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John's Journal... Entry 162, Day 5

HOW TO DECOY AND CALL DOVES

Making Your Spreads

EDITOR'S NOTE: Decoying and calling doves makes for an exciting, fun-filled sport. This tactic allows the landbound hunter to experience the thrills of waterfowl-type hunting, calling and decoying while actually hunting doves. The decoying and calling makes the sport of doveing more than a shooting sport and more than a hunting sport -- putting it on the same level as good waterfowling without the bad weather. With the proper equipment and knowledge about doves, outdoorsmen can enjoy one of the best wing-shooting sports in America today.

I soon learned that the decoys and calling would lure birds in to hunters around water and loafin' trees. So, I incorporated calling and decoying into my 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 to hide so the doves won't spot him when they come in to his calling. Therefore, I don't utilize fences for decoying doves unless a ditch runs at the edge of the fence where I can hide or unless the fence goes across the top of a hill behind which I 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 my owl hooter, I can encourage most of the doves that want to roost to fly in right over my 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 I set up a roost spread, I don't take a stand under the decoys. I move 20 yards away from the decoys and watch the birds work into my spread.


 

 

Check back each day this week for more HOW TO DECOY AND CALL DOVES ...

Day 1 - Opening-Day Dove Hunting
Day 2 - Dove Hunting At A Soybean Farm
Day 3 - Moving From the Water to the Field
Day 4 - Decoys and Loafin' Trees
Day 5 - Making Your Spreads


John's Journal