Dialing in doves

Knowledge and a few simple tricks put more birds in your bag

The September dove opener traditionally marks the unofficial beginning of fall and kicks off another season for outdoors adventures.

“The most recent dove season statistics showed the Mississippi harvest was about 1.2 million birds,” reported Rick Hamrick, the Small Game Program Coordinator for the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries & Parks. “That’s about average for the past few seasons. Dove populations have appeared mostly stable in recent years.”

Even with millions of birds in Mississippi, sportsmen still need to find them. That requires significant scouting before and during the season. To survive, doves require four main elements — food, cover from predators, water and grit for digestion. Find these essentials to find doves. However, a field covered with birds today might not hold one tomorrow.

“When I go hunting, the first thing I do is scout around looking for birds,” said Mike Morgan, a dove hunter from Florence. “I watch to see if they are flying in any particular way or direction. When I find birds, I set up on a tree or a fence line with my back to the sun, one of the best camouflages around.”

Dove menu

About 99 percent of a dove’s daily diet consists of small seeds. With ravenous metabolic rates, the birds might consume their weight in seeds each day. They eat cultivated grain such as corn, millet, wheat, sunflowers, sorghum, even peanuts, but thrive on small native grass or weed seeds and herbs. Sometimes, they eat berries or maybe even something like snails for calcium.

“Quality dove hunting depends on many factors that can change over time,” said Houston Havens, a MDWFP game biologist. “Most regions of the state can experience quality dove hunting at times. In general, areas with a large proportion of harvested agricultural grain crops in early fall tend to be some of the better places for dove hunting.”

Normally, doves feed at first light and again later in the afternoon. The diminutive speedsters prefer bare dirt at ground level so they can easily walk around to get seeds, but with leafy canopies hiding them from hawks and other raptors. Ever mindful of predators, doves commonly perch in high places before landing on the ground to watch for anything that might eat them. Natural perching places make great places to put dove decoys.

Some decoys clip to fence wire or branches. Some mechanical decoys use small motors to spin the “wings,” creating a strobe effect that mimics flapping. Most spinners come with poles that elevate the decoy off the ground so it resembles a bird landing. Some poles spread out like a tree so sportsmen can add static doves to it. Gregarious, sharp-eyed doves can spot that flash from long distances and might fly over to join their relatives.

“Anything moving will attract attention,” Morgan said. “The motion of the wings turning attracts doves looking for a place to land. Doves prefer to gather in groups because there’s safety in numbers. If they see birds moving in one area, they figure that’s a safe place to go.”

When hunting a fence or tree line, attach several decoys to the top fence wire or in prominent branches where birds can spot them from a distance. Place the decoys about 20 yards off to the side from the hunters. Some people intertwine the spinner stake into the wire so it simulates a bird landing on the fence.

Decoy them in

Place a motion decoy or two about 20 to 25 yards out in the field facing into the wind because that’s how birds land. While the flash gets their attention, birds might need more deception to make them fly closer. Add a few static decoys around the spinner to give birds more confidence. Feeding doves typically gather in a circle to watch for danger coming from any direction.

“If I’m sitting on a fence or tree line, I like to scatter a few decoys up and down the line,” Morgan said. “Then, I add about a dozen static decoys around the spinning wing decoy in about a 10- to 15-yard circle like doves feeding.”

Many sportsmen place spinning-wing decoys directly in front of them. However, birds heading toward the spinner could detect people hiding beyond it and flare out of range. Instead, force doves to focus their attention elsewhere by placing spinning-wing decoys off to one or either side where they present the best shots at the optimum range.

“I put a spinning decoy where I want to shoot birds,” Morgan said. “I’m left-handed so I shoot better on a right-to-left shot. I’ll put a spinning-wing decoy at a 45-degree angle about 20 to 25 yards to my left so the birds must fly right in front of me to get to that decoy.”

After feeding, doves rest and digest in the middle of the day. While “nooning,” they frequently perch in tall trees, on electrical wires or other places that give them superb vantage points for spotting danger. To provide perches for doves, some people install mock powerlines on their properties and place dove decoys on the high wires with fishing tackle. ALERT: NEVER TRY THIS WITH LIVE ELECTRICAL WIRES! There’s no exception to be made here. Ever!

