The Bird of Peace

As a native Northeasterner, I was raised in an environment that considered the mourning dove to be a songbird, not a gamebird. I remember my tenth Christmas when my aunt and uncle gave me a Peterson field guide to birds, hoping that I would join them on bird-watching expeditions. That’s not quite the way it turned out. Dad gave me a Daisy Red Ryder carbine. He understood that the bird book might come in handy for post-mortem identification.

When I grew up, I moved to New York City. The Big Apple is short on doves. My only bird hunting opportunities were fruitless attempts to punt pigeons off of the sidewalk. So when I got invited on my first dove hunt, I jumped at it. It was a chance to get even with birds in general.

My pal placed me on a revolving piano stool in the middle of a Georgia field on opening day of dove season. I got dizzy spinning this way and that. I utterly failed to make any dove mourn but did provide some amusement for the real hunters. Later I took trips to Colombia, Argentina and Honduras. There are so many dove there that even I could hit some. Still, shooting in Latin American doesn’t have much to do with the way things are done in the States.

Now that I’ve moved to Florida, I participate in local dove hunts on a regular basis. I imagine that our hunts are pretty much like everyone else’s: a bunch of pickup trucks along a millet field, entire families in camo, lots of shots, happy Labs bounding off to collect the occasional success, a cool beverage or two when things are over.

One thing’s for sure. The shotshell companies love dove hunters. One of the ammo reps told me that dove hunters accounted for by far the largest chunk of all the shotshells made. US Fish and Wildlife says that America’s dove population is around 400 million. I’ve read estimates of from 23 to 70 million birds taken each hunting season. Split the difference and say 40 million. It is generally accepted that five to eight shots are expended per bird taken. Say it’s six; six times 40 million is 240 million shells! Almost a quarter of a billion! No wonder the ammo companies love the mourning dove.

Clearly, more Americans shoot at doves than at any other gamebird. While I would never say that one type of bird hunting is better than another, dove hunting is certainly one of the most accessible forms. There are a lot of places to partake and it doesn’t cost much. It also lends itself to groups, which makes for camaraderie.

Do you hunt doves where you live? Any good stories or hints for the rest of us?

That’s it for now. Boots off. Beer open.