I've seen pics of the huge prairie sunflower fields in Alberta, and the pea fields, Tamid. That's a different world. While there are some larger fields here (100 to 300 acres), many are broken up by woodlots or old fencerows into smaller, odd shaped fields. You could never "hem the birds up", doves I mean, to have shoots like we do, in huge fields like that. We've tried for years to shoot big fields successfully, but it almost never results in a good shoot. Guns need to be far enough apart for safety, but close enough together that the doves don't light on the ground between the guns to feed.

A 25-30 acre field, dedicated to sunflower or other crop attractive to doves, works well for up to 15-20 people. And, it can also be shot successfully by as few as 6-8. And, it costs a whole lot less to plant and cultivate than a 100 acre field. It's an expensive proposition, growing sunflowers properly. But, well worth it when you love dove shooting like I do.

SRH

P.S. The best thing to ensure lots of doves on a field around here is to have the only one within several miles, tho' that's out of our control, generally. One of the best dove fields I ever shot over was a little 10 acre field near Summerville, SC that was smack dab in the middle of thousands of acres of pine plantation. There was no agriculture of any kind, and the doves were drawn to that planting like gnats to a dog's rear end. Unbelievable. It belonged to a friend's Dad. He and I killed our limits that afternoon with m/l doubles and black. What fun!! We were the first ones to limit and be off the field. We took a lot of ribbing that day about creating so much smoke. smile

SRH

Last edited by Stan; 01/16/19 08:35 AM.
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