Not so sure

[TurkeyH90]

Not so sure I'm gonna like these new dove season dates. Had some wonderful October shooting last year with excellent weather. I hope we got something left to shoot over by November 23. How did they arrive upon these new dates? Hunter input, DNR research, the right folks whining?

 

[jakebuddy]

Not real sure either but willing to give a try I do like it through the end of January though.

 

[across the river]

Not so sure I'm gonna like these new dove season dates. Had some wonderful October shooting last year with excellent weather. I hope we got something left to shoot over by November 23. How did they arrive upon these new dates? Hunter input, DNR research, the right folks whining?

Both doves and ducks are migratory birds, which mean they fall under the federal wildlife services jurisdiction. The feds mandate a certain number of days that each state can hunt and a range in which those days have to fall. The state then sets the season dates based on those number of days and within the months the feds allow. People have complained for years that the dates (especially for duck season) should extend to Jan. 31, which is the latest day the feds allow the season to go to. The feds recently changed the framework for doves to allow dove season to extend to Jan. 31 as well. GA DNR sent out a survey a while back asking hunters for their input on the dates, and based on that survey they extended both duck season and dove season as long as they could to Jan.31. People felt they were missing a large part of the migration for both, because it doesn't get cold enough to push new birds down until January (or February that you can't hunt anyway). Based on that they added dates later in the season for both doves and ducks. When you add days to the season at the very end, you have to pull days from somewhere else, so they pulled days that were previously scheduled for the middle of the season. They did get some public input before doing it.

 

[setters]

Not so sure I'm gonna like these new dove season dates. Had some wonderful October shooting last year with excellent weather. I hope we got something left to shoot over by November 23. How did they arrive upon these new dates? Hunter input, DNR research, the right folks whining?

They probably did it so the deer hunters had more time to trophy hunt ?

 

[BriarPatch99]

I wish they had took September and left October in ...

 

[TurkeyH90]

Both doves and ducks are migratory birds, which mean they fall under the federal wildlife services jurisdiction. The feds mandate a certain number of days that each state can hunt and a range in which those days have to fall. The state then sets the season dates based on those number of days and within the months the feds allow. People have complained for years that the dates (especially for duck season) should extend to Jan. 31, which is the latest day the feds allow the season to go to. The feds recently changed the framework for doves to allow dove season to extend to Jan. 31 as well. GA DNR sent out a survey a while back asking hunters for their input on the dates, and based on that survey they extended both duck season and dove season as long as they could to Jan.31. People felt they were missing a large part of the migration for both, because it doesn't get cold enough to push new birds down until January (or February that you can't hunt anyway). Based on that they added dates later in the season for both doves and ducks. When you add days to the season at the very end, you have to pull days from somewhere else, so they pulled days that were previously scheduled for the middle of the season. They did get some public input before doing it.

Thanks for the reply. I thought it was something similar to the process you described and I agree certainly with the duck dates moving. As far as dove I just wish we had kept a few weekends in October. You can't make everybody happy.

 

[Jack Flynn]

I'm not so sure either. It'll be hard to get on some birds come later in the season here in Ga. if you ask me.

 

[across the river]

Thanks for the reply. I thought it was something similar to the process you described and I agree certainly with the duck dates moving. As far as dove I just wish we had kept a few weekends in October. You can't make everybody happy.

I agree, but I think the majority surveyed must have wanted it to run as late as possible, like ducks season. Those couple of weeks had to come from somewhere, so they came from the middle of the season, since people still wanted the opener in September. Along with the dates and number of days, the Feds also limit the number of splits you can have, and I assume how often you can change the season dates, since ducks season is like that. I would assume you have at least five years with the splits as they are now with the hole in the middle. You get those big plump ones flying in January, but there usually high and fast at that point after flying down from many states North of here. I have much more success hitting those young ones flying low and slow.

 

[TurkeyH90]

I guess I was happy the way it was. We will see how it shakes out this year. Might be eye opening for me or might make them wish they had kept their mouth shut. I'm like "across the river" and need the young dumb ones.

 

[BBond]

DNR results

 

[basstrkr]

I've been dove hunting in Georgia for over 50 years and I have never met anyone who wanted to do away with hunting in October. Peanuts are being turned and picked in middle Georgia and there are birds on lots of fields but season.
However, reckon could we put off the re-opening til Dec 14th and add those days to October? For future years.

