The mourning dove is the most hunted migratory game bird in Georgia. Federal and state laws prohibit hunting migratory game birds over baited areas. What constitutes baiting for mourning doves occasionally has been a source of confusion for hunters, farmers and land managers. The Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Wildlife Resources Division (WRD) , in cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the University of Georgia (UGA) Cooperative Extension Service, developed this information in an effort to clarify agricultural practices as they relate to baiting. This information also provides tips and strategies for successfully and legally attracting mourning doves. A "normal" practice or operation is one conducted in accordance with official recommendations of state Extension Specialists of the Cooperative Extension Service of the US Dept. of Agriculture. In Georgia, these are the UGA Cooperative Extension Service Extension Agronomists, NOT the county extension agent. Agricultural lands often provide excellent dove hunting opportunities. The key to hunting doves legally in Georgia is understanding the differences between "baiting" and "normal agricultural operation". BAITING Baiting is the practice of direct or indirect placing, exposing, depositing, distributing, or scattering salt, corn, wheat, or any other grain or feed that could serve as a lure or attraction for doves to, on, or over any areas where hunters are attempting to take them. Dove hunting regulations are part of the Federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Hunting doves over baited areas is illegal. A person is guilty of hunting over bait if he or she knows, or reasonably should know, that an area was baited. Furthermore, the person who places bait, or directs the placement of bait, on or near a hunted area, is guilty of baiting. Any baited area remains baited for ten days following the complete removal of any salt, corn, wheat, or any other grain or feed which constitutes bait. Dove hunting over or near a baited area at any time within ten days after the bait is completely removed is a violation. LEGAL PRACTICES Fields Planted In Spring or Early Summer Hunting doves over manipulated fields that were planted in the spring or in the early summer is a legal activity and by far the most common situation in Georgia. Manipulation means the alteration of natural vegetation or agricultural crops by activities that include, but are not limited to, mowing, shredding, discing, rolling, chopping, trampling, flattening, burning, "hogging" or herbiciding. This method of dove hunting requires advanced planting of crops two to four months prior to dove season. FALLOW FIELDS Hunting doves over manipulated fallow fields (native vegetation) is legal. GEORGIA'S REGIONS W h itfie ld Habersham Dade C atoosa Wa lk er Fannin M u rra y G ilm e r C hattoog a G ordon P ick e ns To w n s U nion R ab un White Lum pkin S tev en s MOUNTAINS F loy d Bartow Daw son Cherokee Forsyth H all Banks Franklin Hart Polk Paulding C obb H a ra ls on D ou gla s Jacks on Madison Elbert Gwinnett Barrow C larke Oconee D e ka lb W alton O g letho rp e W ilke s PIEDMONT Linc oln Rockdale Carroll H eard Fulton C layto n Fayette Henry Newton Morgan Green Taliaferro C ow eta Spalding Butts Jasper Putnam W ar re n H anco ck G lasc ock M c D u ffie Colum bia R ichm ond COASTAL Me riwe ther Tro u p Upson Monroe B aldwin Jones Je fferso n Washington Burke H arris Talbot B ib b W ilkinson C raw ford Tw ig g s Johnson Jenkins Sc rev en M u s cog e e Ta ylo r P ea ch E m anu el M a r io n Macon Houston Bleckley La u re ns Tr eu tlen Candler B ulloch Effingham C h atta h o oc he e M ontgomery Schley S te w a rt Webster an u itm Q Randolph Sum te r Terrell Lee D o o le y P ula sk i Dodge W h e e le r C risp Wilcox Turner Telfair Ben H ill Jeff Davis Evans Toom bs Tattnall A ppling Long Bryan Libe rty C hatham C lay C alhoun D ougherty Worth Ir w in Tiff C offee B aco n Wayne McIntosh E a rly B aker Berrien Atkinson M i lle r Sem inole D e ca tur Mitchell C o lq u i tt Cook Grady Thomas Brooks Lanier C linc h Low nd es E c h o ls P ie rc e Ware B rantley G lynn Charlton Cam d en LEGAL PRACTICES Fields Planted In Late Summer Or Fall Hunting doves over fields planted in late summer or fall is legal provided that the field has been planted as part of a normal agricultural operation. Normal agricultural operation implies a planting that is conducted in accordance with the official recommendations of the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension Service. Aerial or topsowing of small grains without covering the seed is not a recommended practice by the UGA Cooperative Extension Service. Dove hunting over a field planted by top sowing is illegal. Normal plantings do not involve placement of grains in piles or other concentrations. The application rate guideline recommended for all small grains (wheat, rye, barley, oats) planted for crop or forage production is 1.5 to 2.5 bushels per acre. The UGA Extension Service has stated that specific conditions exist whereby top sowing without covering of small grains is recommended and would allow the grower to achieve acceptable stands of cover crop. These circumstances are rare. Examples are: (1) wheat or rye aerially sown over cotton or soybeans prior to leaf drop; and (2) top sowing for soil stabilization for post-mining land reclamation on areas with steep slope. Hunters should check with WRD or the US Fish and Wildlife Service before hunting in either of these situations. Small grains and canola planted within the range of dates listed below are official recommended practices of the UGA Cooperative Extension Service. Hunters may not hunt doves over or around late summer/fall planted fields if the plantings are outside of the following dates: SMALL GRAINS* CANOLA** MOUNTAINS 9/1 - 11/15 N/A PIEDMONT 9/15 - 12/1 9/15 - 12/1 COASTAL 10/1 - 12/15 10/1 - 12/15 * Small grains include wheat, rye, oats, and barley. ** Planting canola in the mountain region of Georgia is not considered a practical agricultural practice. LEGAL DOVE HUNTING TIPS Fields planted in crops that continually supply mature grain are most attractive to doves. Planting multiple crops with