Dove Hunting and Field Management Sucess

Its Time to go Dove hunting agian. But it is not the time to start your field management though, We here at Valentine land and timber have been putting on Dove hunts for over 10 years. We have learned a lot since we first started. The first Key is early planting, by March 25th to April 5th  with, Corn and Sunflowers on 30 inch rows and good weed/grass managment throughout the year.  Then we learned a really important key. That was keeping a very clean understory and sparying in the first weeks of August to create the burn down of the sunflowers and the grass to be set back to allow for the doves to have a good clean feeding areas. There will be 50% more birds feeding on your field if you will get a clear feeding area.The next step, Mowing your sunflowers on August 15 th to the 25th. We found that mowing all the middles and leaving the first 8 rows around the field will give you a hiding place and then also give your quail something to feed on. At this time There will be a major push of  Migrating doves at this time and your sucess will be determined  by the amount of birds that you can feed and retain for  the next two weeks prior to the season.

When the week and days finally arrives, the best thing to due is scout the field for the most productive feeding zones and the document the time at when there is the most amount of birds, We have found that the magic hour is from 3 to 6 pm.  That three hours is the prime time to hunt. But you must let the birds feed on a field and allow the hunters to remove the top third of the birds and allow them to have a place to retreat to and feed. That way you can get a great hunts on the same fields for the next weeks.

Plantings for your dove hunting sucess is really easy. Its the field layout. We work with hundreds of acres each year for our dove hunts so we are constantly swicthing up the areas with different food sources.  But the staple is CORN, SUNFLOWERS. Then we follow up with Dove Proso millet or white millet.  We also plant areas in Brown Top Millet that will create a late season food source for other dove migrations. I really can't stress enough how important it is to be able to block off your fields and burn with fire the fields. This creates a clear feeding source and allow you to be able to provide the most feeding area for the most birds. More weeds and grass the less the dove denisty you will have.

If you want to come have a great dove hunt, book with us and we look forward to showing you more of our dove hunting leason that we have learned.

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