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John's Journal... Entry 162, Day 2

HOW TO DECOY AND CALL DOVES

Dove Hunting At A Soybean Farm

EDITOR'S NOTE: Decoying and calling doves makes for an exciting, fun-filled sport. This tactic allows the land-bound hunter to experience the thrills of waterfowl-type hunting, calling and decoying while actually hunting doves. The decoying and calling makes the sport of doveing more than a shooting sport and more than a hunting sport -- putting it on the same level as good waterfowling without the bad weather. With the proper equipment and knowledge about doves, outdoorsmen can enjoy one of the best wing-shooting sports in America today.

I 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 homed plenty of doves, they had become scattered and very wary. The water provided the best place to concentrate the gray ghosts. However, the birds flew from many directions to the large pond, and only a few of the doves came past the tree where I hid. I had plenty of doves to shoot, but I couldn't get them in close enough to shoot most of the time. A friend of mine suggested that I buy some dove decoys to reel the doves in toward me. I assumed that I could decoy doves just like ducks. Therefore, I went to my local sporting-goods store and purchased dove decoys. When my dozen dove decoys arrived, I realized I had the same problem that waterfowl hunters did. I had to figure out how to get all of my equipment to the field and not get so bogged-down that I couldn't hunt. Once again, I consulted my sporting-goods dealer who told me about a chair pack, a stool with a large pack under it that I could carry into the field like a backpack.

I could put the decoys into the pack, place the pack on my back and shoot birds going to and coming from the pond. Then when I arrived at the pond, I 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 me set up a perfect ambush for those smart doves that had dodged me for the past two weeks. After buying some dove decoys, I headed for the pond and placed the doves out on the limbs of the tree near where I sat. I watched as the elusive doves came in to the pond, spotted my decoys and then banked in to where I 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, I wondered if I could call to doves.

I presented this problem to a good friend of mine, David Hale, a partner in Knight and Hale Game Calls Company in Cadiz, Kentucky, who told me, "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."

I again set out my decoys. When I spotted doves approaching, I began to give calls on the owl hooter like Hale had taught me. The doves responded to the calling and the decoys. Just like waterfowl, the doves would bank, turn and come in to my spread. Decoying and calling doves really became exciting.
Although I knew I hadn't mastered calling, I found out I could work mourning doves in to range. And the satisfaction that came from good calling and decoying welled-up inside me. I realized that I could work doves around water in the same way that I could work waterfowl over water.

TOMORROW: MOVING FROM THE WATER TO THE FIELD


 

 

Check back each day this week for more HOW TO DECOY AND CALL DOVES ...

Day 1 - Opening-Day Dove Hunting
Day 2 - Dove Hunting At A Soybean Farm
Day 3 - Moving From the Water to the Field
Day 4 - Decoys and Loafin' Trees
Day 5 - Making Your Spreads


John's Journal