Remember this: Doves are fragile.
Its Dove Season! Always a good time to stop and know your state regulations. Here are the following for our fair state, South Carolina.
- Sept. 1-Oct. 6 (Sept. 1-3 Afternoons only)
- Nov. 17-Nov 24
- Dec 21-Jan 15
Bag Limits:
Mourning Doves: 15 per day. No limit for Eurasian collared doves.
*All Hunters Please Not! The following special regulations apply to ALL Wildlife Management Area Public Dove Fields:
1. Hunters limited to 50 shells per hunt.
2. Dove hunting on all public fields is "Afternoon Only". No entry onto fields before 12:00 noon
3. No shooting after 6:00 pm during first segment of the season (Sept. 1-Oct 6).
Today I was sitting up in a pine tree in a deer stand waiting for something to come by. As I sat there I could hear the sad cooings of a mourning dove. It sounds exactly like a woman crying in sadness or pain. I was down in the forest so I concluded that their happy hunting grounds were no longer happy. The doves had taken to the sanctuary of the small area I serve to get away from the blast of gun and shell due to the farmer I previously heard combining a field of corn directly through the woods.
A couple of days earlier I had been 'renovating' a handicap capable box stand on the ground. Of course it was way to comfortable in there and I fell asleep. I awoke and a small mourning dove landed right outside of the mesh screen. It started to coo its sad little song. The understanding on the coo is more likely to be herd when males are courting females. Congregational groups also voice their opinions. Don't waste your time trying to call them like a duck. Its not happening. You also do not need to dress up like you are going to war either to hunt them.
The thing that was more disturbing to me was this little bird could have passed for one of those white, pink eyed mice you see in research experiments. In this case, it would be the obese study. The little bird could barely walk around. I would call it more of a 'waddle'. Duckish in nature, if you will.True to form just as soon as I spooked it, the bird took off in this erratic pattern.
I wasn't really out for anything that day. I had only chambered one bullet in the rifle I was carrying incase a wild hog or something else decided to play 'woods games' with me.
Truth be told, you can take several shots at them before you actually hit your mark. This would indicate your level of expertise as most people usually empty 4 to 5 shells per bird but that is depending on the shooter.
To show our bird appreciation at the aerodynamics and speed, a dove can fly up to 30 or 40 mph but can also abruptly accellerate to 60 mph with a strong tail wind. A gun shy dove will twist right out of the shooter's well placed shots and be four wingbeats out of range before you can say boo (in this case coo).
Doves live a very strange lifestyle. They get intestinal worms, viruses, cowbirds steal their eggs and leave a cowbird egg behind just for fun. Doves can carry psittacosis or a form of menigitis but safe to eat if you are following proper cooking protocols. You do not want any form of the poultry police visiting your house. Trust me.
For a peace symbol, the male dove will pluck and stab his rival just for the love of a lady dove.
If you're walking the bush and need to figure out where would be a likely spot to flush a covey the following plants might be on your 'things you should know' list to name a few:
- Bristlegrass
- Doveweed
- Ragweed
- Pokeweed
- Pigweed
- Crabgrass
- Cane
- Sorghum
- Rye
- Buckwheat
- Peanut
- Pea
- Browntop Millet
If you decide you want to get proactive and start building a habitat for your hunting foray the ideal thing to do is check with your local agriculture office and see what grows best for your location. Most farmers have already planted nice fields of wheat, corn, or soybeans but that might also be a GMO crop. You can't beat a machined picked cornfield or a sunflower field.
The habits of doves are to feed hard in the morning with a rest at midday. Around 2-4 pm they will go back to the fields, find water then roost for the evening.
A good dog is essential be it a bird dog or not. Once you shoot these little birds and they fly out, you're going to need an excellent bird dog to split the grasses to find where the dove has landed Always keep this in mind: if you shoot it make sure you collect it for the pot.
You do not want to waste a shell or a good evening's meal because you were ill prepared or couldn't find your quarrry.
Good hunting and straight shooting.
Wrtitten by: W Harley Bloodworth
~Courtesy of AOFH~
