Shooting dove fields in the morning

[Bone Collector]

I've always heard it's bad to shoot fields in the morning. Every year we do a field at my brothers. My nephews want to shoot it in the morning. It's on their land so if that's what they want, fine. This year my Brother asked if we should skip opening day and hunt Saturday AM. I told him shooting it in The morning can be bad from what I was told, but they always want to do I just go song to get along, but skipping opening day to start in the AM makes no sense. He agreed, but my nephew called today… I'm pretty sure I know what he's gonna ask.

So what is everyone's opinion in shooting fields in the AM?

 

[Popcorn]

Kinda depends on the birds. If you have a lot of birds with activity throughout the day a morning shot may not hurt you too much. We have never had an over abundance of birds and they always seem to fly better in the afternoon as well as be more resistant to being shot at, so we do what looks to be the best idea based on that and hunt afternoons.
In western Ky the day the corn harvest starts is the last day to dove shoot unless you are following the combines around

 

[mike243]

I think I have read Chaneylake say they only shoot afternoons but could be wrong, he is a vast wealth of fields and dove hunting , hopefully he will see this and join in

 

[Titanxd17]

We shoot em in the morning and usually smoke em. If you have the time got the morning before and watch.

 

[yellalinehunter]

I've never seen a morning hunt mess em up.

 

[Urban_Hunter]

I don't even understand what you mean by being bad them? Any hunting of the field is "bad" for them? I can't imagine how the morning would impact them more than the evening.

My experience with the morning hunts is that they're a flurry of activity and then it dies when the shadows getting scarce. If you have a really good field with lots of doves, you can limit really quick. If you don't have a lot of doves, you have a better chance of limiting in the afternoon as they tend to come in throughout the afternoon/evening.

My question is, is it possible for a field to actually be better in the morning than evening. I was working outside most of the evening yesterday and kept an eye on my field all afternoon and only saw 2 birds. Thought I must be missing them so finally drove the tractor through the field and jumped up nothing. This morning I have an appointment at 10am down the road so I've been sitting on my porch doing paperwork and I've seen 15-20 fly in and out…

 

[TAFKAP]

I think I have read Chaneylake say they only shoot afternoons but could be wrong, he is a vast wealth of fields and dove hunting , hopefully he will see this and join in

Never before noon, and out of the field by 5:00. The birds that start pouring in at 5:15 will get shot the next day

 

[RUGER]

Unless you have multiple places to hunt or a crap ton of birds, you better shoot them while they are there.
One cold snap and they will basically all be gone, literally over night.

Oh and a cold snap WILL come.

 

[Remington700]

Unless you have multiple places to hunt or a crap ton of birds, you better shoot them while they are there.
One cold snap and they will basically all be gone, literally over night.

Oh and a cold snap WILL come.

This is what I've always experienced.

 

[TNGunsmoke]

Unless you have multiple places to hunt or a crap ton of birds, you better shoot them while they are there.
One cold snap and they will basically all be gone, literally over night.

Oh and a cold snap WILL come.

2 days before season opens, and the birds are all gone .

 

[4scout]

Unless you have multiple places to hunt or a crap ton of birds, you better shoot them while they are there.
One cold snap and they will basically all be gone, literally over night.

Oh and a cold snap WILL come.

This is also what I've experienced. Also, seems like if other fields in the area shoot them, they can vanish as well. Shoot them when you can and the morning temperatures are definitely more pleasant. Good luck whenever ya'll decide to hunt.

 

[Bone Collector]

This is also what I've experienced. Also, seems like if other fields in the area shoot them, they can vanish as well. Shoot them when you can and the morning temperatures are definitely more pleasant. Good luck whenever ya'll decide to hunt.

That is the way I feel, but they seem to think if they wait till Saturday they'll have a barrel burner, but if they shoot Friday afternoon, they will have a bad hunt Saturday. I told my brother, lets shoot it both and give it a rest. He agreed, but I have a feeling my nephew is gonna want to try to persuade me to wait, because he likes to hunt in the morning more.

There are other fields in the area... didn't even think about that. Now that you mentioned that, makes me even more sure we should just hunt it. We do have other fields we can go to, so we can shoot there a couple of days and then go to another field.

 

[Iglow]

We've been on some fantastic morning shoots, in the afternoon sometimes you gotta wait on them,in the morning it seems it happens at daylight and slows down as the morning goes on. Storms will light them on fire after it passes.

 

[Chaneylake]

I think I have read Chaneylake say they only shoot afternoons but could be wrong, he is a vast wealth of fields and dove hunting , hopefully he will see this and join in

We hunted 1 morning about 20 years ago. We will never do that again. It almost ruined the field imo.

 

[deerhunter10]

We have multiple fields and have hunted a few mornings here and there but they have never been good to go back to. Now when we winter hunt we pretty much only hunt mornings and can hunt multiple mornings when the birds are there, completely weather dependent in the winter. We also try to get out of the fields by 5ish in the evenings as well.

 

[THE DUKE]

Afternoon's here, you have longer feeding time and there not as concentrated as there are in the morning. Morning hunts depending on weather are usually done in 1-1.5 hrs. Been doing this for years

 

[Biggun4214]

I've watch birds leave a hot field more often after a morning shoot than an evening shoot.
Theory:
Birds have a high metabolism and after roosting over night they have to feed heavily in the morning. After the morning fill up they top off throughout the day. If allowed to feed undisturbed in the morning they will continue to use the field. If the morning feed is disturbed they move elsewhere.

 

[deerfever]

I have hunted my field morning and evening and never noticed a difference one way or the other. We usually shoot on a Saturday and do not shoot again til the next weekend. From what I have seen so far this year it's not going to matter , Lol. Just not seeing many so far at my fields.

 

[THE DUKE]

I have hunted my field morning and evening and never noticed a difference one way or the other. We usually shoot on a Saturday and do not shoot again til the next weekend. From what I have seen so far this year it's not going to matter , Lol. Just not seeing many so far at my fields.

My field is behind on numbers also.

 

[Hymie3]

I have a friend that is on a club and they always have an invite only paid hunt. My problem is that they wait til the second weekend of the season and don't start til 3:00. It has never made any sense to me. In this day and age I think you had better get them before they have been shot up and and at. There are fields around them that get shot opening day/week and I'm sure they are at least some of the same birds Vast majority of doves surely are killed on opening weekend.
Finding a place to dove hunt is becoming increasingly harder each year.