Millet Seed & Dove

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marksmu

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Deep South East Texas - Chambers County
So I seeded a pasture this past weekend with 2000lbs millet and went out yesterday just to bask in the beauty of nature, and noticed that I have a new problem....Dove - I knew they loved Millet, and I love hunting Dove, but how much can these things eat in a day? I had to broadcast b/c I dont have a drill yet, and we never have more than a few dove on our whole property so I was not too concerned about it...however yesterday I get out there, and drive up on the field, and no less than 5000 dove pop up and take off. Im thinking to myself thats not good...so I go walking through the field looking for seed, and there is still alot down, but there is noticeably less than was broadcast...

So the question is how much can they eat per day? and what is that likely going to do to my yield? I was a bit upset about it yesterday seeing as that cost me $840, and I dont spend that kind of money to watch birds.
 
Douglas":xpxioo5u said:
Can you cover the seed with dirt, a light discing or drag.

:nod: That's what I would do! Used to feed Dove in the backyard. A 20 lb bag of seed would last about 3 weeks among about 8 - 10 Dove. Do the math and that seed will be gone in just a few days :help: If it were legal, a person could lease out that seeded pasture to the Dove hunters and make a pretty penny. The lack of rain isn't helping much.
 
Your going to have to reseed. You ain't gonna have a stand. Broadcast is fine for millet. drag the seed under RIGHT AWAY!
 
I have a seed bed prep disc - I could drag the field back over with that...It was broadcast on Saturday, so its already been nearly a week...I mean realistically how much can a single dove pick up in a day? They dont weigh much at all.
 
I've killed a lot of doves with full crops. I'd say a rounding T spoon. With food like that, the millet seed would probably be it's choice [only] food supply. a few doves would cause just bare spots in the stand.
Didn't you say 5,000 doves? REPLANT!
 
Ya, its give or take 2,000-5,000 of them...you cant seem them until they get up...then all of a sudden the ground is blurred because of the sheer number that got up from the field. It surprised me...If they are eating only a teaspoon per day each, then I should only lose about 2-300 lbs of the stuff before its growing. Thats not that bad...its not good mind you, but its not the end of the world..

If they could each eat 1/4lb per day, then it would only be 2 days till it was all gone....that would be awful. I think Ill wait till Sunday to get another look, and if I dont see alot of germination then Ill replant and drag...I just dont want to spend another $840 on seed if I dont have to.
 
Your field sounds like a field we hunted with some politicians some years back but we broadcasted 8 times the amount of seed you did over a several week period. Birds were everywhere. Dove hunting just wasn't the same after that.
 

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