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Our biggest field came back in volunteer rice this season.

Could get kind of ugly

Heck yeah could be a smackdown

Rick told me about this. Looking reallll niceee!

Gona be ugly for sure ...glad we got a great dog ...

You can manipulate it anyway you want too right?

Lodi, thats the same question I have? That place looks great!!

LODI QUACKER wrote:You can manipulate it anyway you want too right?

Yes, a volunteer stand is considered "natural vegitation", and can be "manipulated".

Looks like there will be some blood shed this year in that hole. Good luck to you guys!

I may be wrong , but I don't think you can....volunteer rice is still an agriculture crop...be impossible to prove you didn't sow it . Only millet is considered volunteer / natural vegetation and then can only be maniplated before it heads out. JMO I'd check with MDWFP

RiverDuck wrote:

LODI QUACKER wrote:You can manipulate it anyway you want too right?

Yes, a volunteer stand is considered "natural vegitation", and can be "manipulated".

Looks like there will be some blood shed this year in that hole. Good luck to you guys!

Might want to google the great ratoon debate of 2012. I think the feds have precedent to bust yo ace on the issue. And no offense to wingman or bullet, but i sure wouldn't put any money on the average warden knowing the difference between a normal crop and a volunteer crop regardless of manipulation.

I stand corrected. Only volunteer millet can be manipulated. Here is something I read about rice:

The position of the USFW is that any rice field with ratoon growth that produced heads cannot be manipulated in any way or it will be considered a baited field for waterfowl hunting purposes. You are allowed to hunt over a rice field that was rolled prior to the emergence of heads produced by a ratoon crop. However, if rice heads have emerged in a ratoon crop, you must leave it standing, without manipulation, in order to hunt waterfowl in that field. If the field had ratoon rice heads and was rolled, you cannot hunt over the field until it is no longer considered baited according to USFW guidelines. Please advise rice growers of the situation immediately.

Glad ya'll caught this!

I just made a phone call to make sure we don't touch a thing in that field. It will be a great year, can't wait.

Is it considered manipulation if something gets stuck in the field and you mash a bucnh down walking around trying to get it out?

It will prob be tuff in that field first few hunts till the water softens everything up and it falls on its own... damn good thing we got a great dog..

What if it is second year volunteer? As in the year after it was planted?

Using a 4 wheeler to place decoys while making an ever widening circle in front of the blind is a common practice of non manipulation