Mowing the garden for doves

Dad was wanting the garden bush hogged a couple weeks ago but I postponed hoping that I may could entice a dove or two in. The plan was to mow the corn and beans and leave the okra and tomatoes. I was then going to grab the disc and disk up a couple streaks through each section. Luckily the cutter wheel did more dragging thanrolling and left nice trenches behind every swipe. This normally doesn't work due to small size, but we will see if it does any good this year.

Pretty neat how the wheel dragging left plenty of ground tore up for grit.

I could be mistaken, but I thought that had to be done 2 wks before hunting over it....or it's considered baiting.

Would be no different than harvesting corn a week before and hunting over it. I didnt add anything to the mix. Even bagged the corn that was on the stalks before cutting.

I cant see any way that it can be considered baiting. Enlighten me.

Probably should plant a cover crop as well to keep the land from washing during winter rains...I'd suggest wheat...

nchawkeye said:

Probably should plant a cover crop as well to keep the land from washing during winter rains...I'd suggest wheat...

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Lol. That was briefly discussed, but we will put in the turnip patch soon enough. Give it a couple weeks for the mowed plants to die and probably hit it will a decent coat of roundup, then disc it in good before sowing. We have been planning to build a packer for a while now...but haven't gotten around to it yet.

pattersonj11 said:

I cant see any way that it can be considered baiting. Enlighten me.

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I was mistaken, you can't spread seeds, like wheat, a certain amt of pounds/acre

Roundup will kill any wheat that happens to come up before you put in your "greens patch", a cover crop is just to keep any runoff/washout of the spot. Hunting over wheat is perfectly legal, seems to me that it would be a good spot for kids/ladies to start dove hunting [access to restroom/shade/refreshments]. Win-win IMO.

41magnum said:

I was mistaken, you can't spread seeds, like wheat, a certain amt of pounds/acre

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There is a gray area there. There was a thread about "top sowing" seeds as a normal ag practice as long as you stick to guidelines. I don't know how often you could sow it. I would think you could sow it on top, disc it in a couple weeks and sow it again.

Anyone know of a wheat price and/or rates for seeding?

about 7 mojo doves and I should be set. May even put out a jerk rig.

Yall may laugh, but me and a buddy shot limits 3 times in one week over his grandpas garden. He had bush hogged about a 1/8th acre of silver queen corn and the doves were all over it!

There were over a limit getting grit in the gavel area between my house and the garage the last 2 days. They came and went several times today. Maybe the farmer will cut the corn in front soon.

I'd love to get in on a good dove hunt if anyone wants company around harnett/lee. We do the garden thing every year. I think 3 of us shot 9 doves one afternoon last year. Plenty more, but they were in the stratosphere. The garden is at the bottom of a hill with tall pines around. We went after them another day with 6s and turkey chokes. We did good that day and some of the shots I wish we had on video.

I have often heard of really good shoots over cantalopes, tomatoes, and vegetable crops of all sorts. The main factor is your local population of doves.

As for the wheat... it is a super gray area. 2 bushels per acre is a "normal ag practice" for erosion control. Top sowing for the purpose of hunting is baiting. However if you make an effort to cover it up and happen to miss a little here and there or some seeds fall out of your disk strips... then the is seed there. It all depends on how big of a risk you want to take if the man walks up and how his day has been.

An alternative to wheat is Buckwheat. It matures in 45 days. I have seen and hunted over organic tobbaco with buckwheat sowed every 10th row with great success. The reason they plant it is so that the bugs will eat the buckwheat and leave the tobbaco alone and they don't have to use pesticides on it. If you have bugs eating your veggies you could plant some buckwheat between the rows or in an area and it would serve two purposes, less depredation and more doves. Pollinators love buckwheat so that would make 3 postive reason to plant it.



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You can top sow wheat without discing it in, as long as there is a prepared seedbed. Maximum rates vary based on where you look from 100 to as much as 200 lbs. per acre.

I have heard that watermelons will draw them in. I bushhogged the garden and ran over a bunch of watermelons, but they haven't used it at all yet.

sky hawk said:

You can top sow wheat without discing it in, as long as there is a prepared seedbed. Maximum rates vary based on where you look from 100 to as much as 200 lbs. per acre.

I have heard that watermelons will draw them in. I bushhogged the garden and ran over a bunch of watermelons, but they haven't used it at all yet.

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When I lived in Goldsboro, I had a good hunt over a bush hogged watermelon field.
I remember we shot 4-5 limits, but I also remember the smell and the Yellowjackets.

Have had a couple great hunts over watermelon, cantaloupe, and cucumbers.