I have decided to forego the dove opener this year with the possibility of shooting some later in the season. My reason is the lack of birds. I have looked at several fields in and around the CSRA in the last few days and I have talked to others looking at the same fields who have hunted them and the consensus seems to be that a 8-10 bird afternoon shoot is FANTASTIC! What constitutes a good dove shoot for most of you? I can remember when pay shoots and WMAs were my only option and 8 birds was a good shoot but I just can't get overly excited about spending 6 hours in 95 degree weather to shoot less than a box of shells killing 8 birds. Shooting dove is the one outdoor activity where I still think numbers matter.
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Good dove shoot
- Thread starter GTMODawg
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Buford_Dawg
Senior Member
I stopped years ago as the fields I had regularly hunted just quit bringing in birds. Sure wish I could find something now adays.
I have been on very, very few shoots over the last 15 years on public land that I didn't have the opportunity to shoot a limit. Whether my shooting was up to par is a different story. lol My gauge of a good shoot is having a group of family that was able to continue on a tradition that for some of us goes back over 40 years.
Nimrod71
Senior Member
We use to have great bird shoots, hundreds of birds coming in and everybody was welcome to come. We would start on opening day and shoot every Thursday and every Saturday from beginning to ending middle on January. We kept the game wardens busy, one told me he always brought two ticket books when he came to check our shoots. Even novice shooters could get their limit and then some. This in no B.S
This was under the Old Season that didn't open until the first Saturday in October and you could only shoot doves in the afternoon.
I ask game warden back then why were couldn't shoot doves in the morning and he told me they use to shoot all day long and they nearly killed them all off. Remember the passenger pigeon, they are no more, killed off by all day hunting. Well we have done the same with the doves, we have shot them all day and now they are nearly gone, not enough out there to enjoy hunting.
This was under the Old Season that didn't open until the first Saturday in October and you could only shoot doves in the afternoon.
I ask game warden back then why were couldn't shoot doves in the morning and he told me they use to shoot all day long and they nearly killed them all off. Remember the passenger pigeon, they are no more, killed off by all day hunting. Well we have done the same with the doves, we have shot them all day and now they are nearly gone, not enough out there to enjoy hunting.
Big7
The Oracle
And.. I've been in contact with Region 2 DNR biologist and they are telling me the same thing.
I'm doing it anyway because I love to shoot Dove.
Still not a whole lot of money to try, especially given the amounts of money folks, me included, spend deer and turkey hunting. ?
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I have a friend who is a Supervisory Biologist with the Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency and he has told me for years that it is not possible for hunters to impact dove numbers....the mortality is nearly identical where they are protected and where they are a game bird. Hunting them apparently has little to no effect on their numbers. He swears that limits are only in place because the public demands it and has nothing at all to do with sound management practices because of a couple of factors. The majority - to the tune of about 90% - of birds killed are killed within 4 hours of the season opening...the numbers after that fall off drastically. Most hunters presented with an opportunity to shoot more than a limit will do so in those first 4-6 hours of the season and find that the opportunity does not present itself the rest of the season if they hunt more than opening day. Most dove shooters are never presented an opportunity to limit out let alone shoot over a limit and do so consistently. He does add that none of this is true on fields that are baited....only on legally prepared fields. If hunters abide by the common regulations on dove hunting which have been in place for many years there is almost zero impact to the population from hunting.
I think the decline most people see in quality of dove shooting in our part of the world is a function of changing agricultural practices. Fewer tree lines and grain crops forced birds into more suburban and urban areas which are mostly not practical hunting areas. The numbers are still there they are just eating on ball fields and lawns and roosting in shopping mall parking lots instead of eating in a grain field and roosting in a tree liine.
I think the decline most people see in quality of dove shooting in our part of the world is a function of changing agricultural practices. Fewer tree lines and grain crops forced birds into more suburban and urban areas which are mostly not practical hunting areas. The numbers are still there they are just eating on ball fields and lawns and roosting in shopping mall parking lots instead of eating in a grain field and roosting in a tree liine.
catch22
Senior Member
to the OPs original question.....a good dove shoot for me is if I shoot a box of shells. That makes if fun and worth it for me. I also love sticking around the field for 1 or 2 cold ones and shoot the bull with my buddies.
A good dove shoot for me has always been one where I enjoyed myself. That has ranged from shooting a limit of birds in an hour and a half to walking up to the barn in the evening for the chance at the 3 or 4 birds that would fly the tree line nearby. Hunting for me has always been more about the experience itself rather than the amount of game taken.
