Dove question

[SpoonySmacker]

Hey guys,
Question for y’all. What types of habitat or areas do you see most of the doves you shoot in the IV? I’m used to hunting safflower, sunflower fields, orchards, and dry creek beds in northern CA. The amount of lettuce and what seems to be just basic hay(?) fields in the IV are the most common. The most birds I’ve seen are usually roosting on power lines around lettuce which is most likely due to the supply of water. What do you guys think are some of The better vegetation areas to stick around?

 

[ilovesprig]

We got our doves in a cut water grass field.....Cut corn, melon (both water & cantaloupe), and wheat are the best.

The issue with the IV is fields change quickly.....The cut water grass field was useless a couple of weeks ago.....It gets cut and the doves found the small seed it produces.

 

[SurfNHuntSD]

In addition to what Sprig said above, I've been having good success with hunting wildland/scrub brush in their flight paths between where they roost and feed/gravel. I can't get to the IV often enough to monitor cut fields, so my scouting has mostly been finding open brush where I can legally hunt, then watching them fly in the morning to see if it'll give me decent shooting opportunities.

 

[SpoonySmacker]

Another question, I noticed a lot of the doves are sitting in the fields in the vegetation so it’s hard to hunt them like that. Are you guys walking the fields or just sitting in a spot pass shooting?

 

[SurfNHuntSD]

Another question, I noticed a lot of the doves are sitting in the fields in the vegetation so it’s hard to hunt them like that. Are you guys walking the fields or just sitting in a spot pass shooting?

Sitting.. I don't flush doves. What I would do is get into that field early and setup on a spot where they're likely to come in from, and then put out some dekes and take cover. They love spinning wing decoys (like Mojos) if u have em.

 

[MAG 1]

Get the MOJOS out if you have them, if not go buy them.