Planting Dove Field... What do you plant?

Millet, milo, and sunflower

We have a few patch of Milo and millet planted right now.... Will plant some more plus sunflowers a little later on

I planted sunflowers. The rule on sunflowers is you need to have them in the ground no later than May 20th to have them matured and dried out by Labor day weekend. They do have 75 and 60 day varieties that will mature quicker, but I've never planted them. The day we plant we spray a concoction of Roundup, Spartan, and Duel herbicides to keep the weeds in check. Once the plants come up you can spray Select over the top a time or two to keep the field clean. Clean ground under the seeds is crucial. If I have an army worm problem I'll get one of my farmer buddies to come spray it with something. Although my major problem is deer eating them. I am currently ingaged in a nightly battle to keep the bastads out of my field.

Best advice I can offer is fresh dirt. Two weeks before the season if you have bush hogged your crop make sure you have some paths of dirt turned over and turn it over every few days. Ive spent many hours watching these tasty little birds. They will eat, then fly in the dirt and peck around then go sit on a power line. They repeat this process over and over till they roost. After a few days when the dirt isnt fresh they change their pattern and I see less numbers

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This and wheat..but honestly we have had our best fields not even planting. Just going in and cutting the field the end of july, disking it good starting in august and piling on the chopped corn for two weeks. Then the last two weeks burn it off because normally grass has started growing throughout the field, and pile on the wheat..then the last week just disk really good again

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Sounds effective. Both for killing birds and getting an upclose view of a federal magistrate.

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Sounds effective. Both for killing birds and getting an upclose view of a federal magistrate.

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A well disked field also helps to show boot prints where the green jeans come in at night and photograph seeds on the ground in the two weeks prior to opening day

They will photograph a square foot and document how much seed is there and do this over a series of days/weeks. If you have the same amount or more seeds a week after the first photo it helps document that you are baiting. Baiting laws are bs imo but I will gladly follow the rules

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I usually bush hog my crop down then toss it for hay

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Seriously burn it after you bale it. Dove love burnt field

I am surprised by the milo recs. At my feeder, they only eat it when nothing else is left. Millet and the various sunflowers go first.