This dove came from an unharvested milo or grain sorghum field. Typically, a mixture of mowed, burned and standing crops draws doves and dove hunters in droves to Commission game lands. Photo by Mike Marsh.

North Carolina lost thousands of acres of open space during the latest real estate boom, and unfortunately, much of that land was agricultural cropland. Some estimates place the amount of open space recently lost to subdivisions and golf courses at 100,000 acres, or nearly the size of a small county.

Despite such a drastic loss of farms and timberland, the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission and one military base ensure some of the demand for places to hunt doves is met. No other type of hunting rivals dove hunting for bringing family participation to the forefront of the sport. In fact, dove hunting may foretell the future for hunting, now that hunter recruitment and retention are the watchwords of the day.

There are three basic public lands options for hunters who may have lost their access to private property for dove hunting or who may have never had permission to hunt doves on private farms. These options include generally open hunting fields planted specifically for doves; fields farmed under lease that provide dove hunting as an incidental opportunity; and fields that are open for hunting only by a lottery permit drawing or a point-of-sale permit. Those hunters who did not apply for a lottery permit hunt this year can obtain a Commission Permit Hunt Opportunities booklet or view opportunities online next summer and apply by Aug. 10. A few permits may remain for any lottery dove hunt, and hunters can buy these leftover permits online or from license dealers for the price of the application fee.

Every August, biologists get together via telephone and e-mail to compile information about fields their crews have been preparing for doves on the commission’s Web site. Hunters can access the data on the Web site, which includes maps and directions showing the locations of the planted fields, location of parking areas and grain crops that have been planted and their acreage.

Sometimes other important comments from the biologists are included, such as how well the crops have prospered and whether or not there are any doves feeding in the fields. Weather can help or hurt crops planted for doves as well as affect the number of doves using any particular game land or any particular field on a game land. Therefore, viewing biologists’ reports increases the odds for a successful hunt.

The state is divided into four regions where the commission’s field crews conduct their activities under the oversight of management biologists. These are the Northern Coast, Southern Coast, Piedmont and Mountain regions.

NORTHERN COASTAL REGION
Dale Davis, the commission’s Northern Coastal Management Biologist, supervises the work crews in Edenton and Williamston in District 1.

“We’ve got some excellent dove-hunting fields in the coastal region,” he said. “In the Northeast, the Edenton crew manages four fields with a combined total of 50 acres at Lantern Acres Game Land in Tyrrell County. We are going to try some sunflower there this year. In the past, bears and deer ate the sunflower. But Ducks Unlimited donated some sunflower seed so we’re going to try it again.”