At first glance, the places where mourning
doves are hunted appear to vary
greatly
— from peanut and millet
fields in the South to cactus patches and irrigation
ditches in the Southwest to harvested
crop fields in the Midwest (Figure 73). On closer
examination, however, good hunting spots are
not really that different. Waters (1983) noted
the mourning dove has four basic habitat
needs: food, cover, water and gravel or grit. Consequently,
mourning dove hunting occurs
where doves feed, rest, find water and grit and
travel between these sites. The relative amount
of hunting that occurs in each habitat type is
probably related to "supply and demand."
Water holes, roost sites and grit sources certainly
provide hunting opportunities, but the
most hunted habitats in most states are feeding
fields. Waters (1983) noted there is frequently
a shortage of high-quality dove food
during autumn and winter, even on areas to be
hunted, and the best-known way of attracting
mourning doves for hunting is to provide them
with an abundance of choice food.
With proper management, practically
any dove feeding field can be improved as a
shooting field. R.A. Montgomery (personal
communication: 1991), for example, observed
that mourning dove hunting at the
Max McGraw Wildlife Foundation in north
central Illinois has been a tradition for more
than 25 years. Prior to 1976, when the
foundation's crop fields were not managed
as "dove fields," hunting was merely attendant
to normal cropping systems (i.e., winter
wheat stubble, newly seeded wheat, corn
silage fields), and the effective shooting days
were few. When managed fields were established
in 1976, hunter success and harvest
"improved markedly," and the effective season
length increased by two to three weeks.
FEEDING FIELD CHARACTERISTICS
—Fields used heavily by mourning doves are often
characterized by an abundance of small
seeds scattered on the surface of relatively bare
ground with little horizontal cover. Feeding
fields commonly are dominated by wheat, millet,
sunflower, corn or grain sorghum (Figure
73). Peanuts, buckwheat, barley and annual rye
will also attract doves. Historically, sesame and
hemp fields have provided excellent feeding
habitat for doves.
Mourning doves are opportunistic feeders
and will use a tremendous variety of seeds
of both natural and cultivated plants.
Korschgen (1958) identified 218 plant species
used by doves in Missouri. Although grain
crop seeds were predominately, the "top
10"— totaling 90.5 percent by volume in the
doves' crops — included weedy plant species,
e.g., foxtails, croton and ragweed.
With so many food options, the presence
of open or bare ground may be as important
as the availability of specific foods
in determining the extent to which mourning
doves will use a field for feeding.
Modern agricultural practices tend to
provide these conditions in most cultivated
fields. Clean cultivation of row crops, harvesting,
haying and grazing or "hogging"
(harvesting with livestock) provide at least
patches of bare or disturbed ground; shredding
or discing of crop residue also provides
a bare ground component in managed fields.
Other characteristics of feeding fields
are of secondary importance. Doves will use
fields of almost any size, although there is
probably a minimum size capable of attracting
large concentrations of birds. Waters
(1983) suggested that management of fields
smaller than two acres (0.4 ha) is impractical.
The proximity of other habitat needs
such as water, grit and loafing or roosting
sites undoubtedly influences the attractiveness
of larger fields to doves.
MANAGEMENT OF FIELDS FOR
DOVE SHOOTING
—In general, shooting field management can be
broken down into two major types: (1) fields
specifically planted and manipulated to provide
dove hunting; and (2) agriculture crop
residues managed to provide suitable shooting
field conditions (Table 99). Managers of
public land and private hunt clubs, farmers
and dove hunters have developed methods
and techniques to manipulate crop residue
and specific plantings to provide the important
combination of bare ground and abundant
small seeds.
There are numerous plant species that
can be used to attract doves. Although the list
of the most attractive plants for doves has
changed through the years, it has been more
stable than the methods used to manipulate
plantings. Accordingly, it is important to recognize
that any management operation must
be in compliance with state and federal regulations
regarding baiting. Such regulations
and the interpretation of them have changed
somewhat over the years.
