Crop for dove field

I’m in my first year of owning some rural land. I lease the cleared portion to a farmer. In lieu of rent he has agreed to plant one of my fields as a dove field in the crop of my choice. This is in SE NC in Duplin County. There is a robust deer population so whatever get planted will get hammered pretty good. The field is about 3 acres.

My question is what crop would you all suggest? Corn, millet, sunflowers?
 

sky hawk

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
If deer are going to be a significant problem, then probably brown top millet. If you could plant more acreage, say 5-7 acres, you might be able to still get by with sunflowers.

Proso millet is good too, but it doesn’t produce enough seed for my liking, and it’s high shatter means it drops the seed more randomly rather than holding it until you mow. German millet seems to hold it too tightly.

Doves eat corn, but it wouldn’t be in my top 3.
 

Rescue44

Old Mossy Horns
Sunflowers is my choice. Have planted brown millet mixed with sunflowers. Several times when I mowed strips and disced the strips early enough, volunteer millet seeded out in time to benefit the doves. Gold finches are a plus later in sunflowers. Although, for some reason, gold finches didn't feed in my sunflowers this year. 🤷‍♂️ Usually there are some nice flocks of gold finches. Mom loves to watch them.
 

para4514

Eight Pointer
Contributor
I have seen insane dove use on fields that have volunteer Tropic Croton, "dove weed". Seed is available, but I have always hesitated because of invasiveness. I know it can be an agriculture weed, but finding accurate info on the native range is a challenge.

 
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Hunterreed

Twelve Pointer
Plant a strip of popcorn through the center of the field and anything already mentioned around it. Gives you a place to hide plus they like the small kernels
 

jhwilli2

Eight Pointer
I would recommend a mixture of brown top millet and sunflowers. Let it grow, two weeks before the season comes in spray it with a glyphosate herbicide. One week before the season comes in burn it.

If you have the money, a field of melons is hard to beat.
 

sky hawk

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
I would recommend a mixture of brown top millet and sunflowers. Let it grow, two weeks before the season comes in spray it with a glyphosate herbicide. One week before the season comes in burn it.
This is a proven approach (except I spray 3-4 weeks out and mow consecutively for 3 weeks), and would be my choice if not concerned about deer. But if you expect a lot of deer damage, the sunflowers are going to take a hit. If there's a lot of deer present, the fewer sunflowers there are, the more likely they get completely wiped out.

You take a 3 acre field and reduce that to only 1.5 acres of sunflowers, and you increase the chance of losing them all with a heavy deer presence. If that is a concern, I would either plant all sunflowers or go with something different. The deer predation on them is a lot like soybeans except, unlike soybeans, all it takes is the deer to eat the top out of the sunflower and you get ZERO seed.

I have a low spot in my field that is a little more hidden and heavily used by the deer. After a few years of planting sunflowers, they were finding/destroying them sooner and more completely. I had to quit planting sunflowers in that part of the field and go with millet and plant sunflowers up higher where the deer are a little less comfortable. In that scenario, both crops work.
 

bigten

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
I plant sunflowers with brown top millet beside and corn to the other side for cover. I did 3 separate plantings of each last year with the first to attract and the second two to retain the birds, then harvested the corn for deer season (what was left of it anyway). Thinking of doing 4 stages this year just for hoots. All the millet and sunflower patches reseeded and came back after each spot was mowed, even without turning dirt.
And yes, I did sustain some damage due to the local deer, but not so much to spoil the birds.
 

darkthirty

Old Mossy Horns
I think it’s pretty easy to overthink your situation. Lots of deer and sunflowers usually don’t work out. Millets are good. My first thought would be if you’re already renting it to a farmer, then have him drill wheat and don’t cut it when harvest time comes. Wheat will stand in field basically 3 months before dove season. You should get quite a good stand of ragweed come in it over the summer. Which is also a wonderful dove food. Week or two before season, bushhog or burn wheat.

Also know that just because you have dove food, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll have a lot of doves.
 

Bailey Boat

Twelve Pointer
Maybe won't work for this season but look/ask around the neighbors and find out what they plant (if anything) and then decide. You may want something totally different.....
 

Rescue44

Old Mossy Horns
I have seen insane dove use on fields that have volunteer Tropic Croton, "dove weed". Seed is available, but I have always hesitated because of invasiveness. I know it can be an agriculture weed, but finding accurate info on the native range is a challenge.


Some best dove hunts were around pre-round up ready cotton fields with croton. May have to order some. Maybe.
 

Speed1

Eight Pointer
Wheat, run disc over it 3 weeks before opener. You could disc some leave some standing and disc later. Best dove fields I have ever hunted.
 

shurshot

Ten Pointer
Some best dove hunts were around pre-round up ready cotton fields with croton. May have to order some. Maybe.
Few years ago me and 2 buds were hunting the Mattamuskeet draw hunts. Not much happening to we went for lunch nearby. Noticed a picked cotton field where doves were sitting in adjacent pecan trees. Ate, went back and asked the guy tending the farm if we could hunt. He said go ahead, landowner wouldn’t care. Shot 45 birds (3 man limit). Next day after the duck hunt saw the same caretaker eating lunch. Asked him if we could go again, no problem. Bought his and wife’s lunch (had to do it, lol). Went back out, shot 45 more doves. Upon cleaning, every one was packed with croton! Another valuable lesson learned.
 

sandhills hunter

Ten Pointer
I have done a dove field every year for the past 20 years or so. Never done millet so I won’t comment on that. I’ve done wheat several times and have found it cheaper to do than sunflowers but have never had the number of birds that we do with sunflowers. Duplin is a rather big county for corn in NC. By the time Sept 1 comes around there will be thousands of acres of corn already harvested so you will need to do something other than corn. I recommend sunflowers if it will fit your budget. Have your farmer plant your sunflowers just as soon as he’s done planting his corn, for Duplin that’s probably around the middle of April or so. Use clearfield sunflowers so he can spray for weeds and grasses. Good grass control is very important. Then first week August burn the field down with gramoxone. If you had good grass control just bush hog enough strips to help you mark down birds and navigate the field. If deer are a problem you can keep them out with a solar powered electric fence.
 

Hunterreed

Twelve Pointer
Timing plays a role in the first of the season. Around here where few fields are planted specifically for hunting just having something cut is a draw for birds. I have seen a lot of birds in fields due to heavy weed infestations like Johnson grass and foxtail in cut corn that had very little waste corn remaining. Even hay fields of fescue, orchard grass that we talked the farmer into leaving the round bales out for two weeks to hide around especially if they are sparse due to dry weather have sprayed a lot of lead across. The surrounding areas can make or bust even a good field. Many opening days I have spent sitting over a field that a week before was thick with birds listening to a war 1/4 of a mile away
 

Rescue44

Old Mossy Horns
If not planting for a crop, you are "planting for the benefit of wildlife", dove are attracted to the "wildlife" plots, too. I'll look for an old post on this later.
 

SharpShooter

Ten Pointer
Plant in wheat and let it sit after making seed. Burn or disc is a few weeks before dove opener and shoot them like fish in a barrel.
 
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