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By Zack Azar

I look forward to September more than any other month of the year. It signals the beginning of college football, cooler weather, improved fishing and most of all, hunting season. 

Wingshooters from all across the area will converge on countless grain and weed fields on Sept. 7 for the opening of dove season. The long-awaited day is traditionally considered the beginning of the fall hunting season and hunting the opening day of dove season is an absolute tradition in Alabama and many other southern states. 

For most hunters, pitting their shotgunning skills against these speedsters is the ultimate challenge. Mourning doves are not only fast, they can display aerial acrobatics under fire that make them almost impossible to hit. 

In our part of the state, most counties fall into the North Zone of mourning dove season. This zone has a split season, actually three seasons, in which you can hunt doves. The first season runs from Sept. 7 to Oct. 20, the second from Nov. 23 to Dec. 1 and the third from Dec. 14 to Jan. 19. Shooting hours are from one-half hour before sunrise until sunset except for opening day, when you can’t start hunting until noon. 

If you shoot a semi-automatic or pump shotgun, it must have an internal plug limiting it to only holding three shells. Remember too, that all licensed dove hunters are required by federal law to obtain a Harvest Information Program (HIP) permit prior to hunting. HIP permits are free and are available at all hunting license vendors.

Too often hunters show up at a dove field and simply sit in the first patch of shade they find. They give little or no thought to a number of factors that could ensure the time is occupied with more shooting than waiting. It’s happened to most dove hunters at one time or another. 

There you are, through poor choice or luck of the draw, at the wrong place on the field. Frustrated, you watch other shooters enjoy fast and furious action as you sit there, lamenting your fate and praying that one or two birds may unwittingly blunder close enough to afford a shot before the end of feeding time or legal shooting hours.

Fortunately for the hunter, doves are fairly predictable. Individual fields may not be covered up with birds on any given hunt, but scouting before the hunt will insure you set up where your percentages are the highest. From a good vantage point, use binoculars during early morning and late afternoon to determine the flight pattern used by doves, the time they start to fly and the location of the sun. 

Keep in mind that the early hunter gets the best spot and the birds. It’s not very smart to spend the time scouting out your spot and come driving up too late to get it. I can assure you, if you’ve picked a decent spot it won’t last long. Whether you are hunting in the morning or afternoon, get to the field, take your spot and prepare to be the one doing a lot of  shooting. Also, pay attention to the wind when choosing a spot to hunt… dovea prefer to take off and land into the wind.

After a dove has been shot at, they become very erratic and will change course on any ground movement. Expert dove hunters will tell you that being still and keeping your dog still is more important than the fanciest camo you can buy. 

Doves blend well into their surroundings and many are lost by hunters who take their eye off of a falling bird and shoot at another. Unless shooting over a recently cut grain field or an area with short grass, it’s a good idea to watch your bird hit the ground after the shot and go immediately to retrieve it, especially if you’re not hunting with a good retriever. 

When selecting a shotgun, a 20-, 16- or 12-gauge shotgun will work. Doves are small, have a light and easily broken bone structure, and require very few small pellets to drop them cleanly. Ask hunters who regularly get their limit and you will find, with precious few exceptions, they are using open chokes, usually an improved cylinder, and their shot size preference will never be larger than No. 7 1/2. Most will be shooting 8’s or 9’s.

Good luck with your dove hunting and always be safe in the field. Take a young person hunting this fall, or introduce someone new to the outdoors.

Zack Azar is a retired businessman and columnist who spent many years volunteering in a high school press box. He wrote monthly columns for the Alabama Gazette for seven years and has four grandchildren involved in sports at Lowndes Academy.