Federal Baiting Regulations
—Federal regulations describe and define baiting
in relation to legal management. The Code
of Federal Regulations (1987) (50 CFR 20 Subpart
C Section 20.21 (i)(2)) permits "The taking
of all migratory game birds, except waterfowl,
on or over any lands where shelled,
shucked or unshucked corn, wheat or other
grain, salt or other feed distributed or scattered
as the result of bona fide agricultural operations
or procedures or as a result of manipulation
of a crop or other feed on the land where
grown for wildlife management purposes: provided
that manipulation for wildlife purposes
does not include the distributing or scattering
of grain or other feed once it has been removed
from or stored on the field where grown."
 |
| Historically, sesame fields were planted in small plots
in the South to attract doves. In yesteryear, for the most
part, sesame was not a commercial crop, because it requires
fairly specific soil, temperature and moisture
conditions to germinate and produce abundant seeds.
However, sesame now is grown commercially on a
small scale in parts of the South, particularly Texas.
And where such plantings succeed, mourning doves are
readily drawn to fields when the seeds are ripe and on
the ground. Planting of any crop - whether sesame,
corn, millet, wheat, sunflower, safflower or other - primarily
for mourning dove feeding/shooting fields can
be risky business. A variety of factors, particularly seed
ripeness, influences the attraction of mourning doves
to any crop. Maximizing seed production, careful timing
of crop harvest, providing for bare ground and diversifying
the crop plots or fields are the best hedges
against crop failure or untimely growth. Agricultural
and wildlife extension service agents can provide reliable
suggestions on suitable crop types and planting
schedules for most areas. |
Although local, state and federal baiting
regulations may vary and interpretation of
these regulations may be needed for individual
situations, it seems that crops planted for wildlife
or seeds occurring naturally can be manipulated
in any manner on the site where they
grew. But once a seed is harvested, it cannot be
returned to the field and scattered.
It is the responsibility of the manager,
farmer and hunter to be aware of all regulations
that govern shooting field management.
Some of the potential problems in interpreting
baiting regulations are as follows:
1. Changes in federal regulations. In 1973,
the federal regulations were liberalized to
allow more manipulation of plants as part
of management for migratory birds other
than waterfowl. It is not unreasonable to
assume that the regulations may be revised
again. In recent decades, several national
conservation organizations have
promoted standardization of baiting regulations
and their interpretation. All those
involved in shooting field management
should be cognizant of potential changes
in existing regulations.
2. Differences in baiting regulations for
waterfowl and other migratory game
birds. Because baiting regulations for waterfowl
are more restrictive than those for
doves, a problem can exist in certain areas
where both waterfowl and doves are
hunted. The Code of Federal Regulations
(1987) section describing waterfowl baiting
(50 CFR 20 Subpart C Section 20.21
(i)(1)) allows "The taking of all migratory
game birds, including waterfowl, on or
over standing crops, flooded standing
crops (including aquatic), flooded harvested
croplands, grain crops properly
shocked on the field where grown, or
grains found scattered solely as the result
of normal agricultural planting or harvesting."
Therefore, waterfowl cannot be
hunted in fields where crops have been
manipulated by methods other than normal
harvesting practices. Methods that are
legal for dove fields, such as mowing,
discing and burning unharvested crops,
constitute illegal baiting for waterfowl.
Clearly, baiting regulations, with their potential
for change and the differences in regulations
for individual species, affect how people
can crop, manage and use shooting fields.
Cultivated Crops for Dove
Shooting Fields
—Within the constraints of federal baiting
regulations, raising and manipulating a wide
variety of dove foods remains an important
management tool. The following techniques
and plantings are examples of practices used
to facilitate shooting field management in
different parts of the country (Table 99).
 |
| A mourning dove shooting field typically is a crop field.
However, any field that is somehow managed to enhance
its attractiveness to doves (other than by illegal baiting)
can be considered a shooting field. Such a field must possess
at least one of the essential ingredients of dove habitat
(food, water, shelter and some open ground) and be
in proximity to others. |
Sunflowers in Illinois and Missouri
—
Illinois has an active dove shooting
field management program on public land
and on some private clubs as well. Sunflowers
are the mainstay of Illinois dove management
because they attract and hold
doves. Even small patches can be very effective.
