Author: J. Wayne Fears
Source: Whitetails Unlimited Magazine

This column is usually dedicated to deer-focused food plot information, but we are receiving a lot of questions about food plots for other game animals. One of the most popular questions lately has been about managing for mourning doves. This issue, we address an easy way to have a dove food plot to attract migrating and resident doves.

In some cases, food plots like those intended for deer and wild turkey may not increase the number of animals on your land, but they enhance the native habitat and can enable you to see animals more easily. In the case of mourning doves, properly planted food can increase the number of birds found on a tract of land, at least for as long as the food lasts.

It should be pointed out here that food plots are not the one and only answer to good dove hunting. Sound hunting management on a dove field is also a must for keeping the darting grey targets coming into the field to feed.

As we stated above, mourning doves are one species of game that can be attracted to your land with food plots. The food of choice for the dove is seed. They eat little else—up to 20% of their body weight daily.

Browntop millet matures in about 60 to 90 days and produces a lot of seed for doves.

To have doves to shoot, it is desirable to have seed available on bare ground before and during the dove season. The seeded area must be open enough to permit the birds to land. Seeds must also be on top of bare ground, as doves feed by sight and do not scratch for their food.

Mourning doves require water following feeding; thus, they usually drink twice a day. Doves prefer to feed as close to drinking water as possible. As a result, dove food plots that are located near ponds and creeks do best.

Dove food plots, commonly called dove fields and specifically planned for doves, are suited to land in areas where the general pattern of cropland is not conducive to dove concentrations or migration routes. They are suited to areas where much of the acreage is in timber, pastures, or idle land. They are also suited to small farms to provide good shooting in fields which otherwise would not be large enough to attract doves if in farm crops.

Crops to Consider for Doves

Browntop millet plantings for doves must be made in rows so that the middles can provide bare ground feeding for these non-scratching birds. If the seed are broadcast or drilled, the planting will have very little attraction to bare ground feeders. The seeding rate is about 10 pounds per acre for rows, spaced 36 to 42 inches wide. Fertilize according to a soil test. Do not top-dress browntop millet plantings with nitrogen for doves. The extra nitrogen increases the vegetative growth at the expense of good seed production, whereas phosphorus and potash favor heavy seed production.

	Grain sorghum is an excellent crop for attracting doves and provides a good cover for hunters to use as a blind.

For states with a split dove season, plantings made in mid-June will be mature with seed shattering by the early season. If the primary concern is for shooting the last half of the split season, then mid-July plantings are better as they reduce the length of time after maturity the seed are exposed to deterioration and competitive use by other birds.

Plantings made after mid-July will have reduced seed production. One or two cultivations may be necessary to keep the middles free of grass and weeds, so that the browntop seeds drop on bare ground—the type of feeding conditions most attractive to doves.

Benne (Sesamum indicum), often called sesame, has been found to be a good late-season dove attracting crop. Plant benne the first of July, with a seeding rate of 5 pounds per acre in 36- to 42-inch rows. Be sure to use shattering type seeds.

Successful benne plantings require well-drained fertile soils, and benne fields should be rotated each year. If it is planted on the same ground the second year, there is a chance the entire crop will be killed by fusarian wilt about the time it begins to fruit.

Another excellent dove crop is grain sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) planted in rows. In June, plant at the rate of 10 pounds per acre in 40- to 44-inch rows. Fertilize according to a soil test. One to two cultivations may be necessary to keep the middles free of weeds.

Be sure to get shattering variety benne when planting it for doves. When the pod opens, it scatters seed into the bare row middles, making it quickly and easily found by doves.

As to the size of dove fields, two acres is the smallest size of planting that will produce enough shooting to be worthwhile. Plantings of 5 to 10 acres or more are necessary for the best shooting. Large fields devoted to dove management may be planted in blocks or strips to reduce cost. Rotation of these blocks or strips in the field from year to year often results in the growth of attractive native dove foods in the fallow portions. Any manipulation of food planting (beyond normal agricultural practice) to control its attractiveness to doves is considered as baiting and is illegal. Since the enforcement of state and federal migratory bird laws can be up to the judgment of the investigating officer, it is a good idea to invite your local conservation officer out to view your dove food plot and your plans as to managing it. He or she can help you avoid mistakes that could result in violations of game laws.

Management of Hunts

Frequency of shooting is an important consideration for a dove field to be good for more than one day of shooting. Experience has shown that even the best dove field cannot be shot more often than once a week, if good hunting is expected. More frequent shooting will result in the birds quickly shifting their feeding to other locations where they are less disturbed.

Manage your dove field for the safety and satisfaction of your hunters. One method of dove field hunting management that has proved successful is known as the draw method. Before doveseason opens, take a bundle of wooden stakes out to your dove field. Select good shooting spots at a safe distance apart and stake each one out. Number each stake consecutively. Each of these stakes will be a hunter’s station, and you also will know how many hunters to invite so as not to crowd your field.

The opening day of dove season, invite the pre-determined number of dove hunters to come over thirty minutes before the hunt starts. When all have arrived, explain to them your method of managing the hunt. Next, place pieces of paper in a hat, each with a number on it corresponding with one of your numbered stakes. Let each hunter draw a number and this will be their station in the field.

When the hunt is underway and one hunter has a good station and gets their limit early, try to pick the hunter at the poorest station and shift them over to the vacant station.

	Plant dove food plot crops in rows. Keep the row middles clean so the birds can readily see the seed.

You should also have a rule that any dove flying lower than ten feet across the field should be shot at only as it passes over a station. This can help eliminate someone looking down a fellow hunter’s shotgun barrel as a low-flying dove weaves through the hunters—a very uncomfortable view.

You should also have a rule that any dove flying lower than ten feet across the field should be shot at only as it passes over a station. This can help eliminate someone looking down a fellow hunter’s shotgun barrel as a low-flying dove weaves through the hunters—a very uncomfortable view.

Ask that any of your guests who kill a banded dove turn the band over to you to be sent in. Many doves are banded to study population, life history, and migration. These studies directly benefit the hunter by providing the basis for longer open seasons or increased bag limits in some years.

Another good rule to have at your dove field is to stop shooting one hour before sundown. This allows the doves to feed before nightfall. Many times, as many as half the doves killed are lost. To reduce this waste, encourage your guests to use a retriever. Watching a good retriever work is very satisfying in itself.

If you use these simple methods of managing your dove field, you will help make this a more safe and satisfying sport. And the harvested doves make outstanding table fare.

   

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