 

[nrh0011]

Hunting is good right now and the weather is fair, september is always too dang hot, but I think most people will find they enjoy the late season stuff if they will give it a chance and go. I've seen alot of migratory birds move in on late season food plots. Good dog working weather too

 

[TurkeyH90]

They probably did it so the deer hunters had more time to trophy hunt ?

It's always about the deer hunting. Cash is King and a second rate small game hunter must learn to live with the scraps! I'm surprised they haven't run deer season through February yet to make sure we don't miss any bucks that forgot their urge to procreate sooner.

 

[across the river]

It's always about the deer hunting. Cash is King and a second rate small game hunter must learn to live with the scraps! I'm surprised they haven't run deer season through February yet to make sure we don't miss any bucks that forgot their urge to procreate sooner.

The changes had nothing to do with deer hunting or deer hunters. To my knowledge they only sent the survey to those that had a HIP permit and had hunted migratory birds. As the post above shows, the majority of people who took the survey wanted the changes for dove season. I didn't vote for it, but I did ask to bump the duck season out to run to the 31st. You win some and you loose some. You people need to realize that not everything that occurs that you don't 100% agree with isn't some conspiracy set up by someone else to get one over on you. I hate it for the DNR, because they literally cannot get it right regardless of what they do. They legalize baiting in the Northern zone, and it was push through by Was-mart so they could sell corn. The increase doe limits, it was done by the insurance companies, because they didn't want to pay claims. They change dove season based on a survey, and t was the deer hunters who pushed it through. Be for real. I've never seen anything like a bunch of whiny hunters.

 

[basstrkr]

I took the survey, read what was available about the results and potential changes, talked to others who had done the same, including DNR. No one mentioned doing away with October hunting.
I don't think its a conspiracy and it is hard to satisfy everyone but doing away with October dove hunting is a pretty big deal for bird hunters.
So like I stated lets be prepared on the next survey to suggest less early December days, 2 weekends in October (9 days) and let Jan 31st be the end.

 

[TurkeyH90]

The changes had nothing to do with deer hunting or deer hunters. To my knowledge they only sent the survey to those that had a HIP permit and had hunted migratory birds. As the post above shows, the majority of people who took the survey wanted the changes for dove season. I didn't vote for it, but I did ask to bump the duck season out to run to the 31st. You win some and you loose some. You people need to realize that not everything that occurs that you don't 100% agree with isn't some conspiracy set up by someone else to get one over on you. I hate it for the DNR, because they literally cannot get it right regardless of what they do. They legalize baiting in the Northern zone, and it was push through by Was-mart so they could sell corn. The increase doe limits, it was done by the insurance companies, because they didn't want to pay claims. They change dove season based on a survey, and t was the deer hunters who pushed it through. Be for real. I've never seen anything like a bunch of whiny hunters.

???
Part of that was a joke but if you don't believe the state (DNR included) caters to the deer hunters you have your head in the sand or at least some place it's dark. And I believe that I DID mention I could be wrong. I also believe I could be right. Time will tell.

 

[TurkeyH90]

DNR results

View attachment 985878

How long will it be before this could be questioned again? I understand that y'all don't want to do it every year because you might not get a fair idea of the results but I do wonder what the parameters are and IF we will be surveyed again any time soon?

 

[Turkeytider]

Probably should run it two seasons. That should give us a pretty good foundation for a better informed follow up survey.

 

[across the river]

How long will it be before this could be questioned again? I understand that y'all don't want to do it every year because you might not get a fair idea of the results but I do wonder what the parameters are and IF we will be surveyed again any time soon?

The feds set a framework in the late fall. It sets the number of days, the zone and split rules, and the days that the season has to fall within. They surveyed this year because it was the first year the feds allowed it to go to Jan.31. If the fed changed it back next to Jan15, then it wouldn't matter whether the DNR surveyed or not. If the Feds leave it the same I think they would leave it the same, at least for a few years.

 

[spring]

One approach that might allow time to hunt over a longer period would be to focus more on being open for lots of weekends instead of weeks. The migratory bird treaty with Mexico gives us something like 72 days to allocate over our season. If we had multiple Sept and Oct weekends open, we could still have the extended season thru January, which I think is great, but could potentially accommodate a much longer season during the Sept/Oct harvest times. I’d rather have lots more Friday-Sundays open than just a few scattered full weeks. You could then have at least 3 days per week to hunt for EVERY week of the season from
September-January. Couldn’t that about satisfy everybody?