Mississippi hunters have averaged taking around a half-million mourning doves per year in the last half-decade. Photo by Polly Dean.

The arrival of September signifies the opening of dove season for the majority of hunters in the Magnolia State; a few weeks later, the season begins for those seeking small, feathered game in the South Zone. Some lucky shooters will have an invitation in hand for a day of socializing, barbecue and camaraderie at one of the many private and much anticipated opening-day shoots held all across Mississippi. But those of us not attending a private dove shoot can still open the season at a number of public fields available in our state.

There we have the chance to hone shooting skills as we take aim at our tiny, skittering targets. But these fields also provide options for shooting later in the season as well. Many dove hunters hang up their shotguns after the opening-day festivities are behind them -- but doves are still to be had!

The data suggest that the number of dove hunters in Mississippi has declined in recent years, and that on average hunters spend less than three days each season pursuing the birds. This low average of days per season spent targeting doves can likely be attributed to the fact that the majority of hunters will only shoot during opening day, leaving just a handful of hunters in the field during the latter parts of the seasons.

Even though the total number of doves harvested has decreased in recent years, per-hunter harvest totals have declined only slightly. This simply indicates that the birds are there, and available to Mississippi hunters, but with less competition from fellow sportsmen.

A look at the data reveals that in the years 1999, 2000 and 2004, in excess of 600,000 mourning doves were harvested in the Magnolia State. In 2005, just over 455,000 birds were taken, with a few more than 24,000 hunters targeting the birds. That compares to 32,400 dove hunters in 2004. On average, a total of 19 birds were harvested per hunter in 2004 and 2005. But bear in mind that most shotgunners were afield only on opening day. Since it's a safe assumption that not everyone bagged a limit on opening day, the figures suggest that the hunters who came back later in the year upped the average substantially.

MOURNING DOVES
The distinct, plaintive woo-oo-oo-oo call of these birds accounts for their common name. Smaller than other game birds -- only 10 1/2 to 12 inches in length -- and quick and erratic in flight, these doves can prove to be challenging targets. They're light to medium brownish-gray in color with black-spotted wings and round heads; both sexes are very similar in appearance. The whistling of their wings as they take to the air gives them away.

Generally monogamous, doves produce several broods a year, almost always laying two eggs per clutch. Where it's warmer (as in the Southern states), they can produce up to six broods in one year. Both parents help with the incubation of the eggs and the raising of the "squabs" (the young of doves and pigeons).

Even though hunters on average take over 22 million doves per season nationwide, the species flourishes, its estimated population of 130 million barely affected by all the shooting. Their mortality rate is high -- sometimes up to 60 percent in a year --but frequent breeding keeps them plentiful.

The mourning dove occupies most possible habitats, including urban areas, farms, prairie, grassland and lightly wooded areas. They avoid swamps and thick forest and prefer areas of mixed habitat, such as small stands of trees for nesting and open areas to feed.

Doves don't scratch or forage for the seeds on which they almost exclusively feed, but eat those that are readily visible; they prefer millet, corn and sunflower. Doves naturally thrive in habitat altered by humans, and the introduction of crops attracts the birds.

EURASIAN COLLARED DOVES
Ordinarily, it's mourning doves that come to mind when the topic is dove hunting. But in the southern half of Mississippi, wingshooters are seeing more and more of another species, too: Eurasian collared doves.

Inadvertently introduced into the United States after initially being released into the Bahamas in the early 1970s (they were mistakenly brought in as ringed turtledoves, which are similar in appearance), these particular members of the subfamily Columbinae showed up a decade later in South Florida and have since spread throughout the Southeast, the Magnolia State included.

At 13 inches in length, the Eurasian collared dove is slightly larger and heavier than is the mourning dove. It has a pale-gray head and body with dark primaries on the wings, a squared tail, and a thin black collar with a white upper border on the neck. Its song is described as a coarse, rapidly delivered cooing in three parts, with the middle syllable much longer than the first and last.

The nature of the Eurasian collared dove's impact on the mourning dove population is not yet clear. The non-native dove appears to coexist readily with humans, often showing up at neighborhood bird feeders. At present it appears that the species' population needs not management but, rather, close monitoring. The collared dove is legal as quarry and, as an invasive species, does not count towards the state's bag limit.

DOVE MANAGEMENT
Long-term studies designed to gather data on the survival and harvest rates of doves nationwide are under way. Through the cooperation of 29 states, including Mississippi, the data collected through a banding program are used in determining future management and harvest strategies.

Nearly 100,000 doves were banded in the summers of 2003-05, 54,000 of those in the eastern region of the United States. In 2004, an additional reward band worth $100 was placed on one-third of the juvenile birds banded; the supplemental reward banding was repeated in 2005 and 2006.

Also contributing information vital for decision-making by dove managers is the Migratory Bird Harvest Information Program ("HIP"), which was established in 1992. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service works with the individual states in requiring migratory bird hunters to register annually in each state that they hunt. The states are responsible for collecting the name, address and date of birth of the hunter, as well as his or her level of success from the previous hunting season. The USFWS is then able to compile all the data to the end of achieving a better understanding of hunter activity and harvest totals.