Just across the Mississippi River, a St.
Charles County, Missouri, club harvested
more than 1,400 doves from a 6.5-acre (2.6
ha) sunflower planting in 1989.
Madson (1978) described the planting
method used by some Illinois managers as
follows. After tillage and incorporation of
1.5 pints of Treflan per acre (2/ha) and 200
pounds (220 kg) of 12-12-12 fertilizer,
managers use corn planters to sow sunflower
seeds in rows. Sunflowers should be
planted as early as possible after frost at a
rate of 5 to 6 pounds per acre (5.6 to 6.7
kg/ha). The variety most often used in Illinois
is Peredovick, a small, black-seeded
sunflower with a 120-day maturity date.
The sunflowers are left standing and doves
feed on seeds that shatter on the ground.
Several seed companies now have suitable
sunflower varieties.
 |
| Sunflower is an excellent and bountiful food plant for
mourning doves and is widely used for shooting fields.
Different varieties are adaptable to the broad range of
soil conditions, moisture regimes and growing seasons
encompassed by the range of mourning doves. |
At the Max McGraw Wildlife Foundation
in north central Illinois, five fields of 2 to 5 acres
(0.8 to 2.0 ha) are planted to oil sunflowers
(R.A. Montgomery personal communication:
1991). Wheat and millet have been planted in
plots and strips, but sunflowers have been more
consistent producers of high-quality dove
fields. The McGraw fields are fertilized and
seedbeds are prepared and sprayed with a preemergence
herbicide at a minimum rate. Planting
is completed by the second week of May.
Seeds are drilled in 21- or 28-inch rows (53.3
or 71.1 cm) at rates of 6 to 10 pounds per acre
(6.7 to 11.2 kg/ha). The sunflower fields are
changed every three or four years, primarily for
crop and weed management. Even with annual
fertilization, the size of the plants and number
of seeds produced declines after two or three
years in the same field.
Sunflowers are not harvested at McGraw
because the size of the fields does not permit
a yield of a profitable crop and because, in a
normal year, non-game birds (principally
American goldfinch, house finch, blue jay,
house sparrow and blackbirds) have consumed
most of the seeds by mid-September.
This is not considered a problem, since the
planting is intended for wildlife, and income
is not sought from the fields beyond that generated
by dove shooting.
Missouri managers have had good success
harvesting their own seed for sunflower
planting the following year. The small area
that is combined for seed also provides an
area for doves to "pioneer" into the field.
Bourne (1991) described a southern Illinois
farm that creates bare soil adjacent to sunflowers
by alternating 24-row strips of sunflowers
with a similar width of winter wheat.
After the wheat is harvested in the summer,
the stubble is kept disced. The use of Treflan
(or other herbicides) helps maintain the bare
ground essential to attracting large numbers
of feeding doves. For managers who wish to
reduce the use of chemicals on wildlife management
areas, mechanical cultivation is an
option. If mechanical cultivation fails to provide
sufficient bare ground, managers can use
mowing or light discing to make weedy sunflower
fields more attractive to doves.
Milo, higera and grain sorghum in
South Carolina
—Milo, higera and other grain
sorghums have been used as supplemental
plantings to provide late-season shooting in
South Carolina cornfields that have been harvested
or hogged. Mahan (1978) suggested
seeding rates of 6 to 8 pounds per acre (6.7 to
9.0 kg/ha) for milo and 20 to 25 pounds per
acre (22.4 to 28.0 kg/ha) for higera and other
grain sorghums. He also advised fertilizing
with 400 pounds per acre (488 kg/ha) of 3-9-
18. Mahan recommended a row spacing of 36
to 42 inches (0.9 to 1.1 meters) for best results.
