By Jeff L. Makemson, Division of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries

The mourning dove is the most numerous, widespread, and hunted game bird of North America. Alabama is fortunate to have such an abundance of resident and migratory mourning doves. More than 70,000 Alabama hunters harvested Approximately 1,512,500 doves during the 2001-2002 hunting season. Mourning dove hunting in Alabama ranks among the top five states in dove harvest and hunter success. The mourning dove is the state’s most popular game bird. Millions of dollars annually are added to Alabama’s economy by individuals interested in doves. Many landowners in Alabama, particularly farmers, receive additional sources of income through pay-to-shoot dove fields. With a little extra effort, you can manage your farm to attract more doves for some exciting wing shooting.

Life History
Mourning dove populations occur from southern Canada to northern Mexico. They breed in every state of the United States except Alaska and Hawaii. Millions of mourning doves must migrate south every winter to avoid harsh weather and to find food. Large numbers of mourning doves may die when food supplies are covered by snow or ice and temperatures are below freezing for extended periods. They will usually leave their northern range and travel south to their wintering grounds from September through February and return to their breeding grounds from March through August. Usually they will fly in small flocks of less than 50, flying a few hundred feet above the ground. They tend to migrate for a few hours each day, usually in the morning, and make regular stops to loaf and feed. It is common for mourning doves to travel more than 100 miles a day when migrating. Mourning doves are also known to migrate at night

Alabama does have a large resident population of mourning doves, but a much greater concentration winters here. Most of our migrant mourning doves come from north central and northeastern states. Often doves that migrate through Alabama will travel to southern Georgia and northern Florida to winter. Non-migrating mourning doves may travel extensively each day. Daily flights of more than 10 miles to reach feeding areas have been recorded. Flights of 2 to 3 miles from roosts to feeding areas are common.

In Alabama, the mourning dove may be observed breeding during any month. However, breeding season usually peaks in late spring and early summer. Once a male has attracted a female, the pair mate and remain together the entire breeding season. Nests are usually about 15 feet from the ground and are often along field and pasture edges or adjacent to other open areas. Both the male and female work together to construct a fragile, platform-like nest.

Typically two eggs are laid in the nest. Incubation begins immediately with the first egg and a second egg is laid in about 24 hours. The eggs hatch after a 14 day incubation period and the young are fed pigeon milk (a milky substance produced in the dove’s crop) and partially digested seeds until they are ready to leave the nest. The young doves, or squabs, develop rapidly and can fly at around 12 days old. Soon after the young leave the nest the adults begin preparation for a second brood, often using the same nest. In Alabama, from three to seven broods may be produced each year. Doves born in the spring will become reproductively mature at 90-100 days old and have the potential to reproduce during the same year they were born. This high rate of reproduction is important to offset the 70 percent annual mortality rate. Annual nonhunting mortality is four to five times that attributable to hunting. Most dove mortality is due to the harsh weather, predation, accidents, disease, parasites, and pollution

Habitat Preferences
Mourning doves are primarily vegetarians. They feed on various seeds, waste grain, native and cultivated grasses and occasionally on small traces of insect matter. Large open cultivated fields of millet, sunflower, corn, wheat, soybeans and peanuts often attract large numbers of birds. Carolina cranesbill, dove weed (woolly croton), morning glory, pokeberry, ragweed, spiny pigweed, bristle grass and sweetgum seeds are native foods doves highly prefer. Doves rarely scratch the ground for food and it must be on fairly open ground where seed is easily seen. Prior to flying down in a field, doves will often sit on power lines, trees, or snags if they are available. One of the best dove fields I have seen had a large dummy power line running through the field. That line was routinely filled with doves.

Mourning doves, like most seed-eating doves, must have grit in their gizzard to help grind food. Grit is usually composed of sand or gravel, but may be snail shells or hard insect matter. Often, doves are seen in dirt roads or along the edge of paved roads picking up grit.<br>
Doves require water daily. A unique characteristic of the mourning dove is that it drinks water like cows or horses. It plunges its bill in the water and drinks until the thirst is quenched. Most other birds will take in water, raise and tilt the head back, swallow and repeat the process until thirst is quenched. Doves prefer to get water from ponds, streams and puddles that have clear banks and edges with a gentle slope to the water.

Bona Fide Agricultural Practice
Mourning dove hunting in Alabama originally resulted from normal bona fide agricultural harvest operations of grain crops. Factors such as recommended planting dates, proper seed distribution, seed bed preparation, application rate and seed viability are used to determine if the field constitutes a bona fide agricultural operation before doves can be legally harvested. The term "bona fide" means in good faith, without fraud or dishonesty. It is important for hunters and landowners to know what an acceptable agricultural practice is.

As required by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources recognizes the Alabama Cooperative Extension System as the authority on what is considered a bona fide or normal agricultural operation. Your local county extension office has free publications explaining proper farming practices and techniques. In recent years more productive and clean farming methods have helped to distribute doves by reducing important grass seeds and weeds. The double and triple cropping of fields, along with the use of herbicides, will often spread doves over more fields, resulting in less concentration of doves in each field.

Managing Dove Fields
Mourning doves may be attracted to fields for hunting by ensuring some mature grain is available for them. It is important to pay close attention to planting dates and seed maturation dates to ensure the grain crop will be available during the dove hunting season. Dove fields may be varied in shape, but should be at least two acres in size. Larger fields of 20-60 acres are recommended for safety reasons and so you can adequately spot the doves to prepare for the shot. A good rule of thumb is to allow one acre for each gun on the field.

