Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire How to Successfully Shoot Dove:

Please share with me your tips on shooting dove from A to Z. Going Saturday and don't want to get too embarassed.

The best way to shoot a dove? Off a limb.

jiigbr, -- you didn't say where or how you will be hunting? Over a pond, sitting around a field, pass shooting in a fly-way, or what? Given the information you supplied the best advice I can give, it doesn't matter what shotgun, or gage, or choke, just hit every dove you see in shooting distance,(important), and pick them up. If you do that regularly there won't be any comments about your ability or skill. If you have never hunted dove before, just remember to lead enough,(that spelling goes for distance and shot)!! -- no

jiigbr:<P>Bring twice as many shells as you think you will possibly need, and hide 3/4 of them in your bucket. If at all possible, pick up your empties as a courtesy to the landowner. Bring a dove bucket or a chair to sit on, unless there are only a few hunters and you plan on moving around a lot.<P>Unless they are flared for a landing, lead them at least twice as far as you think they need. And when you miss, get more lead. Unless you have a dog, when you knock a bird down, DO NOT take your eye off of that spot until you have gone over and picked it up. Dead doves can vanish on a pool table. I rarely shoot doubles for that reason.<P>If you have a dog, be extremely conscious of the heat, they will die on you in a heartbeat in a dove field if you are not careful. They must have shade and water and do not overwork them without rest. If the dog seems tired and hot, he is, let him rest. <P>Do your best to determine the worst shots in the field and hunt between or beside them. <P>Do your best to determine the best shots in the field and hunt as far from them as you can.<P>DO NOT buy dove and quail loads from any manufacturer. DO buy trap loads in 1 1/8 71/2s or 8s or skeet loads in 1 1/8 81/2s or 9s. These are for a 12 guage, of course. Do take a 12. Do use a skeet, improved cylinder or, at the tightest, a modified choke and restrict your shots under 40 yards maximum. Improved Cylinder is probably the best for you, considering your apparent inexperience.<P>If you are not assigned spots and there are not many people, take a few minutes to get ready and watch for doves. Often, they will all tend to fly in the same general area, like down a fence row, or between two groves of trees, etc. If you see one or two groups in such a spot, hie yourself on over there, unless it is taken. You probably won't have a choice, but most dove hunts start way too late in the morning, and way too early in the afternoon. Doves fly as early or earlier than ducks, and as far as the main flights go, usually don't fly all than much before about 3:30 to 4, assuming normal weather.<P>DO wear shooting glasses and DO NOT take any shots at low flying doves.<P>Doves seem to detect blue better than some other colors, wear camo, tan, or khaki pants, not blue jeans. A camo or tan colored shirt is good too. A hat is nearly essential, both for camo and for sun protection. If you see doves coming in your general direction, if you are standing, squat down, if you are sitting or behind cover be still until you are ready to shoot.<P>DO NOT mount your gun in preparation for the shot, wait until the bird is in range and mount and fire in the same basic motion. Keep the gun swinging after you have shot, tracking the dove for a second shot if you miss or wound.<P>There is a more, to say the least, but that is a start. Good luck, I have to wait until Saturday.

Dove season starts here at noon on Saturday. This will be the 18th year that I will host a shoot on my farm. There will be a pig pickin' before an after. I have invited 100 guns this year as I have for every year, about 120 will show up. We draw for shooting stations at 1000. I have 25 double stations for shooter and child, all other stations are singles.<BR> If you haven't been out shooting clays for the last few weekends then you are behind the power curve. I have seem and will againg this year see accomplished shooters(25 shooters on clays) stand there in the field and curse the small number of birds compared to the large pile of empties at their feet. Pick your shots, L E A D the birds(don't think I have ever seen a miss in front), mark your downed birds, pick them up as soon as they hit the ground, shooting doubles is a sure way to lose both birds.<BR> Big shoots like the one I'll host are very friendly, good times with lots of "NICE SHOT", "GOOD ONE", "HOW DID YOU MISS THAT ONE", "DID YOU HAVE YOUR EYES CLOSED", "LOOK OUT FOR DEAD EYE". I love it even though I haven't been able to shoot for the last couple of years. [img]images/icons/smile.gif" border="0[/img]

I'll add, if at all possible try to shoot them coming (as close as possible) directly toward you or directly away from you! Just like skeet these are the high percentage shots that don't require as much precision in leading the birds. If you can find a spot up against trees that they fly onto the field from, choose that spot. Any natural point of trees out into the field also seems to attract birds. Doves like going to an old dead tree or powerline to survey the field setup on the path to or from those if possible.<P>Early season I like 8 shot for denser patterns, late season 7.5 shot for tougher plumage.<P>Mike<P>Good luck! Dove shoots are the best!!

