My buddy has a place just west of Sealy that we have dove hunted for the past few years and have done ok. We were hunting the short season last week and came back with nothing. We decided we would like to plant a plot of sunflowers or milo come spring time so it will be ready in the fall. Anybody have any knowledge of what to plant and when? I also heard you can call TPWD and they will let you know what should be planted?

Milo or sunflowers and then shred or mow a week or two before the season. I would think that would be perfect and about as cheap as you can get by with.

[This message has been edited by Brush Country Ag (edited 1/5/2009 3:32p).]

it is going to be hard to have a plot for the short season as most things have frozen but you never know.

Cue the "it's illegal to hunt over shredded sunflowers" crowd.

Wild Game Sorghum is some good stuff. It has a shorter stalk and is easy to grow. The only problem will be keeping the hogs and deer out of the patch.

Some sunflowers are annuals and some are perrineals(?). Check with the county agent in that area for what will produce the best.

Also just cut a checkerboard pattern. Shredding the whole field will hurt your hunting. The dove know what sunflowers look like and they use their wings to knock the seeds lose. Cutting a checkerboard pattern will help in finding the downed birds also.

This is not considered baitng doves. Do not know why. We have been doing this for years and have had the Game Warden check us every year. He cruises through our thirty acre pasture of sunflowers and checks all of the hunters. He has never said a word to any of us about it being a "baited" area.

I do know that if you spread feed by hand or mechanically, whether it is sunflowers, milo or chicken feed and then hunt over it, that is considered "baiting" and is illegal.

Sorry about the grammar and spelling, I r an engineer, not an english major


[This message has been edited by ghollow (edited 1/5/2009 4:04p).]

It's not baiting because the seeds were grown by "normal agricultural practices". If you plant it, you can shred it and hunt over it.



[This message has been edited by Cowtown Red (edited 1/5/2009 4:39p).]

From what I've gathered online it is best(and legal) to plant strips of crops so as to allow birds to land and feed and to allow room for hunting. We have also talked about having to fence the area to keep deer, hogs, etc out. Do you guys think normal sunflowers seeds from the nursery will do or is it better to purchase some of this dove mixture I'm seeing being sold online?

depends there are two types of sunflowers. the smaller native that are more likely to self seed and comeback next year or the larger sunflowers that will have more seeds. you can call Turner seeds and talk to them. I have heard they are a great supplier

I would imagine dove like smaller seeds.

I've seen plenty of gullets full of seeds from those big frying-pan size sunflowers.

we plant sunflowers on our land in waller and it does great lots of birds even in the second season.

Ask the Agronomist(TM) says .....

Once and for all, if you grow it in place, it is not baiting!

Now, on the the species. Bob Turner Seed http://www.turnerseed.com/site/WildLifeMix.asp has a couple of good dove mixes that have some of everything. Keep in mind, dove plots are tricky. Many times the species mature way before the season, and careful management is necessary. It would be great to not even plant them until June, but with normal rainfall patterns, that is not likely to work, and the "native" sunflowers would not be terribly happy. Fortunately, most of the plat species can be shredded down after the first seed crop, and with much rainat all, will come back with a second (weaker) seed crop. Many of my clients will shred strips of about 1/4 - 1/5 of the field every 2 weeks starting in August.

Corn would be a mistake. It's much harder to grow. And coons, deer, and pigs are going to ruin the crop long before you benefit.

Just plant some native sunflowers. One decent year and you'll have them every year for next century. You can't get rid of them. The dove will go crazy for them though.

FYI, I wasn't trying to say it was baiting, I just assumed that it would start a legal/illegal b***h-fest.

B1-83:

Is there any truth that plowing in the winter will increase the germination of native sunflowers? If so, when is the best time to plow?

Also, if you did plow now and wanted to plant something now when there is a good seedbed in addition to putting out some ryegrass for winter grazing, and assuming there is some coastal and common bermuda that may come back in the field in the spring, would a person be wasting their money if they put out some dove type seeds now as well? Also, if you put out some medio at the same time to add another crop for some diversity, would that work? Any takers?