Browntop millet, dove proso millet and peredovik sunflower are highly preferred foods used to attract doves. Oftentimes these seed varieties will be mature before corn is ready for harvest. Browntop should be planted on a well-prepared seedbed, in rows 36 inches apart at the rate of 10 to 12 pounds per acre drilled, or 20 pounds per acre broadcasted. Fertilize and lime at the recommended rate determined by your soil test. Browntop seed matures in 60 days and should be planted from mid May to July. Dove proso may be planted using the same method as browntop and will mature in 90 days. Both browntop and dove proso millet may be left unharvested two weeks prior to hunting. Once the seed is mature, mowing and raking or burning the millet is recommended to better expose the seeds for the doves. Peredovik sunflower should be planted on a well-prepared seedbed, in an alternating two-row pattern 48 inches apart at the rate of 5 pounds per acre drilled. Planting two rows and skipping two rows will provide more bare ground for doves while feeding. Unwanted grasses and weeds between the rows should be controlled by periodically disking. Sunflowers seeds mature in 90 to 100 days.

Cornfields harvested late will often attract more late fall and winter doves than any other type of dove field. To provide an additional food source for doves, milo, grain sorghum and peanuts are also highly preferred foods eaten by doves in the fall and winter months. To hold doves for the entire season, browntop and milo may be planted in alternating strips in cornfields of about eight rows each. Wheat fields of 1 to 3 acres, planted in the fall and left unharvested, will provide doves food during the summer months. Planting combinations will increase the probability that some seeds will be available and mature during dove hunting season. It will also reduce the risk of losing a crop to insects, disease or adverse weather. Ultimately a dove manager’s goal should be to provide a continuous supply of diverse and highly preferred foods throughout the year.
To ensure a successful hunt it is important to have enough hunters on the field to keep doves flying rather than landing in the field. A good rule of thumb is to hunt individual fields once a week. Shooting over fields too regularly will discourage doves from feeding and they may go elsewhere in search of food. To extend hunting over the entire season, restrict hunting hours. Allowing doves time to feed will help keep them coming back to the field.

Legal Issues
Mourning doves and other migratory birds are a national resource protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Federal and state game laws and regulations help ensure that these birds continue to thrive while providing hunting opportunities.
One of the most common problems associated with dove hunting is hunting over bait. This is usually caused by a basic lack of understanding of what constitutes baiting. According to federal and state law, no person shall take or attempt to take migratory game birds by the aid of baiting or on or over any baited area. Baiting is placing, exposing, depositing or scattering salt, corn, wheat or other grain, or any feed that may lure or attract doves to or over an area where hunters are attempting to harvest them. Any area where bait has been placed constitutes a baited area. A baited area is considered baited for 10 days following the complete removal of said bait. Oftentimes doves will habitually return to a feeding area for a few days after the bait has been removed. Baiting should not be confused with bona fide normal agricultural operations and procedures.

Doves may be hunted over any field where any grain, feed or salt has been distributed or scattered as a result of a normal agricultural operation. This includes lands planted as wildlife food plots, provided the seed is planted in a manner consistent with the recommendations for planting. Crops may also be manipulated by any method to attract doves such as mowing, discing or burning so long as it is not harvested and then redistributed on the field. The practice known as "hogging down," occurs when livestock are allowed to enter a field and feed on standing or harvested crops. Usually this practice involves peanuts or corn and it provides a legal field for harvesting doves.

A responsible hunter will always ask the landowner or his agent if the field is baited prior to the hunt. Take a quick walk around the field and check for the presence of grain, feed, salt or any material that is not part of a bona fide agricultural process. Make sure the grain on the field was grown there and that it is evenly distributed throughout the field. If it is a freshly plowed field, ask when the soil was turned and what was planted. If the hunter has any doubt, it is probably best to leave the field.

HIP Permit
Required to Hunt Doves
Since 1996, a Harvest Information Program (HIP) Permit has been required to hunt doves and other migratory game birds in Alabama. The permit is free and can be obtained from sporting license agents in the state. This federal program’s objective is to obtain migratory game bird harvest information from hunters. Information gained from this survey is used in managing dove and other migratory game birds populations. Hunters must complete a brief survey about past hunting success. After completing the survey, hunters are given a permit that sticks to the back of their hunting license. Conservation enforcement officers will inspect licenses for this permit when people are dove hunting or hunting other migratory game birds.

Youth Dove Hunts
For several years the Division of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries partnered with landowners throughout the state to provide dove hunting opportunities for young hunters. For many youngsters, this is their first opportunity to hunt. The fields are available to young hunters 15 years old and younger that were accompanied by a licensed hunter 25 years old or older. Participating landowners will have a contract executed by the Department to provide liability coverage for the Division sponsored youth events. For information on this year’s hunts, please contact the Wildlife Section at 334-242-3469 or check the Department’s web site at www.dcnr.state.al.us.

Conclusion
The opening day of dove season is a time-honored tradition that signals the opening of the fall hunting season in Alabama. It has been described as a blend of family reunion, lodge picnic, and old-style barbecue. However you want to describe it, one thing is certain -- it is a whole lot of fun.