These plants mature in 90 to 120 days and
therefore should be seeded sometime from
April to June to provide mature seed by the
opening of dove season. The crop should be
harvested two weeks before the hunting season
to permit sufficient time for doves to locate
the field. Alternative management techniques
include mowing, haying and light
discing. A proportional crop harvest that begins
before dove season and continues gradually
can extend the availability of seed and subsequent
use of the field by doves.
Browntop and proso (dove) millet in
Alabama
—Browntop and proso millet are
two of the most common and universal crops
used to attract doves to shooting fields. Waters
(1983, 1986) provided excellent and detailed
advice for raising these millets (and other
crops) for dove management in Alabama.
Browntop matures in 60 to 70 days; proso millet
requires 70 to 80 days to reach maturity.
Planting dates may vary from June 1 to July 15
for browntop and May 22 to July 15 for proso
millet. Those dates can be determined with
precision in order to provide mature seed two
weeks before a field is scheduled to be hunted.
Both plants can be broadcast or planted in
rows, but rows are recommended because bare
ground can be provided by cultivating between
the rows. A seeding rate of 8 to 10 pounds per
acre (9.0 to 11.2 kg/ha) is appropriate if planted
in rows 36 to 42 inches (0.9 to 1.1 m) apart; a
rate of 15 to 20 pounds per acre (16.8 to 22.4
kg/ha) is recommended if the millet is broadcast.
If planted in rows, doves will use a millet
field both before and after harvesting. If the
millet is broadcast, some millet harvesting is
recommended to provide bare ground conditions
in the field. Managers use similar methods
with German (foxtail) millet to provide
dove feeding habitat in Missouri.
Wheat in Missouri
—Wheat is a preferred
dove food (Korschgen 1958) and is often
used to attract doves for hunting on public
land in Missouri. Wheat is unique in that it can
provide attractive habitat for doves, both when
it is planted and after the seed matures the following
year. Managers, however, should avoid
the temptation to throw a little extra wheat on
the surface after planting because this would
constitute "baiting." Wheat can be planted in
August, although most planting occurs in September.
The early plantings provide browse for
a variety of wildlife species, such as Canada
geese. Dove feeding habitat is provided by
discing fields in late July or early August. Wheat
is seeded about two weeks prior to the dove
season. It can be drilled at 1.5 bushels per acre
(0.13 M3/ha) or broadcast at 2 to 2.5 bushels
per acre (0.18 to 0.22 M3/ ha). If broadcast, the
wheat usually is covered by light discing or harrowing.
Doves are attracted to these fields to
feed not only on the uncovered and preferably
untreated wheat but also on seeds of weedy
annuals scattered by preplanting tillage.
In Missouri, the wheat harvest occurs in
June or July. On areas to be used as shooting
fields, some of the crop is left unharvested. Portions
of the fields are harvested gradually to provide
a continual food source for doves until the
hunting season opens. Several methods are used
to make this unharvested wheat attractive to
mourning doves. The Missouri Department of
Conservation (1989) uses prescribed burning to
remove litter, create bare ground and make the
wheat available to doves. If the unharvested
wheat is relatively clean, it can be burned standing.
If much green weedy vegetation is present,
the field should be mowed with a sicklebar
mower and allowed to dry prior to burning. A
wheat field should be ringed with a fire line at
least 6 feet (1.8 m) wide. Burning can occur anytime
from late July to mid-September, but ideal
conditions are created if the burn takes place one
or two weeks before the opening of the dove season.
Burning should be conducted only under
appropriate weather conditions, with temperatures
of 65 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit (18 to 27
degrees C), relative humidity of 35 to 50 percent
and wind speed of 5 to 15 miles per hour (8
to 24 km/hour). Conditions outside these ranges
may result in poor burns or slow, hot burns that
destroy the seeds. In addition to burning, unharvested
wheat can be made available to doves
by discing, mowing or haying the field.
