In 2004, the first field was leased; it was near Lackey in Monroe County. Permit holders were allowed to hunt on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday afternoons. Eighty permits were available at a cost of $50 each. Each permit allowed for an adult and two young hunters to shoot on the field. However, for each permit, no more than two of those folks (and only one adult) could use the permit at one time. That first lease proved successful, and additional pieces of land should be in the program this hunting season.

According to Baker, the MDWFP had up to five more landowners across the state interested in such arrangements for this season. For more information on these dove fields, check out the MDWFP Web site at www.mdwfp.com and go to the "Hunting" page.

Although MDWFP personnel neither supervise the hunts nor assign shooting spots, Conservation Officers regularly check the fields. Each hunter of age must have a valid Mississippi hunting license that shows him or her to be HIP-certified.

HUNTING REGULATIONS
This year the daily limit of mourning doves is again 15 per person per day; the possession limit is 30. There's no limit on Eurasian collared doves that have invaded Mississippi and most of the Southeast after migrating over from the Bahamas. Collared doves are larger and lighter-colored than mourning doves and have a thin black band around their necks that looks like a collar.

Each hunter must remove his own doves from the field; his doves should be kept separated into the transport.

It is still illegal to hunt over feeders or baited fields. A field is considered to be baited for 10 days after all grain, salt or other feed not resulting from or a byproduct of normal agriculture practices has been removed. A field is not considered to be baited if the crop is grown for other wildlife, or if the goal is to harvest a crop. Property owners or hunters cannot return to add grain after the harvest.

THE HARVEST INFORMATION PROGRAM

Prior to 1992, game managers knew there were doves and other migratory birds being taken by hunters, but there was no way to measure any impact sportsmen were having on the bird populations. There were many questions, but no statistics for establishing trends. Without hard information, there was no solid science to back up management decisions. To alleviate the problem, the United States Fish and Wildlife Agency set up the Harvest Information Program to provide wildlife biologists across the country with data about what was really happening to doves, ducks, geese, woodcock and other migratory game birds at the regional and national levels. The agency also supplied information on the number of hunters who went after these birds. All hunters pursuing migratory birds are now required to fill out a questionnaire regarding which species they hunted and how many of each were taken during the prior season. In return, the participants receive a free HIP permit(which appears as HIP Certified on Mississippi's paper licenses), which is required for hunting the migrant bird species. The HIP survey is available wherever hunting licenses are sold. Be aware that each state maintains its own HIP registration. If you hunt migrants in another state, you have to be HIP certified there as well

Hunters are liable for hunting on a field legally defined as baited, whether or not they know the field was baited. If a Conservation Officer finds a hunter in a field that's deemed to be baited, the ticket goes to the hunter, not the landowner -- so be sure to ask the right questions. One dead giveaway is seeing grain on the ground that's different from what was grown in the field.

It's legal for hunters to give away doves they have taken, but the birds must be tagged with the name and address of the hunter. Each tag must be signed, and should indicate the date and total number of birds killed.

These free migratory game bird tags can be obtained from the state office. For tags write: MDWFP, Attention Migratory Game Bird Tags, 1505 Eastover Drive, Jackson, Mississippi 39211-6374.

YOUNGSTERS AND DOVES
Dove fields are great places to give a youngster that first hunting experience. Many of the great outdoor writers of years gone by, like Robert Ruark and Ernest Hemingway, recount tales of serving an apprenticeship by gathering doves for older hunters.

Time spent in a dove field teaches hunting manners, and these hunts are rarely boring if there's a more experienced shooter with tales to tell. Since all shots are directed at flying birds, there's little chance that a young participant will be mistaken for a dove.

For young hunters actually involved in the action, doves are also ideal. When the birds are flying, the action's pretty constant, so the short attention span of youth doesn't interfere with the fun. Additionally, the light loads used for wingshooting doves don't produce so much recoil as to make most kids "stock-shy."

That first dove brought down by a young hunter is a treasure long remembered, and provides a story to be retold for a lifetime -- no matter how many boxes of cartridges it takes to get the bird!