How to Choose a Dove Hunting Spot

September 1 is the bird hunting season kickoff date for many states! An opening day dove shoot is often the first hunt of the year for many hunters. Dove hunting is a great way to be humbled in your shotgunning abilities, and can be a fun social time outdoors. Mourning doves are pretty abundant throughout their range so it’s a good way to get plenty of shot opportunities when you have the right setup. 

Habitat Features Doves Love

Doves do fairly well around human habitation, and can live in farm country all the way to more urban areas. Your dove hunt scouting should include looking for food sources, roost sites and structure. Doves are primarily seed-eaters, and 99 percent of their diet is made up of seed material. This makes agricultural areas and seed-producing weed fields great spots to target feeding doves.

Look for corn, canola, foxtail, cut wheat, and the granddaddy of all dove foods: sunflowers. Mow or knock down swaths of sunflowers on your hunt day or just prior to attract these ground-feeding birds. Doves can’t effectively feed on standing sunflowers, so when they start to hit the ground it’s a giant attractive buffet for the birds. Check your state regulations before knocking down/mowing to attract doves first–some states consider this baiting and it’s a violation.

Mowing sunflowers is probably the most classic dove hunting tactic, but there are excellent hunts to be had in corn fields, too. This is better later in the season when the corn is dried and brown. Hunt field edges where doves will land in recently-cut rows, or even jump shoot doves by walking down the rows of corn before it’s harvested. It’s good to have a retriever along for this style of hunting since it can be difficult to mark where the doves are dropped. 

Water and grit are also important for a dove’s daily routine of feeding and digesting. Doves will visit ponds, puddles and livestock tanks for a drink, and they require small amounts of gravel to help digest the seeds in their crops. 

Another great feature to look for when choosing a dove spot is structure. Doves like to perch on things like dead trees, powerlines, and old buildings. 

DIY style dove hunts are absolutely possible, especially if you have permission on farms with lots of birds. Also consider that many state wildlife management agencies manage food plots specifically for doves and will host draw hunts for the opener and following days. 

Decoys

Motion decoys and stationary designs are both great options for dove hunting. Put a few out where the doves can see them and think other doves are down there feeding on tasty seeds. Decoy trees can also help draw the birds’ attention to your setup. 

The Dove Migration

Mourning doves are migratory birds that breed throughout the US, Canada and Mexico. The September 1 season will typically fall before most doves have begun their migration. As fall progresses, northern doves will migrate all the way down to southern Mexico. However, there are plenty of in-between places especially in the southern US where doves will stick around all winter, or maybe only move a few hundred miles to the south. For dove hunters, this means that fresh migrating birds will move through throughout the fall! 

Dove hunting is one of the most fun, social hunts you can have. It requires very little gear or expertise– the most important part is choosing your hunting spot.

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