I have already started feeding out of a deer feeder at my mom and dads place. The place isn’t very big and depending on where you stand are never more than 350 yards or so from the feeder. The stock tank we set up on to hunt dove is roughly 200 yards from the deer feeder. The feeder does not get much attention from the dove as most of our birds are white wings flying in a flyway farther out to grain crops. My question is is there any set rules about how far away you have to be from a running feeder? Would it be best to just let the feeder run out of corn for the few weeks we’ll be shooting dove?

I'd let it run out 10 days in advance. The actual rules are FAIRLY STRICT.

Just to clarify I am not trying to bait the dove in to shoot there are always plenty of birds without the aid of baiting. I’m just trying to avoid a ticket should the game warden show up. Like I said we set up on a stock tanks that’s roughly 200 yards from the feeder and most of the time we have our backs facing the feeder. I would like to keep feeding the deer that are coming already but would much rather avoid a ticket if this set up is considered baiting or hunting over a baited field.

I believe that if you are hunting doves that are coming to water (stock tank) and your feeder is 200 yards away then you should be good to hunt the stock tank. If a game warden thinks that the deer feeder is definitely attracting doves where you would be hunting then you better not hunt there. The bait (corn) would have to be gone for at least 10 days for you could hunt an area which had been previously baited.

https://texashuntingforum.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/7243923/baiting-question#Post7243923

Old thread talking about this.

It's up to GW discretion. I went through this with my GW a few years ago. I have a feeder about 175 yards from one of my dove fields. He told me as long as hunters stayed in the field and didn't hunt around the feeder that all was good...for him.

This ^^^^^^^^^^ I asked mine about it and he said it was best if he looked at it first since my feeders were scattered all over my place. Flyway was the critical part. Worst case was to turn the feeder off a week or so before dove season.

As long as you’re not shooting birds too close to the feeder (hunting on the feeder) you will be ok. I have a feeder about 75 yrds from a big tank that we shoot dove and teal at, and another 150 yrds from it but there is thick brush in between where we sit and the feeders. You can’t see them and we don’t shoot birds off of them. We shoot the birds coming to water.

I talked to the warden for Archer County about this last week. He said as long as they are definitely not flying to or from the feeder you are ok. It is at their discretion.

I feed dove behind the house and shoot them when they land on the fence. Never have to get off the patio until it's time to pick up birds. Most I got in one day was 32 using the Diana Model 48 pellet rifle.

Yes and no IMO. Laws on baiting center on anything that doesn't include "normal agricultural operations/practices" as being illegal. That means that so long as there is evidence such practices are being followed, there is no foul. I once noticed guys shooting doves over a longstanding feed trough where the day before the doves were lined up on a nearby telephone/power line. With cows being in the field at the time it was completely legal. My best dove hunt ever was on a soybean field that had been harvested a week or two earlier. Leftover beans and flying doves were everywhere. If you're riding the coat tail of an effort to grow and harvest a crop or routinely feed or water livestock then there shouldn't be a problem.

I put duct tape on the bottom so corn couldn't drop onto spinner a couple of days before opener. Hogs cleaned up. Before I headed home I just pulled the tape off. This was never tested by Game Warden but I felt a lot better about it while I was hunting.

Last year my cousin was discing a field, his son was hunting on the edge. Game warden stopped and talked to him, said he ticket him for driving birds to shooter.

You nut...

We just net them suckers. Then club them when we got a good group. But then we learned that clubbing them was frowned on by the GW, so now we just shoot them in the net. Gotta keep the warden happy.

I would have enjoyed the chance to challenge the officer in front of a judge to explain why disking a field is somehow not a normal agricultural practice.

Especially since the birds fly in all directions...not like he was herding them...

When I plowed they typically just flew a short distance and landed back in the same field

Flowers went fishing at Canyon Lake. Pablo tagged along for the heck of it. Pablo no outdoorsy, but always likes to chill and drink plenty of beer. Without a plug in the water, Flowers needed to relieve hisself and asked Pablo to hold his rod. With people nearby, Flowers sought some privacy. Out of nowhere a GW emerged and requested the presentation of Pablo's fishing license. Having none and despite his protestations and Flowers eventual unsuccessful help, the GW wrote the ticket.

To say the least, Pablo was a little peeved and no way in heck was he gonna pay no ticket. 82 year old JP Fred Stewart was the presiding court. He noted Pablo's ticket and wanted to know why he was there. Pablo replied, Well you see Judge Stewart, there I was at the park holding a fishing rod" when Judge Stewart cut him off, said, "Well, there's nothing else to hear.", announced the fine and lowered the gavel.

You would likely lose that battle.
"It is unlawful to use motor-driven land, water or air conveyances or sailboats to concentrate, drive, rally or stir up any migratory game bird."
In that situation, the GW obviously determined that the son was taking advantage of the fact his dad was stirring up birds on his tractor. Anything to the contrary would probably be a tough sell to a judge.

Long time ago GW as long as you are not hunting within X yards (forgot how many yards) and in the flyway to the feeder your okay

When you are on a small property that makes it challenging to say the least.

The law is really quite clear in that when normal agricultural practices are being followed, there is no foul.

Many years ago I was on a dove hunt where everyone in the group was fined for hunting a baited field. I was hunting on the invitation of a friend and didn't know the landowner or how he had prepared the field. The Federal officer was very courteous and clear in his description of why were being fined. The landowner had disked the field and scattered seed but did not come back and hit the field again with a disk to cover them. The officer was clear in that if there had been a noticeable effort to cover the seed, as would be the case in planting a cover crop, there would have been no foul. It would have been no different than when I once hunted a soybean field that had been harvested just a week or two earlier. The fact that leftover soybeans were attracting birds had no bearing. The field had been harvested and the crop collected as a normal practice.

It's my understanding that disking is a common practice in weed control. If a landowner is disking for that or any other agricultural reason, it has no being on nearby hunting activities.

Reminds me-
The boat was at the dock in front of the house after I returned from fishing.The wife wanted to take the boat out and read a book and catch some sun. She took off and was later approached by the GW. She was asked what she was doing, she replied tanning and reading. He asked for her fishing license, and she said she didn't have one. He said she would be cited for fishing without a license. She said she was not fishing and that was BS. He said, you have all the equipment to fish, and can start at any time. She asked for his supervisors contact information, and he told her, and asked why she wanted it. She said she was going to turn him in for sexual harassment. After he told her he did not harass her, and had been very polite, she told him yessir I know that, but you have all the equipment and could do it at any time.....

I was told is also unlawful to sit on the tailgate or anywhere on a vehicle that is stationary to hunt migratory game birds. As I drive down the highway or county roads I have seen people sitting on the tailgate of a parked vehicle and hunting doves.
Here is a good explanation:

I understand and agree with that. However, that is talking about the baiting angle. The issue of using a motor driven conveyance to stir up birds is a completely separate issue which has nothing to do with baiting. I'm not saying it was the intent of the guy on the tractor, but it will likely be looked at the same way as having your buddies drive an ATV around the field to get the birds flying while you sit back and shoot them. From a legal perspective, the end result of that scenario is a person taking advantage of the fact there is someone on a motor driven conveyance stirring up birds for him. It's about the timing, not baiting.

TX Dan, you are way overthinking your abilities here. The judge is much more likely to side with the GW he routinely has to work with.