 “HOW
TO DECOY AND CALL DOVES”
Making Your Spreads for Doves
EDITOR'S NOTE: Decoying and calling doves makes dove
hunting an exciting, fun-filled sport. It also allows
the land-bound hunter to experience the thrills of waterfowl-type
hunting, calling and decoying, while actually hunting
doves. It makes the sport of doveing on the same level
as good waterfowling without the inclement weather.
Dove season will open soon all across the U.S. This
 week
we’ll give you tips and information to help you
enjoy better dove hunting this fall.
A dove hunter soon learned that the decoys and calling
would lure birds in to hunters around water and loafin'
trees. So, he incorporated calling and decoying into
his dove-hunt plan and tried these two tactics in other
locations.
If you observe doves, you'll also notice that they
like to sit and rest on the edges of fences. Putting
decoys on fences makes luring the doves in relatively
easy. However, the kinds of fences that doves like to
light on generally cross open fields where no trees
or bushes grow. Then the hunter has a hard time finding
a place for the hunter to hide so the doves won't spot
him when they come in to his calling. Therefore, don't
utilize fences for decoying doves unless a ditch runs
at the edge of the fence where you can hide or unless
the fence goes across the top of a hill behind which
you can hide. If a  dove
can see the decoys, it also can spot a hunter, unless
the sportsman hides well, or a backdrop of bushes breaks
up his silhouette.
A roosting area provides the easiest place to decoy
doves. In the South, doves like to roost in cedar thickets.
By putting the decoys on the outer edge of a cedar thicket
and then blowing on the owl hooter, you can encourage
most of the doves that want to roost to fly in right
over your decoys. Many times, the doves will come in,
begin to cup their wings and look for a place to light
right beside the decoys. So, when you set up a roost
spread, you don't take a stand under the decoys. You
move 20 yards away from the decoys and watch the birds
work into your spread. Good luck this dove season.
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