doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Somewhat OT Eurasian collared doves

I live in SW Utah and we have increasing numbers of the Eurasian Collared doves. We see some that are nearly all white, fairly frequently. Is this a normal variation? In Utah and Arizona they can be hunted all year, no limit and no license required. The problem here seems to be finding them away from houses, where shooting is allowed. What's your experience(s)?
TIA

I'd say they are continuing to expand/increase in most of the parts of Texas I'm familiar with. Here also, they seem to occupy a not-quite-wild niche and are much more common around human settlement; towns, feed lots, grain elevators, etc. Virtually all of the collared doves in my town are "pale tan" in coloration, but I've heard mention of the very pale ones.
If it turns out that they don't supress numbers of our native doves and pigeons, I kind of like 'em.

Jim, we've had them in Georgia in noticeable numbers for at least 20 years. Back in the '90s they moved into the downtown area of the city where I live and began colonial roosting in the beautification trees we had planted along the streets. At dusk, you can see droves and droves of them coming from all directions to roost downtown. The best thing about the collared doves is that they completely drove the Courthouse pigeons out of town.

We have the same rules as you do about shooting them; that is they are 'bonus' birds and not part of the mourning dove limit. They are pretty tasty...Geo

I kind of like 'em, too. They taste much the same as regular mourning doves to me. All the ones I've seen and shot around heah are pale grey.

I think the regulations in most states say you can shoot all you want DURING dove season, not year round. They definitely are a "town" bird.
JR

Hello All

In Texas, the Eurasian Collared dove has been documented in 134 of the 254 Counties in the State, including Dallam, Deaf Smith, Hansford, Oldham, Parmer, Potter, Randall, Sherman, and Swisher counties. Currently, regulations concerning the Eurasian Collared dove are the same as for feral pigeons or Rock Doves. A hunting license is required, but there is no closed season or bag limit; however, local restrictions concerning discharge of a firearm do apply.

Enjoy the day
Mike

The Collared doves I have seen are pale grey.

I've been told that all the Collared Doves we have are the result of the white ones they release at weddings and football games. I see the white ones in pet stores sometimes.

After a few generations in the 'wild', they revert to what must be the original color phase. The biological niche they fill seems to compete with the Rock Doves (Courthouse Pigeons), and not with the native Mourning Doves...Geo

Hello All
More info

The first Eurasian Collared Doves in the Americas were brought to Nassau in the Bahamas from the Netherlands in the early 1970's a replacement for Ringed Turtle Doves (S. risoria). As always happens some escaped captivity in 1974 and quickly spread throughout most of the Islands. From there, doves immigrated from Florida in the late 1970's or early 1980's. The ensuing population explosion and expansion westward brought Eurasian Collared Doves Texas in the mid-1990's. At first, the expansion went unnoticed, due to the Collared Dove's similarity to the Ringed Turtle Dove. Today, however, the Eurasian Collared Dove occurs in several states within the U.S. as far North as Wisconsin and extends into Canada. This dove can even be found above the Arctic Circle.

Shoot well, my friend
Mike

We hunt a spot on the Rio Grande outside Brownsville where you can wind up with 5 different types of doves and pigeons in the bag: collareds, whitewings, whitetips, mourning doves, and barn pigeons! I'm amazingly consistent on all of them, about 7 shells per bird...