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Iowa Dove Hunting

isu22andy

Active Member
Within two weeks Iowa Dove Season is upon us . Wondering who will all go out and what's your method ? Seems to me like a guy could drive back roads and fill your limit but doesn't seem like the right way to do it . I have access to a pasture with lots of overgrown water hemp which if I remember last year when checking cows was loaded with doves . What's the right way to hunt these ? Do I need to wake up at the crack of dawn with a mojo decoy or is this something I can do after work ? Just chuck it out and they will come ? I'm a complete idiot when it comes to this .

Any experience or tips is welcome .

Thanks
 
I'll be in AK fishing for the opener so will miss out on that again. If it goes like the last couple years, a cold rain will come through and send most of the doves from my food plots south to MO, KS &/or OK about 2 days before I get a chance to hunt but: Doves feed early morning and evening. Get up & hunt early & take a nap mid-day. Go back out for a late afternoon shoot. Find where they are feeding and be there. I like to give myself an edge and plant a couple plots to sunflower or winter wheat. Some public areas also have plots. I've heard feedlots are a good bet but never hunted near one. Personally, I think decoys help, but they probably aren't totally necessary. I use them, Mojos and stills. I waited 50 years for Iowa to open a dove season so I'm gonna take advantage of every edge I can give myself. Bring lots of shells. National average is something like 4 boxes (100 rounds)/limit. Great fun, and "Atomic Buffalo Turds with Dove" (Google it) is an awesome accompaniment to a cold beer! Enjoy!
 
We go opening day- my tips. Bring lots of ammo! And
Find a sunflower patch. It's an absolute blast
 
Will be out. Have always hunted pastures and public sunflower fields in the past. This year we have sunflowers in out pollinator plots so that will be where I will be. Early in the morning or late in the evening
 
If you can get access to a gravel pit it will blow away hunting over sunflowers. I'm serious as a hear attack when I say that too. Be careful taking a dog too because if they are the typical hunting dog, they don't know when to quit and they will literally run their pads off on the sand and gravel. My lab has done this twice and now he still gets to go, but once he starts scuffing them he goes back in the air conditioning.
 
Do they just keep flying into the mojo ? Most doves I see are just usually hanging out on the ground or the like and I really dont see them till I jump them.
 
Bump for help , sat on the edge of a buddy's sunflower and sorghum plot and the only doves we saw were on the power lines . Ran 2 mojos .
 
Any public places around you that the doves could get pushed off of to your place? Put some miles on the truck looking for them or another plot.
 
For next year if you have the ability to put in even an acre of sunflowers you can probably have a great hunt. We put in a little over an acre at my son's place and 4 of us limited out in less than 2 hours last weekend. We planed on May 7 and mowed about 60% of it off 2 weeks prior to hunting. Unbelievable number of birds for a small plot (doves were still swarming as we were leaving the field). Hope to get a couple more hunts off it this year yet.

We have also hunted public land with good success too - just need to do homework and find out where the dove plots have been planted. Big Marsh has had good plots in the past but you need to show up very early to "stake out" a spot on the opener. I have heard the number of doves using the plots drops quite a bit after opening day though.
 
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