Setting up near trees that offer doves a perch at the edge of the field works well. Expect those trees to still have plenty of leaves still in early September Photo by Polly Dean.

With Labor Day and cooler fall temperatures just around the corner, Peach State hunters are setting their sights on the opening of dove season. Dove hunting is a popular sport in Georgia, and researching places to hunt before the season can pay off on opening day.

Today, hunters need only go as far as their computers to access a mass of data on dove hunting. How to plant and prepare a dove field; public hunts; applying for quota hunts: You name it, it's there on the Internet, now the go-to spot for hunters eager to take to the fields.

First, let's take a look at how dove populations are faring statewide. A member of the pigeon family, the mourning dove is a year-round resident of Georgia. Each fall the population grows as migrants travel to the area from northern states. The dove is the Peach State's most numerous and popular game bird and is hunted by more Georgians than any other game species except deer, with about 1.5 million birds harvested annually.

Following a nationwide trend, Georgia's dove population is down from 20 to 30 years ago overall, but it has stabilized in the past decade. Wildlife managers gauge dove populations through "call count" surveys each spring. Coordinated nationally by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and in Georgia by the Department of Natural Resources' Wildlife Resources Division, the counts are conducted along 22 routes in Georgia.

Each route is approximately 20 miles long and has stops for listening for doves cooing at one-mile intervals. Any birds that can be seen are also counted. The information is sent to the USFWS in Washington, D.C.; there, population estimates based on the surveys are compiled.

"The 20-to-30-year population trend in Georgia is declining slightly but we're not sure why," said Don McGowan, senior wildlife biologist with the WRD. "Doves are not real habitat-specific; they can use almost anything. So we're not sure what is causing the decline."

Compared with other game birds like bobwhite quail, mourning doves actually benefit from modern agricultural practices, and have adapted well to Georgia's more-urbanized environment. Still, harvest rates have fallen off as the dove population has declined.

Georgia is currently one of 29 states participating in a banding study and a wing study, both of which aim to develop updated estimates of harvest rates and dove survival and reproduction rates. "Hopefully, in a year or two we'll have a better picture of what's going on," McGowan noted.

Unlike other wildlife species, mourning doves have actually benefited from ongoing drought in the Peach State. Doves are not known for building sturdy nests, so thunderstorms, heavy rains and wind wreak havoc on the flimsy assemblages. According to Cornell University's "All About Birds" Web site, female mourning doves stay at the nest while the male collects sticks. The male actually stands on the female's back to give her nesting materials. (This may account for why the nests are so poorly built!)

Regardless, dry, calm weather benefits the survival rate of nests, so the drought did not negatively affect Georgia's mourning dove population. Preliminary data from the 2007 nesting season indicated higher production than in previous years.

THE HUNTING SEASON
From a management perspective, conducting studies is the WRD's primary activity. Since dove are considered a migratory species, most of these surveys fall under the purview of the USFWS. In states with a dove season, state wildlife agencies are permitted to set dates and bag limits within a framework provided by the USFWS. In addition to participating in the national banding and wing study, the WRD monitors dove harvest every three years through the small game survey.