Of all the wildlife food planting practices now used, planting sunflowers appears to be the most effective and economical. Of the sunflowers, peredovic or other small oil-seed varieties seems to be the best when properly planted so that they ripen early (by August 15) and the planting site also needs to be treated with chemical and/or cultivated so that the feed fields are clean.

Prepare the field in the same way as for corn planting - plow and disc. The soil must be mellow with no large clods.

Apply Treflan¨ at the label rate for your soils. In general, a rate 11/2 pints per acre worked into the soil is sufficient. This is a pre-plant chemical that can be applied from four weeks before up to time of planting. It is recommended that the ground be shallow disced (two-inch depth) at least twice in a crisscrossed manner immediately after application. Thorough mixing is a must, as this chemical prevents germination.

The planting date should be as soon as possible after all possibility of a killing frost. May 1 should be considered an absolute last date for dove fields. It takes 70 to 75 days for the sunflowers to come to full bloom and 100 days to mature and ripen. For best use by doves and for a good feeding pattern to be established before the hunting season, it is desirable to have the sunflowers ripe at least 15 days before the season opens. Doves are less apt to be harassed off the feed fields by hunting if they have built up a strong feeding pattern. Sunflowers can stand temperatures in the high 20s, once they have sprouted, so they can be seeded earlier than corn.

Best results have been obtained by row planting with a corn planter. This also enables the hunter to locate downed birds more easily, greatly reducing crippling loss. This, of course, is provided Treflan has been used and the ground is bare between the rows. Sunflowers should be seeded at the rate of three to four pounds per acre. Peredovic, which is the small, black Russian oil variety, has been the most successful; however, any small, black oil seed sunflower will work. A thinner stand of sunflowers is better than a thick stand for seed production. One plant for every 12 to 18 inches of row is sufficient.

Fertilization is recommended at about the same rate as for corn (medium crop). Fertilizer may not be required if the soils are naturally high in fertilizer; however, sunflowers planted on poor soils do not mature properly. If in question, pull a soil sample as recommended by your local agricultural extension service and follow the recommended fertilization rates. Consult your agricultural extension agent for fertilization advice.

Cultivation is also recommended if the Treflan did not appear to control all of the weeds and grasses. Feeding patterns in the sunflower fields should be encouraged in late July and August for the local doves. These birds will act as a "decoy" flock to migrants and will build as the migration progresses. A good way to accomplish early dove use is by planting some early maturing grain varieties that are also preferred by doves. The millets work well for this purpose.

Proso and German millet strips planted adjacent to or running through the sunflower patches will mature sooner than the sunflowers and attract local birds. As the sunflowers ripen the birds will switch to the preferred food source, sunflowers. Early dove use and build up is important because it usually results in larger feeding flocks that are harder to drive off by shooting pressure.

Observations indicate that doves will often regain populations in the sunflower field if they are not driven completely out of an area. This has a possible management implication that could be tried on areas large enough to accommodate it. It is worthwhile to plant some smaller sunflower fields strategically located in the vicinity of the larger fields but where there is no hunting pressure. These small fields act as refuge areas to which doves retreat when gun pressure gets too heavy. When pressure eases, they drift back. It is something that could be experimented with if deemed worthwhile. We are simply working with two factors - good available food source and regulating the harassment.

To start doves using the fields and keep them using the fields is important. As stated earlier, the sunflowers must be ripe at least 15 days before the hunting season opens. If chemical has been used and the ground is bare, there should be no need to mow strips for the dove's sake. In fact, this has some disadvantages. For one thin, the sunflower seeds that are knocked off by mowing will sprout with the onset of wet weather and are lost; this then necessitates more mowing to maintain available seed. On the other hand, mowing may be needed if the chemical didn't work and the field is weedy. Doves usually will not take to a weedy field; they prefer to feed on bare ground. By having the sunflowers in rows and good bare ground in between, dove use will generally be heavy.

Mowing may be a useful practice to enhance the shooter's ability to find downed birds. In this case, it is normally recommended that a 15 to 20 yard wide strip be mowed around the field. Hunters can station themselves in the sunflowers along the edge of this mowed strip and use the mowed strip as a guide to their distance estimation when shooting.

An added benefit to this form of dove management is that many other species prefer sunflowers. These fields will stand well into the winter and are heavily used by quail, rabbits, squirrels and many species of nongame wildlife. Deer, waterfowl and other wildlife species have been observed feeding in sunflower fields in winter. Even if fields are managed primarily for doves, other species will benefit.

If management for other species is a consideration on these areas or if there is a need to reduce management costs, the sunflower fields can be divided into two to three units with only a portion planted each year. The remaining tracts can be left standing for a year or two before being put back into dove fields again. The idle fields should produce ideal conditions for nesting, roosting and brood rearing cover for quail and other species. This practice would then result in dove field management the first year and benefit other species the next year or two.

In order to enjoy sustained hunting on sunflower fields hunting pressure must be managed. Doves quickly abandon a field, no matter how good the sunflower crop, if hunting pressure is too intense. The most common management approach is to divide the hunting week into 14 shooting segments of two to three hours each - a morning and an afternoon segment for each day of the week. On the opening weekend of the season, you would shoot on only two nonconsecutive segments and then no more than three nonconsecutive segments during the week. All other weekends may have from one to two nonconsecutive shooting segments.

These are only general guidelines, and the manager can adjust the hunting pressure and the number of segments hunted based upon the reaction of the birds. The general idea is to give the birds times during which they can feed and become comfortable with the field in the absence of hunting pressure. When properly managed, it is not uncommon to enjoy sustained dove hunting throughout the entire season.