The primary focus for landowners wishing to attract doves is the Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura), the most abundant and widespread dove species in North America. These birds are granivores, meaning their diet is almost exclusively seeds, which allows for targeted food plot management to provide a reliable food source. The goal of planting is to offer high-quality, readily accessible seeds, creating an attractive feeding habitat that complements the birds’ natural behavior and migratory patterns.
Nutritional Needs and Preferred Seed Characteristics
Mourning doves select seeds based on physical properties, which dictate what they are capable of consuming and digesting. They prefer smaller seeds with thin hulls that are easy to swallow whole. This is important since they do not hull seeds before swallowing.
Once ingested, the seeds are stored in an enlargement of the esophagus called the crop before moving to the gizzard for grinding. Doves require grit, such as small stones or sand, which is consumed to aid the gizzard in mechanically breaking down the hard seeds. They must consume roughly 12 to 20 percent of their body weight daily, emphasizing the need for high-energy food sources.
Nutritionally, doves seek foods high in carbohydrates, which are measured by the nitrogen-free extract (NFE) content in seeds. They show a preference for seeds with lower levels of cellulose-lignin, which are less digestible fibrous components. While some seeds like black-oil sunflower are high in fat, doves often prefer carbohydrate-rich grains like millet, indicating that multiple factors influence their food selection.
Specific Cultivated Crop Recommendations
Millet is consistently one of the best grains to plant, with different varieties offering flexibility for various planting schedules. Browntop millet is particularly useful because of its short maturation time, allowing for successful planting as late as mid-summer to ensure seed availability for early fall feeding. Proso millet and dove proso millet are also highly preferred, often ranking as the first and second most-preferred foods in controlled studies.
Sunflowers are another highly effective choice, with their large seeds being a strong attractant for doves. Dwarf or oilseed sunflower varieties are frequently recommended as they produce a high quantity of desirable seeds. Planting sunflowers approximately 100 days before the anticipated feeding season allows for the necessary maturation and seed development.
Other small grains are also important components of a dove food plot, offering diverse options and varying planting times. Wheat, which is typically planted in the fall, matures and can be left standing until late summer for manipulation. Grain sorghum, often called milo, provides a large amount of energy and holds its seed well until manipulated. Corn is highly attractive and energy-dense, but it is expensive to grow due to high fertilization requirements. It must also be managed for accessibility as the seed is large and protected by the husk.
Planting and Management Strategies for Accessibility
The most important factor in a food plot is ensuring the seed is accessible to doves. They are obligate ground feeders that avoid feeding in thick vegetation or heavy thatch. Simply planting a crop is insufficient; a bare-ground environment must be created for the doves to land and forage safely. This accessibility is achieved through specific manipulation of the standing crop, timed to coincide with the birds’ arrival.
Planting techniques should aim for a successful harvest that can be easily knocked down. Broadcasting or shallow drilling is often preferred, particularly for small seeds like millet, which can be buried too deep if planted conventionally. If planting in rows, leaving bare ground between the rows can provide immediate access to fallen seeds from the standing plants.
Management techniques applied just before the feeding season are necessary to shatter the seed heads and expose the grain on the ground. Mowing or shredding the standing crop is a common practice, but a thick layer of resulting litter must be avoided, sometimes requiring the raking of debris. Alternatively, light disking or tilling can be used to break up the soil and plant material, scattering the seeds on the exposed ground.
Burning a mature crop, such as wheat or millet, is an effective way to remove the vegetative matter and scatter the charred, yet still viable, seed on the bare soil. It is important to complete any manipulation practices, whether mowing, burning, or disking, at least two weeks before the expected feeding period to allow doves time to find and begin using the field regularly.
Encouraging Natural and Volunteer Forage
Beyond cultivated crops, many common plants that grow naturally or are considered weeds provide excellent food for doves. These volunteer plants can be managed passively, reducing the need for extensive cultivation and planting. By controlling rather than eliminating these species, a landowner can maintain a diverse food supply.
Plants like ragweed, foxtail, and pigweed produce seeds that are highly favored by mourning doves. Certain native legumes and crotons, sometimes called doveweeds, are also important components of the natural diet. Managing these areas often involves strip disking or light disturbance of fallow fields, which encourages the growth of these desirable annuals by exposing the soil and stimulating seed germination.
Delaying the preparation for the next season’s crop can also allow volunteer plants to mature and drop seed, offering forage during the late summer and early fall. This passive management approach utilizes the existing seed bank in the soil, providing a low-cost, natural food plot that is highly attractive to foraging doves.