varying planting dates well ahead of dove season will ensure a supply of seed prior to and throughout dove hunting season. Start manipulation of crops as they mature and continue throughout the summer and the dove season. For late season dove hunting, leave portions of crops standing until late fall and winter. These standing crops will also provide places for hunter concealment during the early dove season. Most successful crops for attracting doves in Georgia include browntop millet, dove proso millet, sunflowers, corn, and grain sorghum. Contact your local WRD Game Management or Law Enforcement regional office for more information on proper and legal field management for dove hunting. For proper field planting, check the following chart for seed maturation times: SEED B ro wn To p Mi lle t Dove Proso Millet Corn Sunflower Grain Sorghum DAYS TO MATURE 60 - 70 75 - 90 90 - 130 90 - 110 90 - 110 For more information on legal dove hunting in Georgia go to www.gohuntgeorgia.com COMMON QUESTIONS Must wheat or other small grains be sowed on prepared ground? Yes. They must be sown on a prepared seed bed and drilled, harrowed, dragged, etc. to cover the seed. How thick can wheat and small grains be sown? The UGA Cooperative Extension Service recommends 1.5 to 2.5 bushels per acre for crop production. For cover crops, small grain application rates can be as little as 1 bushel per acre but will vary according to the purpose of the planting, seed quality, seed size and environmental factors. Can a wheat field be sown several times, for example every three days, then hunted over? No. It is not a normal agricultural operation to sow grain several times in succession. After harvesting a cornfield can strips be plowed and planted in summer grain before hunting doves? Yes. "Strip-tilling" a grain such as grain sorghum or millet in early August is a recommended conservation tillage planting by the UGA Cooperative Extension Service. However, top sowing would not be recommended. Planting Wheat in plowed strips of a harvested cornfield is not a recommended practice or planting. Are there situations where wheat or other small grains could be sown prior to the recommended planting dates (i.e. during the month of August)? No. The UGA Cooperative Extension Service has established the "recommended planting dates" for small grains based on preventing unacceptable losses to disease and insects in the earliest days of the planting windows. However, a grower concerned about cover, forage production or erosion control could plant millet and other summer grains in early August. There would be ample time in Georgia to achieve some useful purpose of such planting. Top sowing in this situation is not recommended. Can strips be plowed in a standing field of mature millet, and the remaining millet mowed to scatter the seeds? Yes. This would be an example of manipulation of a standing crop. Virtually any treatment of a standing crop is okay as long as additional grain or feed is not added to the field. Also, after the grain, seed or feed is removed from or stored on a field where it is grown, it cannot be re-distributed or scattered, nor can additional grains be added. Who are the Extension Specialists in Georgia? Per the federal regulations, a "normal" agricultural practice or operation is one conducted in accordance with official recommendations of State Extension Specialists of the Cooperative Extension Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In Georgia, these are the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension Service Extension Agronomists. They are not the county extension agents. There are several of these specialists, each dealing with specific crops or agricultural practices such as grains, soybeans, peanuts, soil erosion, etc. PROJECT TIP (TURN IN POACHERS) (800) 241-4113 OR *DNR from a Cingular cell phone TIP offers rewards of $100 - $500 to anyone who provides information that results in the arrest of violators of laws designed to protect our wildlife. Poachers not only steal your game and fish, they also discredit the reputation of legal and ethical hunters and anglers. Your assistance will help conservation rangers more effectively protect your wildlife resources. THINGS TO REMEMBER No more than the daily bag limit may be in a hunter's possession on the dove field. If a hunter accepts doves from another hunter, the birds must be tagged with the name, address, and signature of the hunter who killed the birds, along with the total number of birds involved and the dates the birds were killed. Hunters are ethically and legally required to make a reasonable effort to retrieve all downed birds. Dove hunters must have on his / her person a valid Georgia hunting license and a valid Migratory Bird Harvest Information Program (HIP) permit. The HIP permit is free and can be obtained from any license dealer by completing a migratory bird hunter questionnaire. Honorary license holders are exempt from the HIP permit requirement. Any autoloading or other repeating shotgun must be plugged to hold no more than three shotshells while hunting doves. Shooting hours are 12:00 noon until sunset on opening day of first and second seasons, and onehalf hour before sunrise to sunset otherwise. Sunrise and sunset times can be found in the current Georgia Hunting Seasons and Regulations guide or at www.gohuntgeorgia.com. Songbirds, hawks, owls, killdeer, nighthawks, chimney swifts, woodpeckers and other species of birds may not be shot. These birds are protected by both federal and state laws and killing them or shooting at them is strictly prohibited. MOURNING DOVE POPULATION SURVEY Hunter Help Needed A mourning dove population study currently is underway in several states, including Georgia. Over the past 5 years, several thousand doves have been banded. Any harvested dove should be examined for the presence of these small leg bands. If a band is found, hunters are asked to call and report the information to 1-800-327-BAND. (Revised August 2007) Dove Hunting and Agricultural Practices in Georgia Information for Hunters and Landowners Georgia Dept. of Natural Resources Wildlife Resources Divison 2070 U.S. Highway 278 S.E. Social Circle, Georgia 30025 www.gohuntgeorgia.com