How early to mow a dove field

Best case scenario with Miller is cut and bake for hay. Or find someone that can. It leaves a lot of thatch on the ground. Doves love bare ground. We used to cut outs a week before and with no rain it would be baked 3-4 days before.


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Take a look at this document from Fish and Wildlife about preparing dove fields. http://fw.ky.gov/Wildlife/Documents/dovefields[1].pdf

 

Or just rake in rows and leave it that will leave the bare ground in between but would definitely run the Tedder over it.


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I would mow a strip 2weeks before season. Another strip a week before season. An depending on how many times you want to shoot the field mow some every week

 

Try it again. Link worked for me.

http://fw.ky.gov/Wildlife/Documents/dovefields[1].pdf

 

this^^^^^^^plus disc a few dirt strips through it too

 

Here is what the link said:

www.kyafield.com
HABITAT

Dove Fields
How to attract birds to your hunting spot — legally
Federal migratory bird regulations prohibit hunting mourning
doves over bait. However, doves can be attracted both effectively and
legally in Kentucky using managed fields.
Fields managed as wildlife food plots, or where normal agricul
-tural practices have occurred, are perfectly legal to hunt as long as
there is no sweetening of the field with the addition of bait. Baiting
includes placing grains, salt or other attractants in an area used for
hunting.
Generally the most productive fields have sunflowers, but wheat,
millet and even native plant fields can yield bountiful opportunities
for hunters.
Dove field preparation is relatively simple, although weather,
agricultural practices or other food plots in the surrounding area will
influence whether the birds will use the field. However, if you select
your field carefully and manage it well, you are likely to enjoy some
good dove hunting.
Field Selection
If possible, select a field in a relatively high elevation to cater
to flyover doves. Power lines, dead trees, and other open perches in
or adjacent to a field are also desirable. Ponds or streams nearby are
important, too, as doves need to drink frequently. Also keep in mind
that doves need ample bare ground to feed; heavy thatch may keep
birds away from an otherwise good field. Obviously, larger fields have
greater potential for packing in more doves, but even 1- or 2-acre
fields can be effective for small hunts.
Finally, if you have some weeds, don’t worry because they’re
probably food sources for doves as well.
Winter W heat Fields
— Fields planted
with winter wheat during the previous fall for
wildlife or for a cover crop make excellent dove
fields. Farmers who rotationally plant tobacco or
other specialty crops may leave wheat fields intact
all year. These fields usually just need some strip
mowing once the seed is ready.
Spring Planted Fields
— First, get a soil
test on your field for the grains you intend to
plant. Your county Cooperative Extension office
can help you collect and test your samples. In the
absence of a soil test, you can apply 200 pounds an acre of 12-12-12
fertilizer to your field one to two months before seeding.
Sunflowers take 120 days to mature, so plant them in late April to
early May so they’ll be ready for the Sept. 1 opener. For conventional
planting, plow and disk a seedbed then broadcast Peredovick variety
sunflowers at 15 pounds an acre. Cover seeds lightly by disking,
cultipacking or dragging.
For no-till planting into a grass or weedy field, spray the area
with herbicide on a warm, calm day in mid-April to reduce compe
-
tition with the sunflowers. Consult your local farm supply store for
the right herbicide and always follow label instructions. Next, plant
10 pounds an acre of Peredovick sunflowers with a no-till drill or a
corn planter, cross hatching the field if necessary.
You may choose a 90-day plant, such as proso/dove millet or
browntop millet, if you’re getting a late start on preparing a field.
Broadcast seed at 15 to 20 pounds an acre, or 8 to 10 pounds an acre
for no-till. If you have less than three months before season opens,
plant the following mixture: Buckwheat, 10 pounds an acre; proso
millet, 5 pounds an acre; and Peredovick sunflowers, 5 pounds an
acre. This should give you some mature seeds by Sept. 1 and many
more for weeks thereafter.
Weedy Fields
— Abandoned or otherwise fallow fields can make
for great dove hunting. Select fields dominated by annual plants,
such as ragweed, pigweed, foxtail and wild millet. Historically, doves
probably fed in similar fields created by grazing bison or burning and
cultivation by native Americans. You can create such fields by spraying
or disking in late winter to early spring.
Field Management
The ingredients of good field management are simple: manipula
-
tion in time to attract doves for a hunt, bare ground with scattered
seeds, and uncut areas for hunter cover. Begin by disking a strip
around the perimeter of your field in early August. This bare ground
will attract birds.
Mow a few 50- to 100-foot-wide strips in your field by mid-Au
-
gust. You should attract doves if the seeds are dry. Consider windrow
-
ing with a hay rake to expose more bare ground and
scatter seed if you have much thatch on the ground
after mowing. Otherwise, lightly disk over mowed
strips to expose soil and seeds if necessary.
Mow half or more of the field by opening day,
and leave strips or small islands intact for hunter
concealment. Continue mowing, windrowing or
disking strips every few weeks as long as you wish
to hunt.
Consider sowing winter wheat as a cover crop
once you’ve finished dove hunting for the year. Re
-
member, however, that you cannot hunt waterfowl,
doves and other migratory game birds on the field — or around it
— until 10 days after all the wheat seed has germinated.
Go to
www.fws.gov /le /HuntFish/WhatisLegal.htm
on the Inter
-
net for more details on regulations. For more details on preparing dove
fields, call 1-800-858-1549 and request copies of our “Annual Grains”
and “Food Plots” Habitat How-To publications. Good hunting!
Brian Clark is a Private Lands Wildlife Biologist for the Kentucky
Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources