By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has an online feature titled “How to hunt mourning dove” with lots of advice.
It’s got to be haywire, because the real way to hunt mourning doves—in my humble opinion—is to first seek counseling, then go out and buy all of the No. 7 ½ or No. 8 shotgun shells you can afford, and then buy more even if you must take out a loan. If you’re like me, you’ll use them.
Mourning doves are incredibly fast and acrobatic, and I’ve know people who claim that if you manage to clobber more than a couple of birds per box of shells, you’re doing good. Frankly, I suspect just shooting into the air with your eyes closed might be just as productive.
All kidding aside, when the season opens Sept. 1 pretty much in all states where dove hunting is allowed, hundreds of thousands, perhaps a million or more wingshooters will be in the field. They will be pursuing one of the most challenging, mystifying and frustrating migratory gamebirds on the planet.
According to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the mourning dove is the “most hunted migratory game bird in North America.”
I’ll hardly dispute USFWS about that claim, as I’ve known dove openers in the West to bring armies of shotgunners to the grain fields where it sometimes seems like there are a million birds in the air. When I was a young teenager reading every issue of the old Outdoor Life each month, I read a great dove hunting story from a guy here in my home state of Washington. It grabbed me and held on, and I could hardly wait until the chance to hunt doves materialized.
Had I known about dove hunting then as I have learned, I would have saved my allowance and bought stock in Winchester, Remington and Federal ammunition!
True, I’ve known guys who are remarkably good dove hunters. They never miss the Sept. 1 opener, and regard the hunt as something close to a ritual. Right now, a full month ahead of opening day, my guess is that truly devoted dove hunters are already scouting “the usual places” to see how the dove population is shaping up.
One thing the Oregon DFW story did include is this: “Any shotgun will work but 12 and 20 gauge are the most popular. Most hunters prefer open chokes and use #7 1/2 or #8 lead shot, #7 or #6 in steel.”
Modified and Improved Cylinder chokes seem to dominate this game, and where shotguns are concerned, there seems to be a good following of people using 28-gauge smoothbores as well these days. Little to no felt recoil, slightly lighter weight and they swing fast, which is an absolute necessity when the shooting lights up are all traits of the 28-gauge shotgun. Only the .410 bore can beat the 28- when it comes to these attributes.
According to Wikipedia, the mourning dove can figuratively fire up its jets and reach speeds of 55 mph! Compare that to my favorite upland game bird, the grouse, which lumbers along at a relatively pitiful 20-35 mph. and it’s easy to understand why Brother Workman long ago decided the grouse gets my attention.
I’ve also hunted chukars, which can really gather speed up to 40-50 mph, and when they head downhill, as they typically will, they can pass the 60 mph bar frequently.
Pheasants can also move out in a hurry, but all of these game birds have a distinct disadvantage compared to the mourning dove: size. Coupled with the dove’s remarkable ability to dodge and weave like a boxer, the coo bird has them all beat in the challenge department.
I’ve never bothered to determine whether hunters prefer double-barrel shotguns to semi-autos or pumps for dove hunting, not that it makes much difference. Those who can consistently hit doves will hit them. Those who can’t, well, they can hunt something bigger.
One other thing I’ve observed with doves is that the first change in weather, such as a storm moving into an area, causes doves to head for friendlier conditions. For example, they can literally disappear overnight from Washington’s Columbia Basin if a late-August or early September front moves in.
So now is the time to head to the range or the gravel pit with a box of clay targets and a thrower, and hone up your shooting skills. Get set for some of the wildest, fast-paced wingshooting known to civilized man. Dove season is only a month away, and these swift-winged birds wait for nobody.
Tips from USFWS on where, how to hunt doves, from their website:
- Lands or areas where seeds or grains have been scattered solely as the result of normal agricultural operations, which include normal agricultural harvestings, normal agricultural post-harvest manipulations, or normal agricultural practices.
- Lands planted by means of top-sowing or aerial seeding where seeds have been scattered solely as the result of a normal agricultural planting, a planting for agricultural soil erosion control, or a planting for post-mining land reclamation.
- Lands or areas where grain or feed has been distributed or scattered solely as the result of the manipulation of an agricultural crop or other feed on the land where grown. Standing crops.
- Lands planted as wildlife food plots, provided the seed is planted in a manner consistent with Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service recommendations for the planting of wildlife food plots. In states without Cooperative Extension Service recommendations for the planting of food plots, the seed must be planted in accordance with Extension Service guidelines for producing a crop.
- Lands planted as pasture improvements or for the purpose of grazing livestock. (The Fish and Wildlife Service will not make a distinction between agricultural fields planted with the intent to gather a crop and those planted without such intent provided the planting is carried out in a manner consistent with the recommendations of State Extension Specialists).
- Standing or manipulated natural vegetation.
- A blind or other place of concealment camouflaged with natural vegetation.
- A blind or other place of concealment camouflaged with vegetation from agricultural crops, provided your use of such vegetation does not expose, deposit, distribute or scatter grain or other feed. You should be aware that seeds or grains from such vegetation could create a baited area.
- Over lands planted by means of top sowing or aerial seeding where seeds have been scattered solely as the result of a normal agricultural planting or a normal soil stabilization practice.
- Over manipulated grain crops, such as corn, wheat, milo, sorghum, millet, sunflower, and buckwheat.
Added advice from ODFW, from their website:
“Once you locate a feeding, watering or travel route, sit and wait for the doves to come to you. Decoys may improve your chances. You can place decoys on the ground at a feeding site, near the water’s edge at a watering site or on adjacent perches such as a fence. But you won’t attract doves that aren’t there, so scouting is still the most important thing to do.”
