 “HOW
TO DECOY AND CALL DOVES”
Moving Doves from the Water to the Field
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.
 The
hunter decided if his calling and decoying techniques
helped him bag more doves over water, he assumed these
same tactics also would pay dividends in the field.
To give his strategy the best test, he found a tree
on the edge of a field where doves liked to work, feed
and rest. He reasoned that calling doves in to decoys
should follow the same principle that successfully calling
any other game followed. That principle claimed, "If
you try to call from an area where the game normally
and naturally wants to go, then the game will come in
easier and quicker. If you try to call from a region
out of the game's way or where the game doesn't want
to go, the calling often can become difficult and unsuccessful."
 So
he set his decoys in a tree where he'd seen many doves
sitting at different times of the day. He designated
this tree a loafin' tree because doves flew into the
tree and sat there for long periods when not hungry,
thirsty, in need of gravel or wanting to roost. A dove
would use a loafin' tree like a rural resident would
a country store -- a place to hang around to pick up
all the local information and socialize with folks.
When the doves saw other birds perched in a loafin'
tree, they'd come in for a social call. "When you
take a stand under a loafin' tree, place at least two
of the decoys on the same limb sitting side by side,"
Harold Knight, one of the creators of Knight and Hale
Game Calls of Cadiz, Kentucky, says. "If you'll
look at doves when they sit in a tree, you almost always
see two birds sitting close together on the same limb.
So if you want to use your decoys effectively, place
 them
to look as lifelike as possible." When he tried
decoying doves in to his favorite loafin' tree, he set
two of the decoys side by side as Knight had suggested.
Backing off and looking at his setup, the scene did
appear much more natural than having birds scattered
all over the tree. After putting the decoys out, he
moved in close to the trunk of the tree to look for
incoming birds. When he saw doves passing close by,
he cooed on the owl hooter and watched what happened
to the doves. Although he couldn't say for sure whether
the calling or the decoying worked most effectively,
by using decoys and calls, he brought in many more doves
than if he simply had sat down next to a tree and prayed
that doves would fly overhead.
TOMORROW: MAKING YOUR SPREADS FOR DOVES
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