Tie static decoys to fishing line and cast them over a line that you’ve put up. Reel up the slack so the decoy resembles a dove sitting on the wire. Sportsmen can also use fishing tackle to place decoys over high tree limbs. Any slight breeze might move the decoys a bit, making them appear alive. When doves see what looks like their cousins perching, they come join them. To complete the illusion, place a few decoys on the ground to simulate feeding doves. 

In the afternoon, doves grow hungry again and return to their feeding fields. After eating, they habitually “dust” in grit piles, gravel or sandy spots. They swallow tiny pebbles or other hard objects to help break up tough seeds.

Time for a drink

After gritting, birds must drink water. Small birds don’t require a massive reservoir like Ross Barnett. Just a puddle in a tire rut could suffice. Small streams, potholes and ponds with sandy or gravel shorelines where birds can drink and swallow grit in the same place make exceptional spots to hunt doves, especially in late afternoon.

As always, even the thirstiest dove seldom flies directly to the ground. First, it will perch in a tree or other high spot to watch for danger before dropping to the ground. Bushes or trees growing near a pond or other placid water source make outstanding spots to place decoys during afternoon hunts. Clip a few decoys to bare limbs overlooking a waterhole where birds can easily see them. Add a few static decoys on the dirt close to the water to simulate birds dusting or drinking. Stick a spinner on the shoreline and hide in natural cover.

Most Mississippi sportsmen only hunt doves during opening weekend in September season or just the first split. When other game seasons open, they forget about doves, but Magnolia State seasons run into late January so dove hunters experience far less pressure later in the season. Also, as the weather turns cooler, fewer annoying insects bother people. And it is not so hot.

“Most dove hunting is during the first two weeks of the season,” Hamrick said. “Similar to waterfowl, abundance of migratory gamebirds can be very dependent on migration status. Many doves harvested in the early season are produced locally. For other migratory birds, weather conditions during the hunting season can have a significant effect on migration timing and intensity at any given point in time.”

The best hunting often occurs after a cold front pushes northern birds southward, replenishing diminished local populations. For late season hunting, scouting becomes more crucial as food sources dry up. Find the food, find the doves.

For people too impatient to wait, jumping doves can provide adrenaline-pumping excitement, particularly on public lands during late season when birds become shy and seek more cover. Almost like quail hunting, walk along field edges, tree lines or through brushy savannas to flush birds. When taking off, a mourning dove’s long elliptical wings make a distinctive, unforgettable whistling clatter, instantly alerting experienced hunters to their presence.

Besides mourning doves, Mississippi sportsmen can also shoot white-winged and Eurasian collared doves during the normal season. White-wings count in the daily bag limit, but exotic collared doves do not, giving sportsmen opportunities to bag bonus birds. It’s critical to know the difference.

Many people hunt doves on private fields. The state also leases some private fields for public hunting. Some of the best hunting occurs in the Mississippi Delta region. Sportsmen without access to private land might hunt such wildlife management areas as Black Prairie near Brooksville, Howard Miller near Rolling Fork, Muscadine Farms near Greenville or William C. “Billy” Deviney near Indianola. Regulations on public properties might differ, so check before hunting anywhere.

Dove season creates a fantastic opportunity to introduce young hunters to the sport. Youngsters don’t need to sit still and quiet in a tree all day and typically see more action. In the right place, dove hunters can burn through ammunition boxes in a short time!

Faster than a speeding bullet

Extremely swift and agile fliers, doves can exceed 55 miles per hour, but appear to go much faster with what seems like an uncanny ability to predict where shots will go and avoid them.

The best way to hit these extremely challenging game birds? You don’t have to be Superman. Bring them in close and use the biggest shot pattern possible. A load of Number 7.5 or 8 shot fired from a shotgun with modified or improved cylinder choke does the trick. Doves might go down with only one pellet hitting the right place, but putting that pellet there can sometimes embarrass even the best wing shots.

A dove traveling 50 miles per hour will cover about 73 feet in one second. High-speed shot might take about a tenth of a second to go 40 yards, so shooters need to lead doves accordingly. For closer shots and slower targets, decrease the lead. At long distances, increase the lead. Experience is the best teacher.

Before firing at live doves, spend some time on a range busting clay targets. Nothing helps wing shooting abilities like intense practice. Try shooting targets flying in different directions at various speeds until the process of shouldering the weapon and pointing it toward the target just becomes instinctive.