Introduction
For many of us hunters early fall and late summer bring some great opportunities for small game hunting. One of my favorite small game animals to hunt this year has been dove. Now for those who don’t know there are a few different species of dove found in or migrating through the United States. In my state the most common dove species that is harvested is the common mourning dove.
I will admit that I am relatively new to the discipline of dove hunting although it isn’t my first year attempting to pursue the fast bird. Last year I went out with a friend and we sat on the dirt shore of a low cattle pond on opening day. While my friend shot a few birds, I recall missing every bird I shot with the exception of maybe one bird that I may have hit the wing of but it still flew away. We ended walking away with four birds from our morning sit. I ended up going back out again one more time that year, but didn’t really see any birds. This put a sour taste in respect of dove hunting as a whole.
Flash forward to 2024 and I came in with a whole new perspective. This summer I was invited to go on an out of state pheasant hunting trip of which I agreed to go and sent my share of the money to book a decent room for the time that we are there. From there I decided that this year was going to be the year where I stop missing every bird I take a shot at. I decided to start going to my local trap park and shoot 50-75 rounds of clays every other week. Shooting clays in a line does help you get a better grasp on leading birds and following through with the shot, but it does nothing in respect to shouldering a gun and turning your safety off when having birds fly in front of you.
To better train this muscle memory you need to be practicing shouldering your gun and turning the safety off in the same process. While traditional dove hunting isn’t like pheasant hunting, some people will walk/spook doves out of roosts or the grass. Everyone has their own ethics on the subject, regardless getting used to shouldering you gun and following through with your shot once you’re on and have decided to try and take a shot. Doves fly in quick especially when checking out a decoy so this window of time is usually pretty short making the hunter has to learn to ID and mount his gun very quickly.
Dove hunting feels to be the missing piece in regards to shotgun training as it punishes improper technique and makes you get better at understanding the range of your shotgun with the choke of your choice. It also encourages the practice of using you action if you are like me and use a pump shotgun to hunt which you don’t get when shooting trap (unless shooting doubles). I am not claiming to be the world’s best shooter, nor the world’s best dove hunter as these are far from the case. With the added training and humility from the previous season I was able to harvest 6 birds in my first few outings. I did miss a lot more birds than I shot and injured one that got up and flew away sadly. It feels great to be able to see the improvement of your skill and how it translates to your hunting.
For those who may want to give hunting a try, but don’t know where to start, I encourage you to start with small game and upland/migratory birds. All of which can be taken with a shotgun regardless of action (pump if you are low on cash, semi-auto if you have the means, or any hand me down break action). I will list some of the tips that help me gain greater success this season on my own so that you may be able to mentor yourself.
1. PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE
I don’t know if I emphasized it enough, but just going out and shooting a few boxes of shells at clays every other week or so seemed to really help me while in the field. It helps reinforce good habits and punish some of the bad habits. If you are extremely new or are introducing someone new to hunting it is important to get familiar with their gun and how it shoots prior to going into the field to save both their cheek/jaw and shoulder. This helps prevent flinching and increase the chance for success in the field.
I would much rather spend the 50-100 dollars or so to practice in the trap park rather than spend the 50-100 dollars in ammo and gas when shooting at birds with nothing to show for it. I have talked with co-workers who deem dove season as their practice prior to pheasant, duck, or quail season(s), which may be the case if you hunt consistently all year for the past 20 or so years and have developed a bit of muscle memory when it comes to consistently shouldering the gun in the same place with proper cheek placement.
For those of us who lack the time invested, you will never regret the time, money, and energy spent training with your weapon. It will pay generously the more you do it in the field or wherever you may need it.
2. Learn to ID
While practice outside of the field is great, another important variable in you overall hunting skill is identification. This may seem ridiculous from a non-biologist/naturalist background, but learning to identify birds in the air based on their flight pattern, wing flapping, and sound is crucial in being a good, ethical hunter, and conservationist. Proper identification of birds allows for a better image for hunters, protects our rights to hunt certain bird populations which may seem similar to that of endangered species (i.e. the sandhill crane and the great blue heron and other whooping crane species).
Not only will a good skill in ID keep you safe from the game warden, but it also encourages conservation of non-game species and protects our right to keep hunting the game that we love and care for.
3. Have Some Humility
When starting out it can be frustrating to miss birds. It can hurt your ego and make you frustrated with yourself. It should be stated that the more you linger on your missed shots and beat yourself up over it the more poor you will shoot (if you shoot at all). Dove fly in very quickly so if you aren’t on the lookout you may mistake a pair of dove for some non-game species, thus lowering your potential harvest.
The sooner you learn to let go your missed shots, the sooner you can focus on adapting and learning so that you can improve your odds at hitting the next birds. Ask yourself “what did I do wrong?” and “what can I do differently?”. From there you should go through the basics like gun mounting consistency, flinching, lead of your gun, and following through. This thought process seems to help me get past a few missed birds and give me the taste of success. Moral of the story, learn to let things go and learn from your mistakes.
4. Understand Ideal Dove Habitat
Many understand that dove are like most birds in that they like to hang out in trees to roost, need water like most living things, and also seem to appreciate the quick energy that the carbohydrates from various commercial grains, but what do dove really need? To be honest dove aren’t all that picky here in the lower 48. They seem to reside in most of the states year round and make do with what habitat they can find. I personally have found that doves tend to like to roost in dead trees or branches, though I have found some nesting in tall grass.
I tend to prefer to hunt for dove around water sources with some woody habitat but mostly native tall grass rather than the traditional strategy of sitting near a sunflower or milo field. I am not saying that my preference is superior, but in the dove that I shot none of the seed in their crop was from ag fields, honestly most of the seed seemed to be from what consider to be the seed from “weeds” like pigweed or various other forbs. I found this interesting. Maybe it was just the group of birds where I like to hunt, but when considering the amount of ag land around me I find it highly unlikely that the birds had limited access to commercial grains.
5. Practice Gratitude
One of the last things I wish to instill in all dove hunters is a practice of gratitude. Why gratitude is important is because it is easy to fall into the trap of “I only shot a couple of birds today, I don’t even want to cook these because there isn’t enough”. While your meal may not be abundant you can always clean and vacuum seal your birds/breasts until you go back out and shoot more birds. The last thing I want to hear is that someone threw away their harvest because they were unappreciative. If you can’t make it a meal make it an appetizer and if that feels like too much work then I encourage you to stop dove hunting as a limit of birds every outing is not always going to happen especially later in the season.
Conclusion
Despite your age or experience hunting it is always good to touch up on the basics every now and again. If you are relatively new to the world of upland/migratory bird hunting then you may be resonating with some of the subjects within the text. If you made it this far I hope that out of everything I have discussed that you take away that your success is almost entirely dependent on how much effort and humility you have put in/gained within your hunting career. You don’t always need the best gear (though it is nice), but rather the best work ethic.