Hey, Cap, they're almost ready.....

[Big Muddy]

.
I planted a few of these Mycogen hybrid confectioner sunflowers, this year....I wish now, that I had planted more of them....they are twice the size of my Peredovic variety.

With the seed bloom caps:

7538


With the seed bloom caps removed, so you can see the seeds....hundreds of seeds!!!!

7539

[BarryBobPosthole]

Izzat what a GMO sunflower looks like? I don't see no label!

BKb

[Chicken Dinner]

That's almost unfair. Almost. It's probably been 20 years since I've been to a real good dove shoot. Man, is that fun.

[Captain]

Same here Muddy. I got rain and a lot of it just at the right time. The flowers are huge this year and FULL of seed. About late next week I'll probably start running a bush hog thought them. They need thinning you know :D I will probably have to do it over the course of several weeks, don't what the tractor to over heat you know. ;)

[Big Muddy]

Izzat what a GMO sunflower looks like? I don't see no label!

BKb

7541

[BarryBobPosthole]

You guys are master baiters.

And since doves are migratory birds, how is that legal?

Road huntin', bird baitin' sumbeeches.

BKB

[Captain]

Just is.... 7543


7544

[Thumper]

You guys are master baiters.

And since doves are migratory birds, how is that legal?

Road huntin', bird baitin' sumbeeches.

BKB

They don't migrate. They never leave the Carolinas! ;)

[Big Muddy]

.
Here's a USFWS explanation, regarding legality of sunflower manipulation for doves:


"""The regs on ducks and doves used to be the same...you couldn't manipulate any crop or natural vegetation for either.

The dove rules changed, after a California wildlife commissioner and his high falutin' buddies got smoked by the USFWS one year for spreading safflower seed on a safflower field ( it was seed several inches thick in places and seed that was stored in a shed and spread across the field later) and bush hogging a bunch of the standing crop down. Not long after that, the Federal regs were changed to allow manipulation of standing crops for hunting doves, but not the addition of additional grain once the seed was removed from the field.

So it has nothing to do with "normal ag practice" when it comes to manipulating standing crops, pertaining to dove hunting. It is not a normal practice to bushhog a crop down..but it is legal.

If you are spreading wheat or other seeds on top of the ground, it must be done as a normal ag planting practice, not a dove hunting practice. Therefore, you have to follow the prescribed ag practices as recommended by your local Cooperative Extension Service. This includes planting dates, rates and methods."""

[BarryBobPosthole]

That made me dizzy. What did it say? For doves anything goes?

BKB

[Big Muddy]

That made me dizzy. What did it say? For doves anything goes?

BKB

Yep, it is sorta confusing.....that's the reason some folks get into trouble doing it because they don't familiarize themselves with the regs....you can do just about anything with a standing crop of sunflowers, but, you can't add any additional seed to the sunflower field, unless it's done in a normal ag practice....i.e., disking and normal planting wheat in strips, within the sunflower field for wildlife foodplots....it can't be just piled on top of the ground.

About 20 years ago, I was going to prepare a jam up dove field for a church fund-raiser, after our main sanctuary had a bad electrical fire.....I charged only $50 for the entire Labor Day weekend hunt, and had a big crowd and a great hunt....ended up raising about $2,000 bucks for the church.

Anywho, to be on the safe side, I asked my local GW(an older guy, nearing retirement) to come out and inspect my field, before the hunt, to make certain that it was totally legal....there were no sunflowers, it was just a 20 acre field, correctly and legally planted in wheat with a grain drill, but the birds loved it because it had woods and water adjacent to it....he inspected it, and gave me the thumbs-up for the hunt.

On the 2nd day of the hunt, two new, young, cocky GWs(I had heard about their tactics) flagged me down on my turn-row, and said my field was illegal because all the wheat seed was not completely covered....dumbazzes didn't know sheeit about farming....they said they had heard about my hunt, and proceeded to write me a ticket for illegal baiting, and were going to write tickets to every hunter in the field, also.

I kept my composure, and asked them to radio the GW that had inspected my field, earlier....he showed up about 45 minutes later, and he motioned the two young turds over behind his truck....somewhat of an argument ensued between them, and the only thing I remember hearing clearly was, "I'll whip both of ya'lls azzes, if you don't get the h3ll outta my territory."

They got in their little green pickup, and hauled azz.... and, before leaving, the older GW said, "Ya'll have a great hunt."

[BarryBobPosthole]

Unfortunately, my experience with that particular branch of law enforcement has produced similar results. About 2/3s of them are knuckleheads.

I kind of look at that sort of thing as habitat improvement. Brush hogging it prolly goes over the lone to baiting, only in my opinion of course. Having been an avid duck hunter most of my life I tend to view things through that lens and is prolly why I think that way. My only experience with doves was as a kid shooting them off of high line wires with a 22. We usually hunted some ponds on the season opener but that was mainly in hopes of bumping into some teal.

Anyway, I have know a lot of folks, and have done it myself, that have planted wild rice and millet and other stuff around duck waters. I never understood why that wasn't baiting but it isn't. If you grown corn though, and bush hog it down, it is.

Go figure.

BKb

[Big Muddy]

......it's because most of those USFWS folks are avid duck hunters, but could give a sheeit less about doves....they'd give their momma a ticket for throwing corn-bread in the backyard, if she shot a duck over it, thru the kitchen window. ;)

[Captain]

We don't bush hog our duck corn. We turn the wheels and flood the fields with water. We just leave the corn standing. The ducks know what to do....

[Big Muddy]

Exactly right, Cap....don't let anybody tell ya that a day'um duck doesn't know how to bend over a corn stalk. ;)

[Thumper]

Bunch'a danged redneck scofflaws I tell ya'! ;)