope and mule deer, but it made for some great cover for the layout boats.

Here is a fairly good link:

Millet Article

Another good source is Seedland:

Seedland

Just enter duck into the search function on the site and it will bring up several seeds you can read about, has very good descriptions and data, their prices are wacko though.

Turner Seed will mix you whatever you want and they do promotions thru the county ag extension offices, might be a little late, won't hurt to check though. Cool thing about this is it will be tax free and delivered to your county with no shipping charges.

You also need to read the laws pertaining to baiting and manipulation and adhere to them closely, otherwise you might pay some stiff penalties.

You make an interesting point about it being legal. I don't interpret it as legal to plant a seed crop for the attraction of birds. The way I read it is you can plant it and let it stay through the year w/out hunting it. Any seed crop derived in subsequent years from the would be allowed to hunt. I also see in those subsequent years, if you so much as break the soil to generate plant growth, such as done with sunflowers, then your in violation. It is called manipulation. You are allowed to flood areas. It all hinges around what they call normal agricultural processes. Planting a seed crop and flooding it with no attempt to harvest would not fall, in my opinion, as a normal agricultural process.

I haven’t read the regs lately, but I think the “spirit” of the rule is that you cannot hunt over freshly planted crop where there is seed on the ground from planting (makes sense, birds are there because of seed from planting). When the seed from planting is gone, you are cool to hut it. The “one year” rule is for manipulation (I’e., cutting/shredding). The state regs seem to be clear on this, fed regs less clear. That is how I interpreted the rules last time I read them.

Cappy does this so it would probably be a good idea to check with him. When I get my place to hunt I plan on doing this as well. I think if I can get the place I am looking at, I'm going to build my waterfowl area below the dam of an already exsisting pool/pond/tank, that way I can flood it if the rains don't come.

The law is really vague, so it is really up the GW's interpretation of the law. I have only had one instance where the was a question and it boiled down to disgruntled neighbors pushing the issue. In most cases if planted now, there should be know question come Nov, but Sept could land you in hot water. The normal gestation is 45 - 60 days, they are educated to this fact as well. If there is an issue, it will most likely come from a Federal Agent and not a State GW.

The way I read that it is pretty clear. Planting a crop to hunt over is illegal. I don't see vague anywhere in there.

It all hinges on this cooperative extension service. What your planting must be in accordance with their rules and must be planted with the intentions of collecting the grain for ag use. No where did I interpret you could just plant a see bearing plant and leave it for the purpose of hunting.

Now one could argue by saying they planted with the intentions of harvest. You better bet if the feds get on you they are going to win this. They will find out how many crops you sold over the last years which in this case will be none.

This is exactly why we don't hunt sunflowers the first year they are planted. We just wait until the next year and hunt what comes up.

I noticed that most of the reading from the links said waterfowl, does this mean that it's okay for doves? I know you can't bait them, but what about the hunting over a planted field.

I still see it as a violation. A normal farmer would not plant something just to just let it stand. Normal is to plant and harvest to the regs. Not to plant to attract birds. To plant something just to leave it in the fields is not normal. Stopping soil erosion aint going to cut it. I hunt wheat fields every year but the crop is not done yet and will come in after season. That is normal. It will be harvested.

I know a fed and I will call him on my way to Montana. When get back I am going to post what I find. I believe some of yall are looking at one side of the box. You might actually get by with it for a long time. I do believe it is a violation.

You can plant whatever crop you want to. You cant manipulate the crop unless it is done as a normal ag practive. Jap millet can be hunted over the same season you plant it, but you cant manipulate it. If it comes up volunteer the next season it can be. This is how it reads in the journal every year.

You can plant what you want, yes. Legal, I don't think so. If you plant it to attract birds and not as part of an ag operation to be harvested then I believe it is illegal.

If you plant millet around a pound, tank or lake, that is not in accordance to the laws. I also believe if you plant a crop with the intention of never harvesting it, you are in violation. Then there is the retrieval of downed birds, this could be construed as manipulation, whether intentional or not.

I can tell you have never had the pleasure of meeting Special Agent Hamilton. You do what you want, where you want and when you want, I could care less.

How many crops planted by hunters are within the guidelines of the County Extension Agent? 99% of them are in violation. If you won't believe me, call them and tell them what you are planting and ask for the guidelines/recommendations and see for your self. They have specific guidelines concerning seed bed preparation, planting dates, etc. I still maintain if it isn't planted with the intent of harvest it is a violation. I understand the difference between actual intent and stated intent.

It took me 2 years to get a permit to pump water for a wetland, dealing with local offices, it took a trip to Austin and 20 minutes speaking with a young lady who issued the permits to get the situation resolved.
I hear too many stories where a hunter makes an honest mistake and is punished to the letter of the law, it boils down to the GW making first contact, and his interpretation of the law.

We planted millet and did not hunt it the first year, as per regulations. Hoping to have volunteer come back, only to find that aint so good an idea. Try millet and see what % grows back. My answer? Hunt a duck lease up on the Red that is a rice and milo farm. So much easier.

So as I read it, if I shred my sunflowers (wild) a week before dove season I'm ok? And hunt over planted sunflowers just can't shred.