doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Dove Hunting 101

If you want to shoot for a high average using those expensive shells, wait till they lite. But on second thought; absolutely not, a very bad plan indeed 'cause the first rule of dove shooting is that you NEVER shoot at low birds! So try this plan instead, once you've located that field being used by hoards of wary doves, find yourself a tall dead skeleton of a tree in, or on the edge of that field. Doves gravitate to such dead trees as they have a tendancy to perch and survey the field in advance of feeding. Make yourself a good blind at that tree; and as those little grey buggers fly in to perch, they'll flare their wings and come to a near stop and BOOM! Another good plan for a stand is to find a field with a power line pole in the middle, again as they like to perch on power lines near poles and survey the field. There are also things to avoid while dove shooting; and although I haven't hunted Ontario, I suspose I'd want be wary of critters like bears and moose. Down here in Georgia, my first rule for dove shooting is to NEVER, NEVER set your dove stool down next to a yellow jacket nest; if you do, you can be guaranteed to have a bad day afield. My second rule for dove shooting is to NEVER set your dove stool atop fire ant bed; and my third rule for dove shooting is to make sure you're picking up a dove in those weeds and not a rattle snake. I've found, provided it's not too danged blistering hot, that I can always enjoy a very pleasant day in the dove field provided I observe those three very simple rules. And good luck to ya', as there's no greater sport in the wing shooting world than dove shooting, especially if you just happen to find yourself in the "hot" corner!

Double whatever lead you think is too much.....and you'll still often miss behind them. My favorite shots are the high crossers and it scares me how much forward lead is needed to connect.

I would tell you to hunt the Stock Tanks late in the Evening, but that probably won't work in Ontario.

I would tell you to hunt the Stock Tanks late in the Evening, but that probably won't work in Ontario.

James,

At $4 a shell, I admire your desire to even try it. If you could shoot lead my recommendations would be entirely different, but my advice, as regarding loads, would be to buy whatever is the cheapest in the appropriate shot size, which has already been covered well here. If 12 ga. is the cheapest, use that. 1 oz. of steel #7s should do fine, doves are not very tenacious of life. But, good patterns are important, as the birds are small.

I would agree with other decoy recommendations, and would add that, if you have the opportunity to shoot in fields with center pivot irrigation systems, climb up a tower and strap your decoys up on top of the pipeline. There is no better way to use dove decoys than that. Just be careful not to shoot the farmer's system in your excitement to get on a darting and jiving dove.

If you live in a dry environment (I know less about Ontario than you probably do about Georgia) a watering hole will be a hot spot in the late afternoon. Sounds like you may be going this alone, so the low bird cautions are not as critical for you as those of us who shoot in groups with others in a field. No different from shooting a flushing quail or pheasant.

One bit of actual shooting advice for incomers. Don't wait too long to pull the trigger. A dove coming straight over you is moving faster than he appears and if you wait until it looks perfect to shoot you will probably miss him as he will be passing you and doing all sorts of evasive maneuvers as he does. The lead will also go from nothing to several feet in just a second. Shoot him just a hair before you think he is in range and you will dump him just fine. He will have covered more of the distance between you and him than you think, in between the time it takes you to decide to shoot and the shot actually gets there. This will allow you to take a double, if the opportunity is there, before the second one gets past you.

Have fun, SRH

One good cold snap and most of them will depart. That's a problem even down here in Colorado. I hope the weather holds for you up there.

That's good to know Lloyd. The last few years we've had really nice Septembers and the season opens on the 4th. But it sounds like one needs to get at it early up here. On the plus side there is NO hunting pressure yet. So from that standpoint early or late doesn't matter much.

I wouldn't have thought there was even a single dove in Ontario. Do you know anything about their population in the area? More specifically, what area are you in and how much row-crop activity is there? I thought Ontario was nothing but lakes, rivers, and forests.
JR

John, southern Ontario is much like Ohio. Outside urban areas it is mostly rolling hill farmland. Densely populated farmland. A lot of corn gets grown. Humid in the summer, winter temps similar to Detroit, Chicago, Boston. The area I am referring to ranges between 50 and 150 miles wide and stretches 450 miles from Detroit to the Quebec border.

Imagining Ontario is all forest and lake is like imagining all of the south is swamp and bayou.

Now, go north 50 - 100 miles and you are right. There is a very clear demarcation between "the north" and "the south". The landscape usually changes radically within a 10 mile stretch as you go north or south, sometimes within 1/2 mile. There is also a line we refer to as "the snow belt". I can draw it on a map. It's about 10 miles wide and very often in the winter lots of snow north of it and none south of it.

I'm 60 miles away from Toronto, the fourth largest metro area in Canada and the USA, surpassed only by NYC, Chicago and LA. We like to portray ourselves as living in the Great White North, but from personal experience, I can tell you that North and South Dakota, Montana, Minnesota etc are typically colder and snowier than where 80% of Canadians live.

Of all the places I have been in the USA, the closest in appearance to most of southern Ontario that I have seen is Minnesota, south of Minneapolis. Down by Owatonna, Faribault or Rochester.

And because dove limits are large (15 birds per day) do NOT limit yourself to a single gun. I take a different gun every day of dove season.

The weather makes a BIG difference. I have seen years when the cold winds halt the season in three days !!



Here is 2012 and 2013
01 Sept 12 15 Doves Charles Daly 410/3� ammo birds at 17:00
03 Sept 12 6 Doves Tristar Brittany 410/3�ammo few birds
07 Sept 12 1 Dove Charles Daly 20 gauge Wind 50MPH/COLD
09 Sept 12 15 Doves Browning Superposed 20 IC/MOD
10 Sept 12 6 Doves Superior Daly 20 Skeet&Skeet few birds
11 Sept 12 15 Doves Krieghoff Drilling 16ga 2� inch ammo
12 Sept 12 0 Doves Went early no doves got rained out
15 Sept 12 1 Dove GECO 16ga 2� Cool and still wet
17 Sept 12 0 Doves no doves/no shots at all/COLD
18 Sept 12 8 Doves 20 ga Brittany
21 Sept 12 14 Doves Win 1912 20 ga, Reloads #9
25 Sept 12 15 Doves Rem 11-48 20 ga, Reloads #9

01 Sept 13 3 Doves Charles Daly 410/3� ammo FEW birds
02 Sept 13 15 Doves 20 ga Superior Daly 20 Skeet&Skeet
03 Sept 13 1 Dove 20 ga Brittany
06 Sept 13 15 Doves 20 ga Charles Daly 20 IC/Mod
09 Sept 13 4 Doves Browning Superposed 20 IC/MOD
12 Sept 13 13 Doves Wellington/Gary Tristar Brittany 410/3�ammo
13 Sept 13 15 Doves American Arms Derby 20
14 Sept 13 15 Doves Ithaca Flues 20
16 Sept 13 0 Doves RAINED OUT
20 Sept 13 5 Doves 1976 12ga Browning Superposed
21 Sept 13 15 Doves 12ga Citori IC/Mod
23 Sept 13 11 Doves 12ga Canon Marsot French Gun