The Midwest has thousands of acres of public access land open for dove hunting—many with good opportunities to harvest mourning doves. Mourning doves require food, water, grit and shelter. Find a spot that has all these elements, plus public access, and you have a good chance of success.

Use DNR access guides & maps

Most states have where-to-hunt information on their DNR websites. For example, simply go to the Wisconsin DNR website and click on Small Game hunting. Scroll down to Mourning Dove, and then Where to Hunt. Look at the Voluntary Public Access listing that shows private lands in Wisconsin open to the public. I’ve hunted doves on some of this private land and had great success. Look for the Fields and Forest Lands Interactive Gamebird Hunting Tool. This will give you maps of state properties managed for doves and other gamebirds. After opening weekend, and during the week, there is a lot less hunting pressure. Most folks seem to give up on doves after the first two weeks of the season.

Scouting: bird watching with a purpose

Drive country roads that border public hunting areas around mid-morning to assess the local dove population. Generally, areas bordering agricultural fields will hold more birds. Waste grain scattered or left over from harvest is a prime, favorite food source for all sorts of small and big game. Take note of corn, wheat or soybean fields. If a hunting spot on public land borders any sort of grain field, you want to be there within the first three days after picking. Often, this happens after the Opening day crowds are long gone. My son Adam and I have had some of our best dove hunts decoying in big, migrating flocks of doves in mid-October.

Flight lines

Doves and their larger cousins—barn pigeons—establish routes to fly from roosting to feeding areas. Spend some time during pre-season watching for the flight lines the birds use. Often, they will follow a tree line, fence line or natural terrain features. Other times, they will follow a water course like a creek, or the edge of a marsh. Only time spent in the early morning watching the birds fly will help you determine flight patterns.

Evergreen trees are a favorite for roosting doves, as the dense branches provide protection from avian predators like hawks or owls. One of the rare doubles I’ve had on doves was a pair that exited a large pine tree.

Yes, they will use other thick, dense stands of trees to roost in. Never stop scouting. I found a water hole to hunt doves over when scouting out a large piece of public land for archery deer hunting. I had harvested a deer with my crossbow there years ago and wanted to see how much the land had changed. I knew there was a small creek there; I didn’t know there was also a hidden little water hole. I flushed five rather surprised wood ducks out of it!

What to carry

Seeing as this is an early hunt, carry water and insect repellent. I carry my regular and motion decoys, camo netting, water, and bug spray in a 5-gallon pail that doubles as a seat. A small bag of clothespins allows me to hang the netting up for an expedient blind.

Putting it all together

Okay, you found your hunt area, and located the food, water and roost areas. You observed and figured out the flight lines and know where to set up. Remember that the use of non-toxic shot is required on public land. One ounce of steel #6 shot in my 12-gauge works best for me, as I tried some #7 shot and lost a few birds. I like 3/4-ounce loads of steel #6 shot in my 20-gauge. I suggest IMP cyl (Improved Cylinder) choke for shooting over decoys, and Mod (modified) choke for pass shooting. Old, mismatched, steel waterfowl loads you may have lying around will also work just fine.

I once found a migrating flock of doves circling my goose field decoys in mid-October. With no dove loads along, I had to harvest my doves with BB goose loads. Keep an eye out for feral barn pigeons as well. I’ve had them drop into my dove decoys lots of times. Pigeons are merely a larger, domesticated cousin of the mourning dove, and younger birds are quite tasty!

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