If you are going to hunt doves, you must properly identify your target or not shoot. Identification Federal law protects all non-hunted migratory birds and prohibits their killing due to misidentification. Two other birds found in mourning dove habitat you should be on the lookout for are the kestrel (sometimes called sparrow hawk) and the killdeer. Male and female kestrels have different plumages, but both have gray heads with reddish crowns on top. Kestrels have two black marks on their white cheeks that look a bit like a handle-bar mustache with long sideburns. Males have © Scott Nielsen Killdeer © Stephen J. Lang blue-gray wings and a rusty back and tail. Mourning Dove Females lack the bluish wings. In flight, the undersides of the kestrel’s wings appear pale. Killdeer are The mourning Kestrels soar on flat wings, often with their tail small, long- dove looks like fanned. When hunting, kestrels frequently legged a slender, hover in one spot with rapidly beating shorebirds streamlined wings. If they are in a found in pigeon, which is strong headwind, open fields not surprising since it kestrels may and belongs to the same remain fairly pastures, family of birds as the stationary with often far from domestic feral (or rock dove). Mourning doves their wings water. Look for are about a foot long, ranging in size from 11 held steady, their distinctive to 13 inches, with males being slightly larger. much like a dark breast bands. Adults have two breast Key identification features are the small head, kite on a string. bands while juveniles have only one band. pointed wings and the long tail that gradually They often Killdeer also have a rusty orange patch on the tapers to a point. These tail feathers show large chase the birds upper tail and lower back. Killdeer are seldom white spots when the birds fly away. Look for they pursue in seen in large flocks. Listen for them to whistle the black spots on their upper wings, close to a direct and their name “kill-deer, kill-deer, kill-deer” or a the body. Doves also have a large dark spot rapid fashion. shortened “dee-ee”. below the eye. Their bill is thin and black while Kestrels can As a responsible hunter you must familiarize their legs and feet are a dull red. The upper often be seen yourself with mourning doves and other similar body feathers range in color from grayish blue sitting on species before you begin hunting. By scouting to grayish brown. They have grayish-brown exposed and being extra careful you will avoid backs and buff-colored undersides. On bright lookout misidentification of these similar birds. days, doves in flight appear gray or gray- perches, brown, but in poor light they look black. telephone poles or on Doves are extremely swift fliers averaging wires. Kestrels’ about 30-40 miles per hour, but when they are voices are a alarmed they can reach 60 miles per hour. high and They have a steady, rapid wingbeat in flight. excited You may notice that doves can make rapid “killy, killy, changes of pace and altitude. Listen for the killy.” noticeable whistling sound produced by the beating of their wings. © Herbert Lange Kestrel Recipes For More Information: Mourning Dove Ecology and management of the mourning dove. Baskett, T.S., M. W. Sayre, R. E. From: Ecology and management Tomlinson, and R. E. Mirarchi, Editors. of the mourning dove 1993. Stackpole Books. Harrisburg, PA. Hunting In Mourning dove. In The birds of North America, No. 117. A. Poole and F. Gill, Wisconsin Editors. Philadelphia: The Academy of Easy Grilled Doves Natural Sciences; Washington, D.C.: The Contributed by Steve Young of Columbia, Missouri American Ornithologist’s Union. With toothpicks, pin about a third of a strip of http://www.dnr.state.wi.us bacon around dove breast. Cook over a cool to medium fire for 20 to 30 minutes, but don’t Code of Conduct overcook. Sauce is optional. 1. Treat every firearm Doves in Mushroom Soup as if it is loaded 2. Always point the Contributed by Dick Vaught of Columbia, Missouri muzzle in a safe 30 dove breasts (marinated in milk) direction 3 3. Be sure of your 2 (10 /4 oz.) cans of cream of mushroom soup target and beyond 4 soup cans of milk (2-percent or skim) ©Stephen J. Lang 4. Know the locations of your hunting salt and pepper to taste partners Flour for dredging 5. Positively identify your target and wait Marinate dove breasts for about 30 minutes in for a good shot milk (save milk). Remove doves and, while they are 6. Obey all wildlife laws and report still wet, roll in flour that has been seasoned with violations salt and pepper. After dredging in flour, set the Compiled by the Wisconsin Department of Natural breasts aside for 10 minutes or so to permit flour to Resources, Box 7921, Madison, WI 53707. