Food Plots Dove field...how small is too small

[GOHUNT]

This year while planning my summer food plots I decided to plant my biggest plot (which isn't big) in sunflower, soybean and millet as a "multi-benefit" field. I'll be replanting this fall anyway, so, I thought maybe with this I could start bushhogging about mid-August in strips and be ready for a decent little dove shot for 3 or 4 shooters. My field is 150' x 90'. I planted this past Saturday and got 0.7" rain on it Monday, so great timing (thank the Lord). I checked it today (Tuesday) and the beans laying on top are already cracking open to sprout!
Does any of you have any experience with small food plots like this for doves? I'm pretty sure the surrounding area is supportive of doves as it's a hilltop field, there are some big woods, lots of cedar thickets, water and a rock quarry for graveling on the property.

 

[MickThompson]

I'd mow half about the second week of august and lay the rest down a week before season. You can also come back with wheat at the beginning of the second season in October if you work the ground for your plot.

You will be pushing it with 3. 2 of us killed 28 on a half acre of sunflowers a few years ago. I would approach it like a duck hunt. Let the birds show you how they want to enter the field and everyone hunt together.

With it only being 150' long, the furthest away they can be is 50 yards so you don't have much to cover.


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[PickettSFHunter]

I kill multiple limits on 2 acres every year.


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[pressfit]

I think location is more important.. a couple of times I fixed a 5 acre field and drew in 2-3 doves.. other times I fixed a spot about 1/2 a acre and we killed probably 150 in one day ...

 

[hillbillyfab]

Here's a thread with a link to an interesting article about this very subject.

viewtopic.php?f=17&t=178261

 

[CATCHDAWG]

My field is a acre. We kill several limits off of it every year, there is no shortage of birds. The problem with mine being so small is that it's in a thicket making retrieving birds very difficult if they don't fall in the field. The plus side to mine is the fact that there is no other ag type fields within a three mile radius so I've kinda got the monopoly on the local birds.

 

[rukiddin]

A lot of people don't realize doves are like ducks. There are "flyways" they use year after year. And just like ducks, water is their flyways like rivers are to ducks. I shot more birds in the month of September off a 100'x30' patch than most people will kill off a 10 acre field. But I'm sitting right off a river also. Location is key.
The only drawback to small fields is the lack of people. Really two are max but the main reason I plant mine is to get my dog tuned up for ducks.
Don't overshoot a small field and let the birds feed and you can have several good shoots on a small patch.

 

[GOHUNT]

My spot is less than a mile from the river. Maybe that will help too.
Thanks for the info...all. I'll try to report back as the field develops and as we hunt.

 

[Mike Belt]

I suppose you've had experience with putting in dove fields??? They do have flyways and if your field is near you'll pick up more birds than much bigger and better appearing fields elsewhere. A dove field is not necessarily a "if you build it, they will come" deal.

 

[Hunter 257W]

The only time I tried a dove field I planted about 2 acres of millet with some sun flowers mixed in. The black birds picked it clean well before dove season. I finally gave up and started going out there shooting the blackbirds in the evenings mid Summer. That was as much fun as the doves to be honest but still not what I hoped to achieve. There wasn't a single seed left by the time Sept 1 rolled around.

 

[GOHUNT]

Since this is the first time I've had a dove food plot, let me ask, when is the correct time to start bush hogging sunflowers? I know I should be starting soon, but my sunflowers still have yellow blooms And green leaves. Do I have to wait until they turn brown?

 

[MickThompson]

If you have hard seed, you can spray them to kill them. That will help them dry out.


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[GOHUNT]

Re: Dove field...how small is too small....ANSWERED

Well, my plans didn't quite go as I planned as on August 3rd I fell and broke my left arm. I don't need up bush hogging my sunflowers on August 26th just because Hurricane Harvey was promising good rain and I wanted to get my fall food plots in the ground. With the help of my wife, Monday August 28th I got my food plots dished and sewed in wheat, turnips, radish, and crimson clover along with a strip of about 1/3 acre with top sewed wheat hoping to have a dove hunt.
Me n my son Cory meant to try to hunt it Tuesday, September 5th but it rained us out. Our next hunt date was the following Thursday but after having just been to the Dr. and getting a velcrowed splint I was afraid to try to handle a shotgun. Cory brought a friend but they couldn't start hunting till 5:30 pm. Still, they killed 15!



Cory and I decided to try it again this morning and we get 16! and could have gotten lots more if I could have hit even half my shots. Here's our tak from this morning.



So, I can see this happening every year to keep from having to go find a public field...the effort is worth the results!

 

[MickThompson]

Congrats! Makes all the sweat and diesel worth it, doesn't it?


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