Dove Hunting Tips/General

>>854565
Do you eat them? Aren't them like rats with wings?

>>854580
Yeah, you eat them (I haven't personally, but my father reminisces about eating dove all the time). Though mourning doves probably aren't the "cleanest" birds, you're probably thinking of pigeons (those rat doves you see in cities, different species)

>>854565
My best advice is to just go out and try it. Find some private ground if possible. I usually set out a couple mojo decoys and stay hidden in some tall grass or weeds next to a field of corn or milo stubble and wait for birds to show up. I prefer to hunt in the early morning and I'll typically be in my spot 30 minutes before sunrise. Evening hunts 2 or 3 hours before dark can be productive, but this time of year it can get pretty hot. I'm in Kansas though. It helps to hunt with a group of people to cover more area on the larger fields. And a dog makes it easier to find dead birds.

>>854757
Unfortunately, PA doesn't allow hunters to use electronic decoys for anything other than crows (otherwise I'd buy a Mojo in a heartbeat). Fortunately, however, I picked up a wind-powered Expedite motion decoy a while back from a friend. It seems to work alright in the proper conditions, but I was wondering if you might have any experience with them/known if they do the job well?

>>854806
It should be fine. Most birds are pass shots anyway. The mojo brings in birds inconsistently. For the most part I only shoot maybe one or two birds per hunt that try to fly in and land with the mojo, although you will have certain hunts where nearly ever bird keys in on decoys. Look at cabelas or another store like it online and find some decoys that clip on to tree branches. They work too and can bring the birds right to you.

Just hunt as much as possible and eventually you'll take home a limit.

>>854580
Morning doves are actually pretty good, you can find recipes for them online. Just be sure to pull the lead out.

>>854565
In my experience earlier in the day seemed to go better than late evening, but I'm sure every region is different.

>>854870
I've heard that both are pretty good. The one time I bagged a few, we were out from 4:30pm til sunset. As the day went on, they started bunching up more and more (birds are weird like that). My buddy actually blew a chance at 5+ birds because he (frustratedly) dumped his semi on 1 bird.

>>855243
You guys don't have to shoot plugged guns?

>>855313
My bad, let me explain: his (plugged) shotgun had 3 rounds (the legal limit) in it, but he was so annoyed at being the only one without a dove that he emptied it on one bird (and missed). As he's reloading, 5-7 birds land in a tree just above him, only to fly off unharmed. A friend and I nearby were just WTFing throughout the whole thing, as we watched a bunch of birds cruise over our dumbass hunting buddy.

>>854587
Pigeons were brought to the U.S. as a food source, they're not native to the Americas.
Many Europeans consider them a delicacy.
Both pigeons and doves are cleaner than the conditions pigs are raised in for human consumption.

>>854565
Evening hunt over water they will drink before roosting. A small pond with open dirt around it near grain fields is best.

best way is to find a 'flyway' some where that you can set up between the bird's roost and their water/food source....generally when im out hunting we find these flyways and just pretty much post up in the middle of them, find a tree or shrub to stand next to so you arent just out in the open and when they fly close you blast them.

other times there are birds in trees any you have to walk them up, this is when having about 2-3 other guys with you is helpful because you all can walk in a line and scare birds up to each other.

my biggest suggestion is to make sure you remember to lead the birds when shooting, and continue your swing on the gun, dont just shoot and stop moving or else you will be consistently behind them every time.

i have never used decoys before, but i have seen other people use them, and those times i saw it, i usually was the one who left with more birds because that guy was posted up next to his decoys while i was walking around (1.5 or so miles in total id guess) and going to where i saw birds flying/jumping them out of trees and shit.


as for eating them, i just breast them out and put some seasoning (used greek this time, fucking tits) and bbq them for a while, be careful because they are very lean and prone to drying out.

as for led in the breast, just spit it out if you get a shot while you're chewing it up. i honestly cant believe that even 10 tiny ass bb's are going to give you enough lead poisoning to kill you, but if you want to go searching for them and completely mutilate the meat, its all on you


other than that, watch out for low fliers, be aware of who is on the other side of the stand of bushes you are shooting into, dont be a dick, and have fun

>>854565
Put some shot birds on sticks, poles, whatever you have, with their wings spread. Like they are landing in the set of decoys. Make sure they are facing into the wind.

That will fool their still living friends into thinking it's a good spot to land aswell. If they do not face the wind they wont trust it, or land near the decoys.

We shoot lots of wood pidgeons over here in the Netherlands, and with that method we get a lot of doves landing in with the woodies aswell.

I've never used decoys or even sat around waiting for doves or any bird other than duck. Working tree lines always was productive for me, as was hunting them in my neighbor's cow pastures years ago.