Migrating birds are dependent on two things: food and cover. Ensure you have both with the right seed and resources.
When it comes to planting food for ducks, it can be hard work, tricky, and time spent away from leisure activities like fishing, hiking, or just hanging out somewhere out of the heat. However, it can be the reason behind a successful duck hole or another season of watching them fly right by.
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When it comes to what waterfowl need, they are similar to other wildlife, in that they are always in search for their next meal and will steadily utilize a good location until it’s either gone, or they are forced out by migration and hunting pressure.
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Ducks are also gregarious too. Overtime, with consistent food and good, thermal cover, more and more birds will utilize your plots. If you have food to last, and limit your pressure in these spots, each duck season will continue to improve.
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More than just a food plot
When it comes to waterfowl, water play a huge factor. Having controlled water where you can drain it to plant and release it over time to offer food will allow you to pace the amount of food being eaten and extend your season but keep birds on your spot and not somewhere else. The important thing is to maximize your hunting season with food and thermal cover all year long.
Determining when you need to plant is dependent upon what you are wanting to plant and your conditions. If you have consistent moisture or standing water in the spring and on into the summer, you can either wait until it dries up or you can plant rice or Japanese millet directly into it, as long as the water depth is shallow. If it does dry up, but not until the summer, you can plant a combination of millet and sorghum when the water is gone, but the soil is still full of moisture and mucky, allowing you to plant with great seed to soil contact. It will also allow you to spray with a broadleaf herbicide, controlling pesky weeds like cockleburs, sicklepod, and water hemp. Corn is always a go to favorite and provides good structure but does need around 100 days to mature and is dependent on added nitrogen. You also need good dry conditions, with little to no standing water.
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Designed Wetlands Perfect for your Hunting Venture
At the end of the day, designing a wetland food plot or restoration project can be daunting. With working on numerous wetland and waterfowl projects yearly, we can help you prepare your next venture of creating the most attractive waterfowl spot possible. By providing the right practices and habitat, you can establish and foster a habitat essential for a flourishing waterfowl population. Our expertise lies in crafting tailored habitat solutions and food plots to support the growth of waterfowl numbers, and also your hunting success. Let us guide you through the program enrollment processes and help you develop the best waterfowl hotspot around. With a team of agronomic experts who are avid hunters and sportsmen, we stand ready to help you strategize for a successful fall season.