doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Opening week of dove season gun choices.

That's interesting. Your regulations concerning shooting doves over lands where a crop was grown for wildlife management purposes say this:

"Doves and other migratory game birds, except water- fowl, can be hunted on or over lands where grains, salt, or other feed have been distributed or scattered as the result of bona fide agriculture operations or procedures (these include more than just planting and harvesting). They also can be hunted on or over lands where a crop was grown and manipulated for wildlife management purposes. Crop manipulation, in this case, does not include distributing or scattering grain or feed after it has been removed from or stored on the field where grown."

I'm not by any means trying to be argumentative, 28 gs, but it doesn't sound as if the crop HAS to be manipulated after being grown to be legal. I understand it is in your benefit to mow, and maybe burn, strips to give the birds a clean place to feed, but it doesn't sound like it is necessary to be legal. Maybe your local game wardens interpret it that way, tho'.

All my best, SRH

Thanks, TW! I just bought my first SxS and this looks like a great place to hang out! Hopefully I get more opportunities to buy SxS's and I'll be able to contribute more about them!

you folks realize that I use your posts to help prove to my wife and other relatives that that I am indeed still on the normal side of sanity....

Gunut, Normal is such a fluid concept. You might do better to not let her and them know how bad it can get. If she got to see my gun room she might decide you need to be stopped before you go too far. Buy a few more guns but never let the get a hard count.

Could someone explain to me about dove shooting the the USA, I see you guys posting about dove season each year and I am just curious what its all about.

In what scenario do you typically shoot doves?
Do you decoy them?
Are they shot as a pest species or as a game species?
What are the traditions and conventions?

Feel free to respond in a private message if you don't want to derail the thread.

Would love to come and try some sport in the USA if I'm ever lucky enough to travel, dove shooting and quail seem like they could be good sport.

Stan your correct
We always burn, as you stated gives birds a better feeding and landing beside we always error on the safe side of legality

They are both, Mourning Doves are game, Collard (Eurasian) Doves are pests,

There are MANY ways to hunt doves and yes decoys are sometimes used


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uhGP9kkFrc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OLdgHzL_Rs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLOKTlA4ERg

I usually only hunt with two other folks

Mike

For many, open day of Dove season is the equivalent of your Glorious 12-th. That is the first hunt of the year, often as much a social thing as a hunting thing. For many years my father and I held a opening day hunt on his farm which included clay targets as a warm up, dove hunt, followed by a feast of a barbecued whole pig or sometimes a quarter of beef and a couple small pigs. Mix in election year politics, by family members running for re-election, and a little friends and family reunion it was kind of the high point for most shooters for the year. It should have been because it took a lot of hours to put it together.

One of the few hunting sports that just as much about swapping lies and talking about old girl friends or former wives. Great to sit in the shade (rule one is find the shade) and about half way into the latest story someone will shout Dove and the story is forgotten and the guns are firing away. Always a great time to pull that classic gun out of the safe because one can truly baby a shotgun while dove hunting.

In some ways it can be a like sporting clays with live targets that taste good. PS. Those little buggers behind a good breeze can be ready hard to hit.

Cut cornfields/millet fields near a watering hole are just about always nirvana.

PS. Pictures below are my Fox Sterlingworth 16 gauge ejector with 30" tubes. They were taken in 2012. My old Golden Abby is now gone, but Gracie is still around. Abby retrieved Doves for me for ten years. Never lost a bird. Anyway, lost my place to dove hunt last year. Had a blast there for 20 years before it got developed:

In what scenario do you typically shoot doves?
We pass shoot them, we shoot them where they congregate to feed in harvested corn and peanut fields, we shoot them over fields of sunflower or millet specifically planted for them, and we shoot them coming in to watering holes.

Do you decoy them?
Yes, at times they decoy very well. Other times they seem to totally ignore the dekes. Rotating-wing dove decoys work well if placed high on places where they like to alight to survey the feeding area before lighting on the ground. Center pivot irrigation systems are among the best places to do this. Stationary decoys sometimes work very well placed atop large sunflower stalks, where they light to peck out seeds.

Are they shot as a pest species or as a game species?
As said above, mourning doves and whitewings are game birds, while Eurasian ringnecked doves are considered an invasive species and do not count against your limit.

What are the traditions and conventions?
Great family affairs with meals before or afterwards, or last minute scampering to get up enough guns to cover a field efficiently. This last minute scampering usually occurs in the later part of the season when the big droves of migratory doves come South for the winter, and build up in numbers quickly, but just as quickly may vanish. Scouting is very important for late season success hosting a shoot. I spend many hours shooting doves each year, but many MORE scouting them.

Feel free to respond in a private message if you don't want to derail the thread.

Would love to come and try some sport in the USA if I'm ever lucky enough to travel, dove shooting and quail seem like they could be good sport.
Contact me if you ever get this side of the pond and we'll see what we can do about that.

My best, SRH