i dove hunt where i deer hunt. iam covered up in dove, but i dont want to go out and blast away if it will spook my deer away. i have a couple of 140s and 150s. venision fills me up more then those dove breasts do.

Not really. Rest it a few days if you like.

Heck, guys blast pigs away at feeders and then no one wants to hunt there the next morning. Guess what shows up on the cam the next morning?? Biggest buck of the season.

No, don't bother them a bit. Got a feeder about 300 yards from one of my dove fields and see deer every year eating under it while guys are blasting away and hollering in the field.

Back in 2002, I believe it was, when I was attending SHSU there was a picture in the local paper of about 10 bucks swimming across the Trinity River to escape dove hunters in a nearby field. A couple that happened to be fishing at the time saw the bucks and snapped the picture. The smallest one was indeed small but 3 or 4 of them went well over 140" with the largest being somewhere in the 160" range. I'm sure it doesn't always bother them but this one time it may have cost those guys the buck of a lifetime.

I haven't been able to locate the picture but Stubbs Feed there in Trinity had a copy of it the last time I checked.

I have had the same experience as above on two different leases with deer on camera at the feeders while we were blasting away at dove. One of them was close to the biggest deer we ever caught on camera. I guess it all depends on the place though. Ours always had human activity on it so they were used to it.

My ranch is pretty thick and my doves fields are on the edge of the ranch. I keep it pretty quite 3 weeks before season starts and feed pretty heavy at that time. It may very well depend on the ranch though..

depends on how big the place.

i dove hunt in our pivot field and have had deer walk right thru the middle of the field while we were blasting away.

i would't hunt right next to my blind or anything though

hey i really appreciate the feedback.iam going to plan on dove hunting the first two weeks then giving it a break

We have an 800 acre wheat field on one place, I have seen deer shot in one corner and the other corner the deer never move, or barely look up and continue to graze

Many times over the years I have had a kid shoot a deer under a feeder and within 10 or 15 minutes had another buck at the feeder for another kid to shoot even as the other deer lay nearby. Deer adapt to their surroundings.

I've had doe walk right up on me while I was shooting. I've never seen it phase them a bit. In fact, they seem rather curious at what all the commotion is about.

I've also had a rutting buck push a doe down the bank not 20 yards behind me while picking up decoys. We were out there splashing around after a fair bit of shooting. I looked up and jaw droped, asked my brother if he'd ever seen a buck so bold.

i had a kid shoot at a deer 3 times in 45 min before he killed it on the 4th shot

No. In fact if you set yourself up a noisy water fountain, you'll have all the wildlife you can stand in about ten minutes.

Just know that having deer addicted to corn like crack ain't huntin!!!!!!!!!!!!

Won't create a problem at all

We have gone deer hunting in the morning and then dove/rabbit hunted in the break between and then headed back to the stands for the evening hunt and seen tons of deer. In fact I shot my first deer wearing a dove suit because I didn't have time to change!!!

Am I wrong in thinking that it is illegal to hunt doves nearby a deer feeder? I have been told by the GW in my area that if you are within 500 yards (I think) of a feeder that is running then you are "baiting" migratory game birds even though the corn is intended for deer. Would love to know the truth on the matter because I have been debating filling my feeders before dove season or not. According to his rule if I fill them I will have a very small area to hunt on my place.

There is a law on how close you can hunt to feed/feeders but for the most part it is over looked by the GW's because it is difficult for some people to get far enough away on their property to be able to hunt doves. The deer leases and dove hunting for the most part go hand in hand.

Technically, it probably won't hurt anything. But, I kind of go overboard on stuff like that so I wouldn't hunt dove, sight in guns or anything like that within a few months of deer or turkey season.

I don't do it.

I don't like putting any extra pressure on them. I do everything I can to keep them around and not let them know I am there.

If I have a particular deer I'm hunting on camera, I get even more cautious about what I do that could make them not want to come to my area.

Sure you could kill a deer after dove hunting all afternoon, while smoking a cigarette, pissing out of your blind and after dropping a duece under the feeder, but why chance it?

Baiting (the following baiting rules have been established by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service):
A hunter MAY hunt any migratory game bird:
over standing crops, standing flooded crops, and flooded harvested crops
at any time over natural vegetation that has been manipulated
where seeds or grains have been scattered as a result of normal agricultural planting, harvesting, or post-harvest manipulation
over crops or natural vegetation where grain has been inadvertently scattered as a result of entering or leaving the field, placing decoys, or retrieving downed birds
using natural vegetation or crops to conceal a blind, provided that if crops are used, no grain or other feed is exposed, deposited, distributed, or scattered in the process
except water fowl and cranes where grain or other feed has been distributed or scattered as the result of the manipulation of a crop or livestock feeding
A hunter MAY NOT:
hunt migratory birds with the aid of bait, or on or over any baited area
hunt over any baited area until 10 days after all baiting materials have been removed
hunt waterfowl or cranes over manipulated planted millet, unless the millet was planted more than one year prior to hunting
hunt waterfowl or cranes over crops that have been manipulated, unless the manipulation is a normal agricultural planting, harvesting, or post-harvest manipulation

I can't find the exact distance you are able to hunt from a feeder as far as doves are concerned. This was on the TPWD website, but like I said, I couldn't find a distance.

There is no set distance. Just have to ensure it is not helping your hunt.

Even if it did, how could you pass up the dove hunting?

We limit dove hunting to the first weekend and we only hunt in one location on our property, at the tank, which most of our blinds are a fair distance from. Our place isnt very big, so we try to keep our deer fat and happy so they dont see any reason to roam to the neighbors for any reason so shooting is kept to a minimum. You never know when he will walk across the road/fence and see a cute doe and never come back.

matt