Doves and cotton fields.

[postman]

If any greenscreeners could shed some light on these questions for me I would appreciate it. First off, I had a guy that was trying to lease me some land for dove hunting tell me "doves eat cotton seed out of harvested plowed under fields."

Question 1: Do doves eat cotton seed?
Question 2: Am I correct in thinking that the cotton seed is removed from the cotton at the gin?
Question 3: Does modern cotton harvesting equipment separate the seed from the cotton in the field and spread it back into the field like a combine does with cobs and shucks.

I've been hunting doves 50 years and have never seen them feeding in cotton fields. Thanks.

[duckboy007]

There's some serious smoke getting blown up your you-know-what.

[bigbad243]

Yes I have seen cotton fields loaded with dove. Anytime the crop is manipulated there will be seed on the ground.

[bigbad243]

I will add I have never seems then in standing cotton fields though.

[tdwinklr]

If any greenscreeners could shed some light on these questions for me I would appreciate it. First off, I had a guy that was trying to lease me some land for dove hunting tell me "doves eat cotton seed out of harvested plowed under fields."

Question 1: Do doves eat cotton seed?
Question 2: Am I correct in thinking that the cotton seed is removed from the cotton at the gin?
Question 3: Does modern cotton harvesting equipment separate the seed from the cotton in the field and spread it back into the field like a combine does with cobs and shucks.

I've been hunting doves 50 years and have never seen them feeding in cotton fields. Thanks.

I don't know if they eat any part of it or not, or just use the plants for cover but have shot several doves FROM cotton fields exclusively.

[Antlers86]

All I can say is we drove from Athens to Waco a couple days ago to look at a dove lease. We passed thousands of acres of Cotton fields being harvested. Not 1 single dove was anywhere around! Actually counted less than 10 dove from Hillsboro to Corsicana in fields and on high lines but only near water.

We did find lots and lots and lots of birds and look forward to Saturday! Oh and they weren't in Cotton fields. Lots of white wings just west of 35!

[postman]

You guys are confirming what my 50 years in dove fields already told me. What about the seeds and the cotton gin?

[Passthrough]

Seeds are removed at the gin

[Low Fence]

You guys are confirming what my 50 years in dove fields already told me. What about the seeds and the cotton gin?

I’m not a cotton farmer, but grow some from spilled feed around dairy. You have to literally tear the seed from the bulb so I doubt a combine would spill much cotton seed.

We also have dove, whistling ducks and from time to time a bunch of pigeons and I don’t see them eating it. They eat the flaked corn but not the cotton seed

They might be graveling in plowed dirt but I wouldn’t hunt cotton as a food source

[SmTx]

Good way to tear up your legs if you're wearing shorts too.

[Playa]

I live in the biggest cotton patch in the US in the area surrounding Lubbock and used to service gins from Altus, OK to Stanton, TX. Cotton seed is removed at the gin and if running a cotton stripper over defoliated plants won’t separate seed from fiber, regular plowing darn sure won’t! Furthermore I have seen piles of de-linted cotton seed that were 2 stories high, and nary a dove or pigeon pecking around it for food.

Now I have shot a bunch limits of dove in mature September cotton stands, but it was because of the irrigation water pooled up in rows or puddled near a leaky pipe, not because of cotton plants!

[postman]

thanks for confirmation

[mikeyb_23]

When I lived in Lubbock we use to limit out on doves every morning in a cotton field that had been harvested. The was also standing water there. But doves by the hundreds.

[Shane]

When I lived in Lubbock we use to limit out on doves every morning in a cotton field that had been harvested. The was also standing water there. But doves by the hundreds.

The dove were there for the water. Maybe there were some weed seeds they were eating too. But they weren't eating anything off of a cotton plant.

postman, I grew up north of Lubbock, and we farmed 1,500 acres of cotton. I killed a lot of dove, sometimes in cotton fields. I've never found 1 cotton seed in a dove's craw. They'd have to swallow a lot of lint to get to the seed.

Sounds like a sales pitch to me.

[Williams4298]

All I can say is we drove from Athens to Waco a couple days ago to look at a dove lease. We passed thousands of acres of Cotton fields being harvested. Not 1 single dove was anywhere around! Actually counted less than 10 dove from Hillsboro to Corsicana in fields and on high lines but only near water.

We did find lots and lots and lots of birds and look forward to Saturday! Oh and they weren't in Cotton fields. Lots of white wings just west of 35!

Shoulda called me I’m in frost (right between Corsicana and Hillsboro) we have quite a few birds. There all in the fields you to drive through the fields to flush them up, not a whole lot on the power lines also really depends when you came through. Come ride the cotton stripper with me and I’ll show you there ARE dove in cotton fields.

The dove do not eat the cotton as far as I know. They roost in it and use it for cover.