Dove Hunting

September 1st means it is dove hunting season, and for some reason I was really excited for it to roll around this season. Maybe it was because the season opener fell on a Saturday and I knew that the boys and I would be able to go without much trouble.  Maybe it was because we hadn’t done too well the last year or two and I was looking for redemption.  Or maybe it was just because dove hunting is always a great opportunity to kick off the hunting season.  Whatever the reason, Billy, Ben and I made sure to take advantage of the Saturday opener.

I actually started preparing for dove season several months ago, checking out the sunflower fields planted by the Missouri Department of Conservation at several area conservation areas.  For once, it was a banner year for sunflowers.  Fields were doing well at Columbia Bottom, Marais Temps Clair, Busch, and Weldon Spring.   I had hunted several times at Weldon Spring, so I decided to stick with that for this year’s opener.  They have two sunflower fields, both in the bottoms near the trailhead for the Katy Trail. One is a very large, open field and the other is a long narrow one nearer the trail.

Now a fair warning.  Hunting for doves on the season opener on public land means that you will be hunting with hundreds of your ‘closest’ friends.  Not all of them share the same gun safety or hunting ethics that I do, so I can’t get myself to hunt the main fields.  Instead, I walk the area in the week or two prior to the season opening and try to find an area between where the doves may be roosting and where they are feeding.  This year, I found the perfect spot.  It was near water, in a field with sparse grass, and only a few hundred yards from the end of one of the sunflower fields.  It was a half mile walk from the car, and had a few dead trees on the border where doves often like to land and rest.  Now I just had to hope that no one else had the same idea I did.

Saturday morning we got an early start, stopping at QT for some sugar and caffeine before heading out.  We arrived an hour and a half before shooting time, and found numerous vehicles already parked along the main road.  To my relief, no one was parked in the far lot where I had planned to go.  We walked in quickly and set up in the spot I had picked out, and sat together and talked for the hour remaining before we could start shooting. It was perfect.  I could see by the flashlights that the nearest hunters to us were a long ways off, several hundred yards.

When shooting time finally arrived, we spread out and sat, waiting for  the doves to arrive.  We heard the first shots about 7 minutes after legal time, and the anticipation grew.  In the next 45 minutes, we saw a very low flying bald eagle, great blue herons, flocks of teal, pileated woodpeckers, robins, crows, and blackbirds – but not a single dove.  All the while gunshots were ringing out nearly non-stop from the sunflower fields.  The boys thought I was crazy, racing them out to my ‘secret’ spot only to find that the reason no one else was there was because there were no birds there.  But at least we were safe, I would say.  We waited patiently.

Finally, an hour after first light, we had our first flight of doves.  And once those came and went unscathed by our poor shooting, there were many more to follow.  Over the next several hours, we had a steady flow of doves either flying past us or coming into to land in one of the dead trees.  All three of us had plenty of shooting opportunities, and we were able to successfully harvest enough doves for a meal. In between flights there was plenty of banter as well as encouragement about missed shots.

Eventually, once the flight slowed down, the rest of the hunters left the sunflower field so we filtered over there to get a taste of that.  A few more missed opportunities, then the lunch bell was ringing so we hoofed it back to the truck and headed to Chic-Fil-A for a much needed meal.

We all agreed that the dove hunt was time well spent, and made plans to get out again soon.  It’s no secret that fast-flying doves are a tough target, and we certainly found them challenging.  However, it was still exciting.  We also find dove hunting relaxing, able to sit and shout back and forth to one another without fear of spooking our quarry.  We wore camouflage shirts and hats, but really relied more on remaining still to avoid detection rather than hiding in the tall grass.  Most often the approaching doves would fly right up to us as long as we were sitting still.

I also forgot how much I love to eat doves. After cleaning them, I soaked the doves for a day or two in a container of ice water in the refrigerator.  Then I marinated for several hours in heavy Italian dressing before putting onto kabobs with sweet peppers and grilling them.  The bite-sized breasts were delicious, and still good the next day as leftovers in my lunch.  I really have to get a few more of these as the season goes on.

I want to give a shout out to the Missouri Department of Conservation for their efforts creating these dove hunting locations.  The massive sunflower fields are beautiful while in bloom and attract all sorts of people who just want to see the sight and take photos.  Other birds, pollinators, and wildlife also benefit from the plantings.  About one week before the season, the MDC contractors mowed over the fields, effectively creating the perfect feeding scenario for doves while leaving some still standing to allow hunters a place to hide.  It seems that this year the sunflowers thrived and did better than in the past several.  However, overall bird numbers seemed lower than in past years so maybe there are more opportunities ahead this season as more doves migrate through.

If you have never tried dove hunting, grab your shotgun, your migratory bird stamp, more shells than you think you need and head out there and give it a try.  If you are worried about hunting with the crowds, as I am, then find a fringe area and take advantage of the pass shooting opportunities.  Either way, I think you will find it worthwhile and a great way to introduce young hunters or new hunters to the MO-Outdoors.  Good luck!

For an interactive map of dove hunting locations from the Missouri Department of Conservation, check out this link:

https://nature.mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/places/dove-hunting-areas