Doves... Where are they?

DeerCamp

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Joined
Jul 28, 2020
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3,780
I don't hunt doves really seriously but we do try to get after them a couple times a year.

However a buddy of mine is very serious about it and has six acres of sunflowers planted up in lake County.

So far on both of my hunts I've only seen 1, and he said on opening day over the sunflowers they only saw five the entire morning.

Anyone else seeing a similar pattern?
 

younggun308

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Joined
Feb 26, 2007
Messages
2,158
Location
Cleveland, TN
Surprised if more haven't come through since Ida. Just a couple days after it blew through we were covered with them here in the SE of the state.
 

rukiddin

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Joined
Feb 4, 2009
Messages
2,826
Location
E. Tenn
I'm on the other side of the state but I've held numbers of birds this year unlike anything I've ever had. I shoot my birds sparingly, but I've Had 4 great hunts so far and there's still a hundred or so on the line of a morning. I can count birds on my fence and on the power line from my house. At one point late august, I counted over 700 sitting on my fence and the power line on a drizzly morning about 9:30am. I understand I may be a anomaly, but for just as many bad hunts ive heard of this year, ive heard of just as many good hunts too.
 

WilcoKen

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Joined
May 26, 2015
Messages
1,589
I'm in SE Wilson County and this year seems to have been better than most. I've heard several good hunts this year. The youth hunt at Barton's Creek was a good one.
 

Remington700

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Joined
Dec 22, 2016
Messages
2,341
Location
West TN
I went to three fields in west TN and all were busts. One in Benton county and saw one bird. One in Gibson county saw one bird. One in Dyer county that had a lot more, but not a whole lot.
 

m_allison71

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Oct 10, 2002
Messages
1,612
Location
Castalian Springs, TN
I spent last week in Key Largo. I'm pretty sure they are all down there. You could probably go down there and smack them with a yardstick to get your limit. Too bad they are protected there.
 

jemo4570

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Joined
Jan 6, 2008
Messages
88
Location
Nashville, TN
Hunted just outside of Nashville Saturday with 40-45 other hunters and took 200+ birds. Lots of misses also. This was the first hunts on these fields.
 

middleTNbowhunter

Active Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2021
Messages
29
Location
Brentwood
I hunted a private field down near Lynchburg on opening day, and even though it was a "down day" for this farm, everybody who was a decent shot limited. I've seen far fewer birds in the last 7-10 days around where I live (Brentwood), though--I just assumed it was a big kill-off from opening day and opening weekend.
 

kbradley

Active Member
Joined
Oct 24, 2006
Messages
40
Location
portland,tn.
Yep. Ida and a cold front right before season opened blew them all out.
Back when i hunted them thirty years ago , we had a cold front just about every year before the opener or just after . Very disappointing but these days it is too hot to hunt them early . Maybe the cycle is coming back around .
 

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