Wheat in Texas
—Leave it to enterprising
Texas cattlemen to figure out a way to combine
cattle, wheat, wild sunflowers and doves (Bourne
1991). In late autumn, fields of wild sunflowers
are tilled. This scatters the sunflower seeds and
prepares a seedbed for wheat. The wheat is broadcast
in a mixture with fertilizer, and the mixture
is worked into the soil. The wheat sprouts quickly
and provides six to eight months of good-quality
pasture. Sunflowers grow along with the wheat,
and when cattle are removed from the pasture in
late spring, both wheat and sunflowers are left to
produce seeds. In years when grass grows in the
wheat and sunflowers, cattle are put back on the
pasture to remove some of the grass and scatter
more seeds. Finally, a rotary mower is used to mow
all vegetation, scatter seed and uncover bare
ground. This system has provided unique supplemental
benefits to the farming operation.
Combining crops in Tennessee
—Waters
(1983) and Mahan (1978) suggested
combining crops to improve dove habitat and
hunting. This can increase the period of time
Dove Hunter's 12 Field Planting Guide
that doves use a field or complex of fields and
may reduce the chance of a complete crop failure
that can occur with one crop. Bourne
(1991) described a dove management system
on a west Tennessee farm that uses millet,
corn, sunflowers and winter wheat in the complex.
The millet and sunflowers are cultivated
specifically to provide dove habitat, and manipulation
of the residue of other crops also
provides dove habitat as a byproduct of regular
farming operations.
Many other crops, including corn, hay,
beans, barley and annual rye, are grown specifically
for mourning doves. Their manipulation
is similar to those described previously. Any of
these crops can potentially provide excellent
shooting field conditions if properly managed.
Manipulating Crop Residues to Provide
Shooting Fields
Much of the mourning dove hunting in North
America is done in or adjacent to harvested
crop fields, and managing these fields to enhance
feeding habitat for doves is a fairly easy
and inexpensive proposition. Corn, sorghum,
millet, peanuts and soybeans are just some of
the crops that can be harvested and still provide
excellent shooting opportunities during
the dove season. Most harvesting methods, including
silage chopping, conventional combining,
picking, hogging and haying, involve provision
for open or bare ground with scattered
seeds on the surface. Other management considerations
that can improve the quality of a
field for dove shooting include the following.
Timing of the harvest
—Crop harvesting,
as noted earlier, should be conducted one or two
weeks prior to the opening of dove season to allow
sufficient time for doves to locate and begin
using the field in large concentrations.
Although sunflower fields at the Max
McGraw Wildlife Foundation in Dundee, Illinois,
are not harvested per se, as previously noted, the
fields are "opened up" two weeks prior to the dove
hunting season (R.A. Montgomery personal
communication: 1991). Strips 30 to 100 feet (9.1
to 30.5 in.) wide are mowed to form blocks of
cover. Besides providing bare ground in places,
the strips assist in the marking and finding of
shot doves and in keeping hunters safely spaced.
Scattered seed
—The abundance and
availability of seeds on the surface of a field is
a key factor in the extent to which doves will
use a field for feeding. Light discing, hogging
or shredding stalks and remaining ears of corn,
bean pods, peanut hulls or millet heads improves
the potential of the field to attract doves.
Open or bare ground
—The same activities
that scatter seed can be used to create
more open ground within the field. Burning
of crop residues also provides the bare
ground component important in attracting
doves to shooting fields.
The Dollars and Cents of Feeding
Field Management
Providing quality dove feeding habitat and
dove hunting doesn't have to cost a lot of
money. Discing or mowing to bare the ground
and scatter seeds of natural vegetation and
crop residues can cost as little as $5 to $10
per acre ($12.36 to $24.71/ha). Once fences
and watering facilities are in place, the use of
livestock to provide those conditions, locally
known as "hogging," costs next to nothing.
Burning of fields costs about $2 per acre
($4.94/ha) in Missouri (Missouri Department
of Conservation 1989). Harvesting crops, cutting
silage and baling hay crops provide dove
habitat with no costs above those of normal
farming operations.
The cost of mourning dove management
can be much higher, especially if plantings are
for a commercial crop. At best, attempts to estimate
the cost of producing commercial crops
are subject to a wide variety of economic variables.
