Since fur prices have dropped dramatically, the beaver population along many of the waterways throughout the nation has exploded. A beaver has never seen a trickle of water that it didn’t want to dam up. Beaver dams and beavers provide good places to hunt ducks but bad places to manage timber. Beavers destroy thousands of acres of bottomland hardwoods each year by creating dams and flooding that mature timber.
However, Bobby Cole, the president of Mossy Oak BioLogic, reports that waterfowlers have learned that if they break up those beaver dams in the late spring and let the water run out of them, then they can plant BioLogic Guide’s Choice and provide fantastic food for waterfowl.
“We get a lot of calls in the late summer/early fall from guys wanting to plant something for their ducks,” said Cole. “Generally speaking, it’s too late in the year when they think about it to grow what the ducks need for food.”
BioLogic’s Guide’s Choice is possibly the most advanced waterfowl planting ever. This proven waterfowl seed mix includes Japanese Millet and Sorghum. Following a few tips for planting for waterfowl, you can be on your way to a more successful duck hunting experience.
“A 20-pound bag of BioLogic’s Guide’s Choice will plant an acre of wetlands,” Cole explains. “All you have to do after breaking the dam is strew Guide’s Choice, a blend of several different types of Japanese millet, out in that wet mud. This millet produces big seed heads, and the ducks and geese love it.
“In northern states, hunters generally plant Guide’s Choice in June, but in the South, we wait until July to plant it. This blend is one of the easiest wildlife foods you can plant, and it will sprout and grow in that fertile, soft, wet mud. Then in the fall, if not sooner, the beavers probably will repair the dam and start flooding the land where you’ve planted Guide’s Choice. The waterfowl will have plenty of food to eat at water level, and you can enjoy fantastic duck hunting in what was an old slough and/or a beaver pond.
“We’re a little late now at the end of September to be planting Guide’s Choice – in the South or the North – for waterfowl. However, look for beaver ponds and sloughs that fill-up with water on your hunting land during deer and turkey seasons. Then when June or July arrives, plant Guide’s Choice after the water goes down, or you break a beaver dam to have great waterfowl hunting the next year with little effort. You can take a day off from deer hunting and enjoy a great day of waterfowl hunting.”
Managing your property for attracting ducks may not be as difficult as you think. If you have a means of regulating water levels, you can plant a duck field.
