3-Step Formula for Bagging Florida Doves

I caught the game warden approaching from the corner of my eye, strolling down the sandy road along a row of haybales that’d been conveniently placed near a powerline and the freshly cut field. Intimately knowing the drill, I unloaded my shotgun as the officer greeted me.

On cue, a single mourning dove landed on the powerline. The young officer worried, to his credit, that he’d disrupted my hunt and asked if I wanted to shoot it.

Hmmm. There are those detached moments in life when a thousand near-simultaneous intrusive thoughts jolt through a man’s mind, weighing risks versus rewards.

“Well, maybe I should…it’s not very sporting to smoke one off a powerline, but I don’t think it’s illegal. It could be a trap. Is a rule against this buried deep in the fine print of federal regulations? I can hear my friends’ laughter now, ‘That dumbass was ticketed for shooting a dove off a powerline right in front of The Man.’ I’d suffer that ridicule the rest of my life. What if a piece of shot hits the line wrong and brought the whole thing sparking to the ground lighting the hayfield aflame…”

I snapped back to reality as the dove mercifully fluttered away, and we proceeded with the awkward banter about me being a bad shot and checking my shotgun plug and licenses before delving into my meager bag limit on the day.

Listen, don’t go shooting dove off powerlines, if for nothing more than safety’s sake, but spots near them are among the first gobbled up on a hunt for clear reasons. The birds want to be there, and as they flare to land, it makes for easy shooting compared to those zipping around the fields.

Florida’s 2024-25 Dove Hunting Seasons

• Sept. 28 - Oct. 20
• Nov. 9 - Dec. 1
• Dec. 19 - Jan. 31
• Good to Know: The daily bag limit is 15 birds with a possession limit of 45. Mourning and white-winged dove are legal game. Hunters must have a no-cost migratory bird permit as well as hunting license to hunt, and shotguns must be plugged to accept no more than three shells. For more information, please visit myfwc.com/hunting/regulations/birds/

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Shooting dove, as you might have heard, is a challenging task. Even the crack-shots I know have good days and bad days. Yes, the birds are dodgy speedsters, but folks too often set themselves up to fail before they even fly by.

For example, while I’m an above average wing-shot, at best, I was in the pits of despair that particular morning. Those prime powerline positions were claimed by the time my son and I were offered a choice of set-ups. I selected a dying persimmon tree that’d been struck by lightning which I was assured was the berries.

As we huddled underneath its fried branches, I immediately realized I’d painted us into a corner. The dove indeed whipped by, but the remaining tree limbs prevented clear, reliable shots at much more than a 30-degree angle. Moving outside the branches flared the birds. We tried spot-shooting through gaps in the spindly canopy, which killed our confidence but not many dove. Any flying lower than that 30-degree angle, and we’d potentially be shooting directly at other hunters.

In short, the site location, though active, was physically compromised by the limited windows of opportunity. We jealously watched others pounding the birds from corn rows and along the aforementioned haybales before retreating to similar positions of our own.

Concealment is important in dove hunting as they possess sharp eyesight, but it should not come at the detriment of shooting form. Success in this game is a three-step formula: being able to identify and track an incoming bird; realizing the ideal time to shoot; and connecting through sound shotgunning techniques.

Simple enough, right?

Well, of course not, but consider where you're setting your swivel seat as you’re milling around before the first flight to ensure that these steps are at least capable of being followed. My persimmon example failed on all three counts as we didn’t see many of the incoming birds before it was too late and were subject to quick, sudden shooting without being able to properly swing the guns through the shot.

So, advice time. Focus on places along their flight lines where it's easy to stand and deliver.  Haybales, corn stalks and sunflowers are popular.

Hunkering into dog fennel and ragweed, provided you pack your loratadine tablets, is good strategy. Small myrtles and scrub oaks also provide necessary coverage without totally obscuring the field of view. And, finally, if you are forced into a set-up around large-canopied oaks, sit to the outside edges.

One last pro tip: In the event you don’t have the luxury of a powerline, dove, early season birds especially are responsive to spinning-wing decoys and will often approach for landing right next to them for chip shots, or for as much of a gimme as one can expect on a dove field.