Each crop has its own production cost
associated with seed costs, planting techniques
and other considerations. Corn, sunflowers and
milo generally cost more to plant than do wheat
or millet. But costs for each crop vary regionally
and greatly depending on the level of management
that is applied. The amount of fertilizer
and pesticide used and the number of
equipment trips across a field are responsible
for the variability.
As derived from Moore et al. (1988), Ervin
et al. (1983) and conversations with farmers and
other agribusiness people, ranges of production
cost estimates are as follows: corn = $75 to $150
per acre ($185.33 to $370.65/ha); sunflower and
milo = $40 to $125 per acre ($98.84 to $308.88/
ha); wheat = $35 to $90 per acre ($86.49 to
$222.39/ha); and millet = $25 to $55 per acre
($61.78 to $135.91/ha). None of these ranges includes
irrigation costs. Fertilizer and seed costs
can also change annually. Clearly, these ranges
include "food plot" levels of management, with
little fertilizer and pesticide and a willingness to
accept lower production and weeds. The higher
ends of the ranges are tending toward modern
"high input/high yield" technology. Most, but not
all, dove management costs are probably near
or below the midpoint of these ranges.
Those who manage for doves on their
own land or belong to hunting clubs know
how costly raising crops can be. Those who
are fortunate enough to be granted permission
to hunt privately owned fields should
take a second to dwell on these costs. Farmers
have a lot invested in these crops. They also
have substantial investments in equipment
and in the land itself, in both money and time.
Hunters should recognize that hunting is a
privilege. To hunt on private land is a double
privilege, for it also involves consented "intrusion"
on the owner's property, livelihood
and lifestyle.
Management of Natural Vegetation
Fields of natural vegetation, mostly volunteer native
annuals, can be managed for improved dove
shooting. A short list of native annuals that are
readily used by mourning doves and have potential
in shooting field management include
panicgrass, pigweed (Lewis et al. 1982), Carolina
cranesbill, crotons, morning glory (Mahan
1978), barnyard grass, common ragweed, pokeberry,
Texas millet (Waters 1983), foxtails, cane,
crabgrass (Korschgen 1958) and wild sunflowers
(Bourne 1991). In any field where these or a
wide variety of other plant species occur in densities
sufficient to provide an abundant seed
source, light discing, mowing or burning will
attract doves. Soil disturbance prior to or early
in the growing season will stimulate production
of many seed-producing annuals.
Dove Management and the Farm Act
The 1990 Farm Act (Food and Agriculture Conservation
Trade Act) contains both the Acreage
Conservation Reserve (ACR), often called
"set-aside," and the 10-year Conservation Reserve
Program (CRP). These programs provide
many wildlife benefits. Mourning doves, too,
can benefit from management of these "idled"
lands
—including perhaps 40 million CRP
acres (16.2 million ha) and 10 to 30 million
ACR acres (4.0 to 12.1 million ha) (E. W.
Schenck personal communication: 1991).
Ground-nesting sites certainly occur on
properly managed set-aside and on recently
established CRP fields. Mourning dove feeding
habitat and associated hunting potential
can be enhanced where annual weeds and
grasses are mowed, disced (on nonerodible
soils) or burned in a timely manner after nesting
seasons conclude.
Planting small-grain crops on set-aside
lands is not normally allowed, but for landowners
considering more intensive dove management,
the Farm Act includes provisions for establishing
such attractive wildlife food plots on
ACR and CRP, although there are limits on the
amount of such plantings on both. Using setaside
lands can reduce the cost of providing wildlife
benefits, because management is applied to
idled land instead of reducing the amount of
"money crops." There are also incentives for
landowners to establish trees and shrub
plantings, including hedgerows and underbrush
on CRP lands. These can provide important future
dove nesting and roosting habitats.
Participation in these programs varies from
state to state and county to county. Interpretations
by county Agricultural Stabilization and
Conservation Service (ASCS) boards and administrators
also vary. Landowners are advised to contact
local ASCS officials before instituting management
measures to make sure that those actions
do not jeopardize involvement in or payments
from those valuable conservation programs.
