Dove Hunting 101

Nothing says it’s time to begin hunting season like a good dove shoot. When the birds and the lead are flying, there’s nothing quite like it.

Apparently, lots of folks agree with those statements. Mourning doves are the most-hunted, most-harvested gamebirds in North America. In fact, more doves are harvested than all other migratory birds combined—an estimated 41.3 million annually from an estimated fall population of 475 million birds. Surveys indicate mourning doves provide 9.5 million days of hunting recreation for 1.9 million people each year.

Although dove hunting is one of the simplest forms of recreation available to wingshooters, getting starting can seem complicated for beginners. It shouldn’t be. Besides your hunting license and HIP permit, all you really need to enjoy this great sport is a shotgun, some shotgun shells and a place to hunt. The following guide to dove hunting basics is sure to help as well.

Guns and Loads

When selecting a dove-hunting shotgun, you can go as plain or fancy as your budget allows. A good all-round choice is a 20-, 16- or 12-gauge autoloader with screw-in choke tubes. Pumps, double-barrels and over-and-unders work fine, but because doves are fast and difficult to hit, many hunters prefer autoloaders, which allow three quick shots before a bird gets out of range. Always remember, however, that repeating shotguns must be limited to holding only three shells (“plugged”) while dove hunting. Federal regulations require it. (Be sure you understand all dove-specific hunting regulations, particularly baiting laws, to avoid unintentional violations.)

Stick to smaller shot sizes—7-1/2, 8 or 9. It takes only a few small pellets to down a dove, and smaller shot sizes offer more pellets per charge. For instance, an ounce of No. 8 shot has 186 more pellets than an ounce of No. 6.

Perhaps the best all-round shotshell is a 1- or 1-1/8-ounce load of 7-1/2s, 8s or 9s. Heavier loads allow somewhat longer shots, but you may go through several boxes of shotshells during a single hunt. Your accuracy could suffer if you start flinching due to a sore shoulder.

Consider spending a little extra for target loads such as those used by skeet and trap shooters. These tend to be manufactured to more stringent standards, and that edge may improve your shooting percentage.

Concealment

Doves use keen eyes from high vantage points to spot hunters. To help even the playing field, hunters must be proper concealed. Wear camo clothing matching your surroundings. Try to blend into features of the landscape—patches of standing grain missed during harvest, tree-line edges, etc. Consider fashioning a blind from corn stalks, brush or other local materials. Camo tape or finish on your shotgun helps hide gun movements. Camo grease paint or a mask hides the shine on your face.

Decoys


Several dove decoys placed near your stand can entice birds to fly by at close range. You can purchase decoys—shell, full-body and even robo-dove decoys—from sporting-goods businesses, or create silhouettes from cardboard.

Place several decoys on open ground and several on nearby fences or dead trees. Fence decoys should be about a foot apart on the top strand of wire. Tree decoys should be placed as high as possible, back from the tips of limber branches. Face all decoys into the wind; doves take off and land into the wind.

Understanding Doves

Understanding mourning dove habits will assist you in pinpointing game.

Know first that doves are seed-eaters. They feed on sunflowers, corn, wheat, oats, millet and other grain crops, plus many weed seeds, from foxtail to croton. They prefer eating on bare ground because their legs aren’t strong enough to scratch through litter or long enough to clear many hurdles.

Doves usually fly from their night roost to a watering hole shortly after dawn, then quickly move to feeding areas where they stay until midday. They loaf at perching, watering or graveling sites near the feeding area for an hour or two around noon, then return to the feeding area for the remainder of the afternoon. Before going to roost, they usually go to water again.

Hunting by Permission


Many good hunting areas found while scouting are on private lands. Knocking on the landowner’s door and asking permission to hunt each time you visit is common courtesy. But this doesn’t gurantee access. Sometimes the landowner reserves hunting privileges for family and friends. Some simply won’t let anyone hunt, fearful of liabilities or bad seeds who cause problems. It’s been my experience, though, that many landowners will grant hunting permission, even on posted land, if you take time to get acquainted well before hunting season and show you’re different from the scores of other folks who knock each year to ask the same favor.

The true sportsman is a real friend to the landowner. In some cases, your contribution might be just a willingness to visit a while. Or it may be something more concrete, like helping build a new fence or offering to pay for hunting privileges.

Pick up spent shells and litter. Hunt only where the landowner wants you to, keeping safely away from his house, barn and livestock, and respecting his crops. Don’t stretch or break fences you cross. Latch gates securely when you pass through. Leave everything as you found it, or better. Let landowners know you appreciate their generosity by sharing your game, sending a thank-you note and always letting good manners show.
If you want private landowners to be your friends, try being a friend to them.

Public Lands Hunting

Personnel at state wildlife agencies can provide information on public lands open to dove hunters, and details about specific tracts planted with grain crops attractive to doves.

On public areas where dove fields aren’t planted, you still can find doves. Here again, scouting is the key to success.

Look for open areas where doves are feeding, but also look for other things that attract doves. For instance, many public hunting areas provide good roosting cover for doves, although there may be little dove food available. Doves may feed in adjacent private fields, then enter the public land to roost. Scout in late afternoon, and you can often find a flight lane leading into a public area or across a portion of it where you can intercept birds. Ponds and streams with open banks may provide shooting for doves coming to water. Weed fields or food plots may draw small numbers of feeding birds. Pre-hunt scouting can lead to many such areas other hunters overlook.

Paid Shoots

If you have no time for scouting, or want to treat friends or clients to a good hunt, a paid hunt on private land may be the way to go. Scanning classified ads during the weeks prior to the season opener will turn up such areas if they’re available. You’re almost guaranteed a limit of birds (if you’re a good shot) because these areas are intensively managed specifically for mourning doves.

There are downsides to this kind of hunting, however. You may be hunting a field with numerous hunters you don’t know, and on some paid hunts, I’ve been peppered with shot on more than one occasion. This makes me nervous, though I’ve never truly felt endangered. It’s something to consider, though.

Shooting

Regardless of when or where you hunt doves, remember these tips for success.


First, pick a good stand and allow doves to come within 25 to 35 yards before shooting. At this range, you’ll probably shoot more accurately, and use fewer shells. And you can use lighter loads with adequate killing power without bruising your shoulder and flinching.

Remain motionless until an incoming dove is within your practiced shooting range. Doves will spook as soon as they spot you, but if your timing is right, you’ll manage one or two shots before they zip out of range.

When shooting, shoulder your gun quickly, keep your head on the stock, swing through the dove, pull the trigger and follow through with the shotgun swing in one smooth, continuous movement. Practice makes perfect. Visit a shooting range as often as possible to hone your skills.

Finally, always take more shotshells than you think you’ll need. Even when you’re certain you’re Deadeye Dick, doves can prove you wrong. Studies indicate dove hunters average about three birds bagged per 25 shots.

Go Get ‘Em!

Now that you’ve completed Dove Hunting 101, it’s time to get in the field and start scouting. Employ the tips and tactics you’ve learned here, and you’re sure to enjoy the exciting, fast-paced wingshooting provided by America’s favorite game birds.

Good hunting!

Tomorrow: Scouting Tips For Dove Hunters