Sounds like we have some REAL bird hunters around this old campfire. I want to see CAT preform with a shotgun, I know he is good, I just want to see how good and get some lessons at the same time. Then again, he talks down the 20 gage, what's a fella to think? That 3" twenty is pretty deadly in the right hands. We are talking BIRDS not deer. Bet he has his hands full with Gene. <BR>-- no

Greetings, Well as with any hunting misses are going to happen, My way of learning was to bring the gun up from behind the bird and "swing" through faster than the bird and as the bead goes past the head you pull the trigger. The speed and the fact that you are swinging by the time you pull the trigger the bird will fold. I find that I stop the swing which is easy to do! So find the bird swing through shoot. like painting it out of the sky!. Some use another technique called a sustained lead. This is where they hold the gun past the bird and keep on leading and shoot. I worked at a skeet range and one of the best shots there thought that the bead on a shotgun was intended to make you miss, He felt that coordination and bringing the shotgun up such like snap shooting I believe he met that would make him hit all of his shots. I will stick to my technique. Good Luck

There is no way to successfully shoot doves. Anyone who tells you that they have ever killed a dove is lying. Doves are empowered with shotproof shields by God. It's a fruitless pursuit to even try, I know.

Dove humble me every year. The wife says the only ones I get are the stupid or slow ones, or those that have just gorged themselves at a field seed buffet...<P>Best place to set up for dove is behind some brush under a flyway...Shoot lots of shells, but you'll get lots of dove...especially those you didn't aim for [img]images/icons/laugh.gif" border="0[/img] [img]images/icons/laugh.gif" border="0[/img] ......<P>Next bet would be to set up around a pond/stock tank where there's a wheat/grass seed source nearby, and wait til they come in for water after feeding in the afternoon. They're a bit slower then and you don't need Kryptonite shot to bag'em... [img]images/icons/laugh.gif" border="0[/img] [img]images/icons/laugh.gif" border="0[/img] [img]images/icons/laugh.gif" border="0[/img]

If it Flies ... gave some very good advice about marking your downed birds. Take it to heart. I have forced myself to stoping to pick up each downed bird before attempting to shoot at another. You'd be surprised how they disappear in what otherwise appears to be a bare, cut field.<P>Also, I don't believe anyone mentioned pick a single bird out of a flight of multiple birds. If you down that one, then move on to another. When they fly over in tight groups of 10-15 birds it is awful tempting to "covey shoot" but it doesn't work.

Dave you are correct about the covey shooting, looks like you can kill a skillet full but, don't work like that most of the time. A trick I have used for many years on downed birds and squirrels, don't want to give away my cover and show myself. Take some sticks, twigs, anything you can lay on the ground in front of you, when a bird goes down lay a stick pointing directly at the spot where it hit the ground, same way with still hunting squirrels. After three or four you can walk straight out the stick and find the bird, might have to do it a second time but you will always know where it went down. If it was not dead, good luck in the grass. <BR>-- no

Ok - time for another joke!<P>A hunter goes into the sporting goods store, all excited about going dove hunting. He buys a license, and a box of shells, and gets directions for a likely hunting spot and heads off to the nearby location.<P>Well, about an hour later, he come back in, even more excited, talking about how fast they move and how they darted, and what fun it had been. He then asks what the limit is on doves, as he's forgotten it in all the rush and excitement.<P>The clerk, thinking the worst, and that it must have been a slaughter, replies "Why its five per day - I hope you didn't go over"<P>"oh heck no" says the novice " give me four more boxes of shells please !"<P>Scott

It's illegal in some states to shoot doves over/around a water source...GA is one of those states!<P>Mike<P>My last time on a dove field I got 11 birds with just under two boxes of shells, that has been awhile though! In GA you have to make an attempt to harvest whatever is planted in the dove field, so fields in our area dried up or cost a small fortune to get on now!

need one:<P>Your practice of using the sticks to point to your dead birds is one of the most practical ideas I've ever heard. I am going to try it out as, like you, I hate to get up and expose myself to pick up dead birds and I know I have lost birds by having done it.