MANAGEMENT OF TOXIC SHOT
—
Ingestion of spent lead shot by feeding waterfowl
is recognized as a significant problem for
waterfowl survival and production (Bellrose
1959, 1964, Sanderson and Bellrose 1986). Ingestion
of spent lead shot may also be a problem
for mourning doves (Locke and Bagley 1967,
Lewis and Legler 1968, Buerger et al. 1986). Consequently,
management of toxic shot may be
necessary on some mourning dove shooting
fields. Castrale (1989) reported that spent shot
accumulated on the surface of the soil rapidly
(in one hunting season) and remained until the
soil was disturbed. To reduce the likelihood of
lead shot ingestion by mourning doves, Castrale
(1989) suggested plowing dove fields at the end
of the hunting season, establishing postseason
vegetation unattractive to doves, designing narrow
—
less than 165 feet (50 in) wide
—shooting
fields where spent shot will fall in sites unavailable
to feeding doves, and using nontoxic
steel shot instead of lead. Kringer et al. (1980)
reported that #4 steel shot was effective for taking
doves. In any event, care should be taken to
prevent hunters from shooting toward each
other across narrow fields.
In large fields subjected to heavy shooting
over the course of a decade or more, "mining" to
reclaim spent lead may be feasible and economical
as well as environmentally responsible.
HUNTER MANAGEMENT
—
Proper shooting field management also involves
management of hunts. By regulating
hunter pressure, managers can often extend
quality dove hunting in an area well into and
perhaps throughout the season. Shooting field
rotation is a practice used in some southern
dove hunting areas. Also, both Mahan (1978)
and Waters (1983) suggested that by limiting
shooting on managed fields in the South to
once or twice a week, quality dove hunting can
be sustained well beyond the initial days of
hunting. This technique may not work as well
in northern areas where doves tend to migrate
early (Madson 1978, R.A. Montgomery personal
communication: 1991).
Shooting pressure can be reduced by
limiting the hours that fields are hunted each
day. Madson (1978) noted that several states
have regulations restricting dove hunting to
specific times of the day. Illinois restricts
shooting hours during the dove season by
enforcing a daily opening of 1 p.m. As a result
of 15 years of experience, one successful, privately-
owned hunting operation in southern
Illinois permits dove shooting only between
2 and 5 p.m. (Bourne 1991). Special regulations
on selected management areas in Missouri
include afternoon closures.
The desired effect of these practices and
regulations is to maintain dove concentrations
in an area by allowing doves' undisturbed
use of managed fields during at least
a portion of the day. If resources are expended
to prepare and manage dove shooting fields
properly, then some level of hunter management
may be considered appropriate. It is
frustrating for a manager to spend much of a
year planning, planting and managing fields
for mourning doves only to have them "shot
out" in a day or two.
A shooting field manager should not
limit his or her concern to maintaining or
optimizing harvest, however. High-quality
shooting field management must consider
shooter safety. Madson (1978: 67) suggested
that a dove load have a "danger range" of
300 yards (274 in.). This is a reasonable guideline.
The shape of a field and other characteristics,
such as patterns of vegetation, will determine
the safe number and distribution of
hunters. In areas with long, narrow strips of
vegetation, one shooting station per four acres
(1.6 ha) is an acceptable standard for safety.
Two or three experienced hunters can shoot
safely from each station. For large and open
square fields, the aforementioned 300-yard
(274 m) "rule" applies amd may limit shooting
stations to one per 20 acres (8 ha).
Managers must react promptly to unsafe
conditions and careless shooting. Hunters at
each station should be advised in advance
of constraints on shooting and all other applicable
rules and courtesies. Also, alcoholic
beverages are not to be consumed before or
during a hunt.
Shooting field managers must strive to
assure that legal requirements and regulations
are carefully observed and followed.
Baiting, overshooting limits or legal hours and
other violations are not to be tolerated. They
damage the resource, foster poor hunter behavior,
demean the role and purpose of hunting
and eventually may close down hunting
in the area altogether.