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources provides adhere better to doves. Place dove breasts in a large equal opportunity in its employment, programs, services, skillet of hot grease (Crisco shortening seems to and functions under an Affirmative Action Plan. If you This publication will help have any questions, please write to Equal Opportunity brown them better). Be sure each breast is fried to Office, Department of Interior, Washington, D.C. 20240. you better understand a golden brown. Remover the breasts and drain This publication can be made available in alternative some of the details about grease, leaving brown cracklings in skillet. Replace formats (large print, Braille, audio tape, etc) upon request. dove breasts and cover completely with mushroom Please call 608-266-8204 for more information. this new hunting soup and milk. Stirring frequently to prevent opportunity including DLI sticking, let simmer for at least an hour (or until IL FE W dove biology, management meat slides from bone). When gravy is smooth, R E N PRINTED ON and proper identification. S O RECYCLED ladle over a bed of cooked rice or mashed potatoes. T I PAPER O RAT © Stephen J. Lang LP/03 PUB-WM-351-2003 Where Doves Live The mourning dove is highly adaptable and Relative Mourning Dove Density can be found in many different habitats from Season, Bag Limit, urban settings to rural settings. Since doves love weed seeds and waste grain, you’ll often find and Regulations BAYFIELD DOUGLAS ASHLAND Uncommon them feeding in harvested grain fields, old IRON Since the mourning dove is a migratory bird it is VILAS grassy fields, along rural roadsides or on other WASHBURN SAWYER protected under the Federal Migratory Bird Treaty Common PRICE FOREST open disturbed ground that offers plenty of ONEIDA Act. The act allows states to conduct managed FLORENCE BURNETT POLK MARINETTE seeds. You can also find doves in open woodlots BARRON RUSK hunts for mourning doves and other species. LINCOLN LANGLADE and near the edges of larger tracts of forests. For OCONTO TAYLOR CHIPPEWA ST. CROIX DUNN nesting habitat, doves prefer single trees or Here are some important regulations to keep in MARATHON MENOMINEE CLARK shrubs surrounded by open land. Doves prefer PIERCE mind while planning your hunt: EAU CLAIRE SHAWANO DOOR to roost and rest on exposed dead tree limbs, PEPIN WOOD PORTAGE WAUPACA BUFFALO OUTAGAMIE KEWAUNEE utility wires or poles. A small game, sportsman’s or patron’s JACKSON TREMPEALEAU BROWN JUNEAU ADAMS WAUSHARA WINNEBAGO MANITOWOC license is needed to hunt mourning doves. MONROE Abundant LA CROSSE Mourning doves are one of the most abundant, MARQUETTE GREEN CALUMET You do not need to purchase the state or LAKE SHEBOYGAN widely distributed migratory birds of our state. VERNON FOND DU LAC SAUK COLUMBIA DODGE the federal migratory bird stamp (e.g., RICHLAND WASHING- They are particularly numerous south of a line TON CRAWFORD OZAUKEE “duck stamp”) to hunt doves. DANE JEFFERSON WAUKESHA running from Green Bay to Eau Claire. IOWA GRANT Biologists have estimated that between 4 and 5 Shooting hours are from one-half hour MILWAUKEE GREEN ROCK WALWORTH RACINE LAFAYETTE million doves migrate through Wisconsin each before sunrise to sunset. KENOSHA fall. They breed from central Canada to You must plug your shotgun with a one- southern Mexico and in all of the 48 states in Very Abundant piece filler that cannot be removed between. One segment of the mourning dove without disassembling the gun. It can population breeds in Wisconsin. These doves Baiting leave our state each fall and follow their only accommodate 3 or fewer shells. natural migration route to the southern United The daily bag limit is 15 doves and the Mourning doves can not be hunted with the aid States and Mexico. Another segment of the possession limit is 30 doves. You may take of bait. Doves are migratory birds and are dove population migrates into and through only one daily bag limit in any one day. subject to the federal baiting regulations that prohibit hunting any migratory game bird with Wisconsin from Canada and other states. Some You must make a reasonable effort to of these doves winter here while the remainder the aid of baiting. Baiting is defined as the retrieve all doves that you kill or cripple. migrate through to southern wintering areas. direct or indirect placing, exposing, depositing, The birds must be in your actual custody distributing, or scattering of salt, grain, or other while in the field and cannot be given to feed that could lure or attract migratory game another person while you are in the field birds to areas, or over areas, where hunters are regardless of whether or not they are attempting to take migratory birds.