Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Dove hunters.

I know what the title says, but that's not what I'm looking for.

Dove hunters like to plant sun flowers as a dove attractant.
First off, we've got dove galore. I just don't hunt them ... anymore! LOL!
Back when ammo was much cheaper, it was a ton of fun.
I'm a tightwad. The reward just isn't worth it anymore.
Besides, it's hot in Sept and I'm old!

NOW!!!
What I came here for!
I have bees. Not a bunch of hives but several.
I'm literally in the middle of a pollen desert!
I'm always feeding bees.
I want to plant sunflowers as a pollen source for my bees. LOTS of sun flowers!
What strain of sun flowers do most of you dove hunters plant?
Sun flowers bloom early and the big yellow flowers hang around, even in the summer heat....and they have a lot of pollen.

I'd ask a county agent.

Doesn’t matter, as long as they bloom! They love the knee high brown eyed Susan’s that come up wild. They will fly over milo on the ground to get to them!

I bought several flats of 12 ga game load years ago for when I would be old and poor and having to eat Puss N Boots.

No excuses

If you have deer around they will mow them down before the get a flower on them.

I've never hunted doves. What's the attraction?

I hunted snows - for those that like high volume shooting, why are doves better or are they just different?

Any of the sunflower species grown for oil are the best. The hull is thinner than the other types and it has more meat in the seed. The higher oil content makes it more nutritious to wildlife.

I plant Black Perekovic (or something like it) which I buy from the local feed store. I've had plenty of sunflowers come up under the bird feeders but I don't know how viable the seed used for bird feeding is overall. The bulk from the farm store is cheaper anyway and I would use it for feed if it was available year round.

they are fun to shoot, they are fast and make for great pass shooting, and if cooked right are good eating.

The attraction is high volume shooting and limit of 15 birds. And they are a challenge to hit, because of their size, and their flying antics.
I haven’t missed a dove opener in 30+ years.

My wife raises flowers commercially. She plants all kinds of sunflowers, in many colors and heights. All of them are covered with bees so it doesn't appear to make much difference.

We used to hunt doves but 3 out of 4 years we'll have a cold snap around Sept 1, opening day, and the mournings all migrate out. Since the arrival of the collared doves, mournings are about non-existent anyway. We used to have them nest in the orchard but I haven't heard any of them out there in 3 or 4 years. The collareds like to hang out in more populated areas. It's open season on them year round with no limits but they're usually where you can't shoot.

We just broadcast the black oil sunflower seeds out of the 50 lb bags sold at either the feed store or I think even Menards carry them. They come up pretty good but deer love them too.

I might have to give it a go.

Here's what you are looking for.

https://sanangelo.tamu.edu/extension/agronomy/agronomy-publications/sunflower-production-guide/

What’s fun is at the end of the day, we don’t ask “how many shots to limit out” but rather “how many boxes” haha.

Always a great time and great dove opening day memories!

I've seen Pat Powell shoot 15 birds with 15 shells more than once using high 870 with a bent barrel, asked how he did / he said hell Roger I just at the ones I know I'll hit lol. He is a hell of a shotgun shooter.

Back when I duck hunted a fair bit - limit on Bluebills was 2. I'd shoot twice, collect my limit and be done ASAP while my friends would see ducks working and screaming at me as to why I didn't shoot. I was limited out - they were a box an outing shooters. A box lasted me 12 days in the blind lol.

More stupidity from New Jersey (does this surprise anyone?):
Doves are classified as song birds. No hunting allowed.

Looks like a lot of fun to me, but I'm not going to pay $100+ for a Delaware non-resident license to shoot them.

I planted sunflowers yesterday, but have not shot a dove since 1965.

Local farmers plant wild birdseed like you buy at Walmart for your bird feeder as a winter cover crop a couple of days before the openers around here.