Doves feed on the seeds of many plants as readily as they do the seeds of some cultivated crops. Often, native dove foods will volunteer on fallow lands and mature in time for dove season. Native plants can be very productive and inexpensive to produce. You can encourage them by dishing broomsedge fields or other vacant lands in late winter or early spring to provide the most possible time for seed-bearing weeds to mature. Divide a field into sections and disk a portion every 30 days or so to approximately two months before you intend to hunt the field. Carefully note which desirable plants appear after each dishing and develop your own schedules for growing native plants. Fertilizing native plants will increase seed production. Inspect fields of native vegetation about 90 days prior to the dove season, and examine the seedlings carefully. If seedlings of the preferred species (Table 1) are abundant, the field can be left to grow. If the field is dominated by plants not preferred by doves (Table 3), prepare the soil and plant a crop that will mature rapidly in the remaining time before the season opens. Browntop millet and dove prove millet are common choices where a fast-maturing crop is needed. A compromise plan is to plant strips of cultivated crops at intervals through fields of native vegetation.
Two weeks prior to the start of hunting, mow one third of the fields with a rotary mower to break up the plants and scatter the seed. Set the mower to cut low to the ground. Periodically freshen the field by mowing additional strips as needed. Some dove field managers prefer to mow fields with a side delivery mower and then rake and bale to create a cleaner surface that is more appealing to doves.
