Home Forums Birds & Dogs Upland Game Eurasian Collared

I'm seeing a bunch of the eurasian collared doves in the neighborhood. I haven't seen any out of town and have yet to shoot any.
My question here, Is there much difference in the taste of these compared to mourning doves?

I ate my first, one and only, collared dove yesterday.

They're bigger, it wasn't as tender as the mouning doves I stewed up (it was similar to pigeon in texture although not quite as tough/chewy/stringy) and it had a slighty more liver taste to it.

I'd like to hear if others have the same opinion. It's hard to judge with just a sample of one.

Doesn't sound good at all, thanks for the input!

I have never eaten a collared dove, but I have had regular dove that tasted like liver. I always put it down as pellets passing through the intestines, but could be something else. Like he said a sample of one is not a good indicator. miles

It wasn't nasty, just more pronounced. IMO, doves have a liver taste to them. I don't know of a better way to descibe it. They're commonly associated with having a liver taste and some people just don't like doves or liver but I do.

They're my favorite game bird.

Yeah, I'd still like to hear more input from someone who has more experience with the collared doves. I don't remember being too fond of the last dove. That was around fifteen yrs ago, but that's about to change.

Doves are my favorite game bird to eat as well. I've eaten thousands of them over the years, and I only hope the #8 and #9 shot I must have ingested along the way has passed through my digestive tract.

I like them cooked so they're still pink on the inside.

With a beer.

Here's an old pic of a "Mexican Breakfast."



That's five dove breasts, a cottontail back, two eggs over very easy, some white rice, and a cold Mexican Corona (there IS a difference).

Talk about a blue-plate special that I could get used to!!

That plate looks mighty good Rick!

I haven't eaten any collared doves yet, just white wing and morning doves. Occasionally I get one or two doves out of a bunch that taste a little like liver. I've always thought it was more or less related to how long those birds were lying dead in the heat before I got around to cleaning them.

I used to hunt with an old fellow who gutted and plucked every bird as he shot them. If he killed two birds out of a flight, he'd clean them before he shot another bird.

Rick,
That looks rather tasty, but I would substitute the white rice for wild rice. Nice pic either way!

We have collared doves again after some years of them being absent in the neighborhood. I can't shoot here, so have no idea what they taste like, but their call is nasty compared to a mourning dove. Mourning dove is kinda soothing; collared dove is kinda grating... May the friendly local Cooper's Hawk eat them all.

I shot 1 collared dove this weekend in TX tasted like the rest I guess....breasted wrapped in bacon with a jslepeno and cheese grilled over mesquite

We have collared doves here in my part of Montana now. Some even over-winter, but so far all I have seen have been in town (including some nesting around my yard) so haven't been able to sample them yet.

I will note, however, that somebody wise once said that the longer you cook any dark-meated gamebird, the more it tastes like liver.

We shoot lots of them at a local feed lot. My hunting partner eats most of them he's never mentioned anything unusual about the taste. He marinates them in Italian dressing then cooks in a crock pot, I think. Another friend grills them somehow, he hasn't mentioned them being different than Mourning Doves either. If you can find the right dairy farm or feed lot surrounded by or near suburbia they can provide some exciting shooting.

That's good input guys!! I'm not afraid to shoot eat one now if I can chase them outta town. Or maybe the BB gun will get brought out of the gun room....;)

I agree with a particular taste in doves in general, whitewings stronger than mournings doves, never eaten a Eurasian, pigeons are the toughest though I think it is better than liver still, hehe. I attribubte it to it being closer to red meat than chicken, but who knows... I grill them, stew them, make spaghetti sauce, pathe, polenta, etc etc....