Planting for dove season
 

I plan on planting my back couple of acres for dove season this year. Thinking about sunflower but haven't decided yet. When should i start prepping and planting? I might even just disk up whats there already(goatweed)....what yall think?

Not sure of the laws, but I would personally plow it a couple of times a few weeks before season opens. From what I've seen in the past, the love coming in to fresh plowed fields. I'm surrounded by fields at my house, and after they plow it all up, they are everywhere.

I'll prolly just plow it up....less hassle that way.

Yup

If you have goat weed I wouldnt plant anything.....just run a disk thru it several lanes at a time starting several weeks before the season.

Bush hog that goat weed and don't worry about the seeds.

Thanks guys.

We need directions to your place before September 1st

If you have goat weed all i would do is bushhog it them suckers will be in there tick, but if you change your mind and want to plant think about birdseye it's like crack to them.

X100!!!!

I'm a member of a dove club that has 5 different fields in our area. We start disking around this time along with applying herbicides (the same process as if you gonna plant soybeans). We plant brown top for the early season along with sunflower. Most of our fields have huge amounts of birdeye...dove cocaine! 10 days before the season opener we sickle cut strips and burn the cuttings. The fields are managed to have fresh cut every week during the seasons. A lot of work but we hunt every weekend and once during the the week all season long. Good luck!

Just a few added thoughts. Don't plow before the season..bushhog and burn will keep the seeds available for the doves for weeks. Hunt only afternoons and shut it down at least 1 1/2hrs before sunset to allow birds to feed. If you are 8 hunters only hunt when population exceeds 200 birds. That way you always maintain a returning group that will attract other doves in the area. If your field is managed right you can expect to harvest 1,000 birds in the seasons.

Do you have any openings in this club? Would rather dove hunt than anything

I'm asked this all the time! The small group I hunt with has been together for over 40 years! Death seems to be the only way an opening comes up but is quickly filled by immediate family members. I count my blessings to be included with these guys! Like you, my favorite hunting is doves (eating too). I'll leave a duck blind with pintails coming in to shoot doves!

The key to dove fields is to keep your group small enough where you don't push too much pressure on the resident birds.

Chris, you'll one of the first I call.

that's what i like to hear! If you need some help getting the land ready or me to pitch in some $ on seeds let me know i'll be glad to help.

Thanks for the info.

Will do. September can't get here fast enough!!!!

no doubt!!!! I love to fish, but i'm ready to bust some doves and teal. A guy my wifes uncle works with plants birds eye and he's been invited a couple of times and said he has never seen so many and so many big groups of doves in all his life coming into this field. He said they were coming in so fast and so many at one time you didn't know what direction to shoot. He told me they killed over 400 in one day, and like reefman said they managed this field only for doves and it held them all season long.

Here are some "back yard" pic. to get you ready.

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I'm gonna look into this birdeye stuff.

i'll call my wifes uncle and see if i can get the guys number and give him a call and talk to him about what it takes to plant and the best way to hunt over it.

i may be wrong but goatweed doesn't get right until later in the season. burning it works great once it gets right. brown top would be the way to go and it is relatively cheap also. maybe plant a little brown top for the september seasons and save the goatweed for the later splits

^^^. Goat weed is always better from October on. Brown top or sunflowers for the first split. I have hunted brown top fields and not fired a shot before. I have never in my life seen a sunflower field that is not covered in birds. Just my experience. I have seen em in brown top fields also. But not always. Sargum seems to be pretty good too.

http://www.americanmeadows.com/birds-eyes-seeds

Is this the birds eye that yall are talking about?

http://www.hancockseed.com/seed-vari...-lb-bag-9.html

Brown top millet is pretty cheap.....$30 for 50# bag

:) I understand totally. Some of the best times have been hunting doves in October and even on New Years. Never really heard of a dove hunting club, most people hunt opening weekend and thats it. Lucky you;)

Yes, in my experience also. Goatweed starts popping in October

I like sunflowers and all, but the best hunts I have been on in September have been in harvested corn fields.

So I should plant some corn? :D

in my experience brown top would be the way to go in louisiana. if it were texas, sunflowers

http://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/sites/d...ld_low-res.pdf

Pretty good stuff in here.

Where can i get seeds around here?

G&H in Gueydan can probably help you

Isn't there a G&H on Hwy 90?

That is the wrong Bird's Eye. The one you need is light green and does not have a flower, it just produces thousands of brown seeds. I have never heard of it being for sale, but I would love the opportunity to buy some. In my experience Birds Eye is the best dove feed and holds birds throughout the year.

Thanks for the great information. Fletchers on Country Club Road has seed.

Anyone find a picture of the birds eye grass that doves love?
We had some good hunts the first split last year in a goatweed field.
Almost all whitewings and the seeds weren't even ripe yet.
They mowed and raked nice lanes through the field.
Whitewings left and mourning doves moved in but not with numbers like the whitewings.

Micha i will find out where these guys got it from

Birdeye is often found in bean fields. You will notice a light green plant that is scattered throughout the beans. If you ever hunt over a harvested bean field you will notice very few beans in your birds, but you will see hundreds of perfectly round seeds (birdeye) in them.

I didn't that was it.

Got my back couple acres bush hogged, guess I need to buy some seed and start planting.

I should be disking in the next couple days and spreading some brown top millet so it will be ready come September.

The life of a land manager

NICE!!!!!

If you spray and kill that grass, then disk, let the weeds come up again, and spray one more time and then disk and plant you will be in great shape.

Cool, I'll try that.

That, above, is great advice Micah. You might be surprised to find birdeye popping up after your second spraying. Don't use round up, it will kill goat weed and birdeye. I would get a coupla pounds of sunflower and plant a few rows in the middle of your field. Use the sunflower as natural blinds until the second season. Let seed fall naturally, i wouldn't burn the sunflower...keep the weeds away from from your sunflowers, keep your ground clean as possible underneath. Doves will fly on to the big seed clusters and try to knock off seeds on the ground then drop to feed. The cleaner your field the better. Tie vines are your worst enemy.

is it a good idea to run a harrow through disc area to clear dirt of all weeds too? Also is the actual name for birdseye (pigweed)?

The first plowing buries the grass and weeds and kills them. The seed from these buried grasses will sprout up shortly; that's where the second disking comes in, along with herbiside. I've never used a harrow to clean the plowed ground. Chris, I looked up pics of pigweed and I don't think this is the same as birdseye; might be in the same family, leaf looks very simular however the seed pod doesn't.

What should I use to kill grass?

i thought the same thing as it looks similar, but i don't think that's it.

http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=CAPA11

This is what people down here call birdseye. Its an invasive exotic weed that farmers hate but doves really like!

False croton (Goatweed is a croton) is another name

LSU will tell you how to kill it, but not grow it! Better pics in here

http://www.lsuagcenter.com/en/crops_...+palustris.htm