 “HOW
TO DECOY AND CALL DOVES”
Dove Decoying
EDITOR'S NOTE: Decoying and calling doves makes dove
hunting an exciting, fun-filled sport. It also allows
the land-bound hunter to experience the thrills of waterfowl-type
hunting, calling and decoying, while actually hunting
doves. It makes the sport of doveing on the same level
as good waterfowling without the inclement weather.
Dove season will open soon all across the U.S. This
week we’ll give you tips and information to help
you enjoy better dove hunting this fall.
A hunter once found a pond on a soybean farm where
doves flew in to drink water late in the afternoon.
The farm had had several dove shoots on it during the
first three weeks of the season. Although the farm still
had plenty of doves, they had become scattered and very
wary. The water provided the best place to concentrate
the gray ghosts of the skies. However, the birds flew
from many directions to the large pond, and only a few
of the doves came past the tree where the hunter hid.
He had plenty of doves to shoot, but he couldn't get
them in close enough to shoot most of the time. A friend
of his suggested that he buy some dove decoys to reel
the doves in toward him. He assumed that he could decoy
doves just like ducks. Therefore, he went to his local
sporting-goods store and purchased dove decoys.
 When
the hunter’s dozen dove decoys arrived, he realized
he had the same problem that waterfowl hunters did.
He had to figure out how to get all of his equipment
to the field and not get so bogged-down that he couldn't
hunt. He learned about a chair pack, a stool with a
large pack under it. He could carry this chair pack
into the field like a backpack. He could put the decoys
into the pack, place the pack on his back and shoot
birds going to and coming from the pond. Then when he
arrived at the pond, he could take the decoys out of
the pack, place them in the trees, unfold the pack and
have a comfortable dove stool. The decoys and this pack,
along with the knowledge that the doves would come in
to the water, helped him set up a perfect ambush for
those smart doves that had dodged him for the past two
weeks. The hunter headed for the pond and placed the
dove decoys out on the limbs of the tree near where
he sat. He watched as the elusive doves came in to the
pond, spotted his decoys and then banked in to where
he hid for some socializing before they took a drink
of water. The decoys worked like a charm luring the
socially-minded mourning doves to within gun range.
 Believing
that late-season dove hunting could parallel waterfowl
hunting and seeing that decoys worked for doves near
water just like they worked for ducks, the hunter wondered
if he could call to doves. He presented this problem
to David Hale, one of the originators of the Knight
and Hale Game Calls Company in Cadiz, Kentucky, who
told him, "Sure, you can call doves. I blow on
a round, wooden owl hooter while covering the front
hole of the call and then releasing it. The hooter gives
the perfect cooing sound made by the doves. I've called
in plenty of doves on the owl hooter -- especially in
roosting areas. If the doves can see and hear what resembles
other doves, they have to come and investigate."
 The
hunter again set out his decoys. When he spotted doves
approaching, he began to give calls on the owl hooter
like Hale had taught him. The doves responded to the
calling and the decoys. Just like waterfowl, the doves
would bank, turn and come in to his spread. Decoying
and calling doves really became exciting. Although he
knew he hadn't mastered calling, he found out he could
work mourning doves in to range. And the satisfaction
that came from good calling and decoying welled-up inside
him. He realized that he could work doves around water
in the same way that he could work waterfowl over water.
TOMORROW: MOVING DOVES FROM
THE WATER TO THE FIELD
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