Also unacceptable is unethical or even
unwittingly careless behavior. "Skybusting,"
shooting doves on the ground, wires or trees,
not searching for wounded birds, moving from
hunting stations and other actions must not be
permitted. The manager has an obligation to
inform or remind all shooters of these points.
SUMMARY
—
Many species of plants that produce small
seeds (peanut and corn-size seeds or smaller)
can be manipulated by a variety of methods to
provide an abundance of seeds on relatively
bare ground, the two most important components
to successful shooting field management.
The dove food resources created by any one
plant species or management technique can be
enhanced by the introduction of additional
plant species and management techniques
within the same field or management unit. A
diverse field management plan that includes
interspersing an early-season crop such as millet
with a late-season crop such as corn and the
mechanical manipulation of an idle portion of
a field containing pigweed or foxtail can provide
quality feeding habitat for doves throughout
the year and excellent shooting opportunities
during hunting season.
Few land management practices that are
specifically designed to enhance game species
are more directed toward hunting than are
those for mourning doves. Although the potential
exists to manage land to improve nesting
habitat and other needs of doves, most active
mourning dove management is focused on
harvesting doves. Managers have an obligation
to review these priorities and consider the yearround
needs of doves. Besides, consideration
of these needs can pay hunting season benefits.
Approximately 93 percent of banded doves harvested
in Missouri are banded in Missouri. Immature
doves banded in Missouri composed
92 percent of immature banded doves harvested
in Missouri (Atkinson et al. 1982).
Clearly, hunting success in that state depends
on nesting success there. The same applies to
most other states. Even in managed shooting
fields, there is mourning dove use when hunters
are not present. Before the season opens
and, to a lesser extent, after the season closes,
managed fields provide habitat for nesting and
wintering doves, respectively. It can be argued
that a relatively small percentage of doves using
a particular shooting field actually are harvested
in that field.
Even in the matter of shooting field management,
the welfare of the species is the first
and foremost interest. Hunting must be conducted
on a sustained-yield basis. Implementation
of part-day hunting allows doves to use
managed fields without disturbance during at
least part of the feeding period. Field rotation
also helps protect the birds from overharvest.
Waters (1983) suggested a small, very early
planting of browntop millet in each shooting
field complex to provide food for nesting doves.
Chambers (1963) found that corn comprised
95 percent of the diet of mourning doves wintering
in northern Missouri. He suggested that
the availability of corn is the primary factor affecting
the survival of wintering doves in the
more northern parts of the winter range. Much
of the doves' range features hedgerows and
windbreaks. They make excellent cover and
shady places from which to hunt doves. Responsible
land use should include the protection
and establishment of these sites.
Hedgerows inhibit wind speed, reducing soil
erosion and moisture-related stress in crops.
They are habitat for many wildlife species and
provide important dove nesting and roosting
sites. Establishing a food source such as millet
or corn for nesting and wintering doves and
hedgerows for nesting and roosting doves are
sound management practices.
Harvesting mourning doves is a benefit
of the species that brings with it responsibilities.
If such harvest, along with management
of shooting fields, is accomplished with foresight
and under promulgated guidelines, laws
and regulations, it does not harm the species
and does accommodate America's foremost
hunting opportunity in terms of man-hours
of recreation and total harvest.
This chapter was excerpted with permission from
Ecology and Management of the Mourning Dove,
a Wildlife Management Institute book (1993). The institute
is a private, nonprofit, scientific and educational
organization based in Washington, DC. For additional
information about the institute, its programs and publications,
including the one cited, write to Wildlife Management
Institute, Suite 725, 1101 Fourteenth Street,
NW, Washington, DC 20005. At the time this book was
published, the chapter's author, Richard K. Baskett, was
with the Wildlife Division of the Missouri Department
of Conservation located in Columbia, Missouri.
References Cited
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----. 1986. Developing dove habitat. Alabama's Treasured Forests
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Shooting Field Management