Went to several public fields located in an area. All the fields had been cut, and three of the four disc’ed. it was either black dirt with a small amount of weeds growing, or the bottom 8-10” of cut corn stalks. Probably saw 20 dove total in 4 different fields from dawn to 11 am.
1- if they cut the fields within a week of opening, will they replant anything for the rest of the season?
2- is it pointless to hunt over dirt and cut fields (cut for over 2-3 weeks)?
3- if not a waste of time, what triggers migration/movement? Cold fronts?
4- what do you look for to set up at a certain spot in the field? I guess they take off and land into the wind like ducks?
5- why where there only 5-6 people hunting total all the fields? Was there a specific reason weather wise to stay home today?

Any tips would be appreciated. First dove hunt ever today, came home empty handed. Beautiful day and much cooler so it was well worth it. Would like to have some success.

What's local?

Typically once those fields have been hunted a few times they aren't good anymore. Plus seed gets eaten so they go to higher quantity food.sources where they won't get shot at. A migration happens during the fronts. October can be great but you better be there the day they fly down.

when hunting grain fields usually its better if field was combined nearer to hunting season. the longer ago it was done the less there will be there to feed on and may limit activity. rain came earlier this year and then stuff dried out fast. so probably a lot of this stuff was combined early. I'm central tx and that was the case on a lot of stuff there. dove may still move in these areas they fly tree lines and edges of fields and such. they may find more to eat out there than what you see. if the birds weren't really moving then possibly hunters just didn't get out much. i don't get to go a lot so i tend to go when i can if they seem like they are moving or not. others though if they aren't seeing activity then they won't go. cold front activity will push more birds farther south. so a front might move more birds into your area from further north, and whatever was there further south.

I'd think grain crops are done for this year. oats or wheat maybe being planted. probably shouldn't hunt on newly planted fields as game warden make take exception to that. I've heard that you can hunt over basically anything that falls under "typically accepted agricultural practices" not really an issue to hunt over the grain as long as the grain was there as a result of a typical agricultural activity. which planting would be. but I've heard they prefer to see that the grain has been there long enough to sprout...just something I've heard from one warden.

right now its dry. water sources might make more reliable hunting than food sources. either that or natural food sources as the agricultural sources were probably cut longer ago. that and jsut natural flyways. they will naturally follow tree lines/creek ways/etc.

Okay, here you go.

Dove will roost on the same places each night. If you hunt where they roost they will leave. Leave the roost area alone.

Seeds and grain are what they feed on daily. Posting up in a food source before the birds start arriving is the most common way to dove hunt.

Dove regularly go to water after feeding. In dry times like this year dove will often concentrate on food sources in close proximity to water. Hunting pressure will move them. In dry times like now a small tank can be a dynamite location mid morning or afternoon.

Dove pick up grit for their gizzard daily. Frequently they will establish a routine where they pick up grit mid day or just before going to roost in the same places. Finding bare ground where a lot of birds are picking up grit can at times produce fast shooting for short periods.

The number one thing to look for when sizing up a potential area to hunt is a good concentration of birds. When you find a good concentration of birds, hang back and watch. If you can identify the points of ingress and egress as well as establishing the lines the birds are flying you can tip the odds of being in the right location in your favor.