Today I’m going to give you a summary of the early dove season in 2020. This summary is based upon my experience and a few others’ experiences as well.
Granted, my experiences do not dictate the totality of dove season for the rest of Arizona, but I can sure derive thoughts and hypotheses based upon them and what I’ve seen.
The Forecast
The Arizona Game and Fish Department made a forecast that the season was going to be great due to an extended winter rainy season, delaying nesting of birds within these areas but pushing nesting into prime breeding season. This, combined with a dry monsoon season which allows more birds to stay in Arizona for longer, was going to push for an excellent season.
I’m not sure that I necessarily agree with AZGFD’s statement of that pushing back the nesting due to the extended rainy season will make for more birds to nest in the prime nesting season. Or, I would really like to read some research to confirm that this statement is true. Dove nest based, essentially, on cycles of nesting that begins when the weather warms up (and the winter rains pass) and ends towards the end of summer as they get ready for migration. Dove are constantly nesting – they produce as many eggs and nests as they can as soon as they’re ready. With all of that being said, I’m not sure how delaying the process would produce even more dove. Once again, I’m more than willing to admit that I’m wrong if I were to see some data, but I haven’t.
For the monsoon being dry and not pushing birds out, this is 100% true. Generally, the monsoon pushes out more white-winged dove than morning dove, and this year I saw more white-winged dove than ever before, anecdotally confirming that this statement is true.
Opening Day
On opening day, my father, old neighbor, and a friend went to a mixed desert/riparian/farm field area outside of Phoenix that we figured would hold birds. In fact, we were pretty dang confident. It would be a new dove hunting spot for us, we were sure that the water, fields, and perfect desert roosting/nesting areas would hold birds.
We were wrong.
We SAW less than 10 birds the entire morning. To this day, I’m still not sure why there aren’t birds there. Too much hunting pressure? I don’t think so. If I had to take a guess, I would say that the neighboring farms are pulling the birds in. Why wouldn’t they go to a farm? There’s abundant feed and places to roost, the only thing they need is water which they can get from near canals.
This is why people that go to private farms/ranches to hunt dove are so successful. The birds essentially live in a utopia. This is also why I don’t include the success of farm-hunters when it comes to dove hunting, as those hunters will almost always be successful. Granted, there will be variation from year to year, but not like there may be in wild areas.
I ended opening day with one bird and a cottontail. I was able to take a nice swinging shot at a good-sized adult male dove, but that was it. The rest of our party took 3 shots total, of which may have been at the same bird.
Robbins Butte
Everyone knows about Robbins Butte which is why I don’t mind naming it here. It’s a piece of property owned by AZGFD that, allegedly, holds a bunch of dove, quail, and other small game. I had never been there prior to this year but I’d heard many things about it through the years.
In case you don’t know, Robbin’s Butte is basically a series of farm fields that sometimes grow crops to bring in animals – I’m not sure that any crops were grown this year. In addition, Robbin’s Butte can’t be hunted until after opening weekend, as it’s reserved for youth hunters only during the first weekend of the season.
This was one of the cleanest cottontails I’ve ever shot. Usually September rabbits are still covered in ticks, fleas, and whatever else, but not this one.
We made a visit to Robbin’s Butte one morning, met by a good amount of other hunters. Once again, this was to be expected, but I didn’t think that there would be THAT many. I mean, there were probably 12-15 other groups within a relatively small area.
Regardless, we went to a far end of the farm fields, found cover, and waited.
And waited.
Finally, I got bored and couldn’t wait any longer. I set off walking. There’s a series of roads within Robbin’s Butte that are only used by AZGFD and emergency personnel. With that said, they are still maintained roads, and my understanding is that it is still illegal to hunt on them and to shoot over them. Along many of these roads are piles of concrete, stacks of old mesquite trees, and dense groves of various desert trees. All of these “micro-habitats” hold dense cottontail numbers. However, remembering that we can’t shoot on or across roads, shooting them was difficult. I did manage a single rabbit, but they were otherwise taunting me.
We ended that day of hunting with only a single bird. We simply couldn’t make it happen at Robbin’s Butte. I’m not sure if it was because of the lack of used fields, increased hunting pressure, overall low bird numbers, something else, a combination of these, or none of these factors.
An Undisclosed Location
At this point, we were desperate to find some birds. I just wanted some birds to put in the freezer; I couldn’t care less about the inevitable fun and excitement that comes from shooting birds.
We set out to a brand new location that we had never been to. I’m not going to name this spot because although it’s a relatively common name, I still feel as if it’s somewhat of a hidden secret. However, the spot is just outside of Phoenix.
We arrived at our destination to find a seemingly beautiful landscape. This hunting spot had little cactus, some water tanks, and good roost trees. There were nearby farm fields for food, too. This was another location that was sure to hit the spot.
Except, we were wrong, once again. This outing was less eventful than the other two combined. We saw hardly any birds, and I didn’t harvest a cottontail. I did find a nice black-tailed jackrabbit, but he disappeared into the thick desert grassland type vegetation, never to be seen again.
That concluded my early dove season outings. I was bummed, but these kinds of things happen when it comes to hunting. In all reality, we should have been out scouting preseason, locating sources of food, cover, and water and finding where birds are.
Which brings me to my next point – it doesn’t matter if you find the perfect source of food, perfect roosting/nesting trees, and a constant source of water. If the birds aren’t there than they aren’t there. None of it matters if there aren’t birds there. I think we get too caught up in thinking “oh, this looks like a good spot because of this, this, and this”. None of those things matter if there aren’t birds.
Anthem
I have heard many people say that Anthem is always popping when it comes to dove hunting. This can be a good or bad thing. I absolutely hate hunting in crowded places. Your shots are restricted, you’re in danger of getting shot, people are idiots, and your hunt just isn’t pleasant, and these are the kinds of things that happen in Anthem.
Now, where to go in Anthem? I have no idea. However, you will probably never catch me there, simply because I don’t want to put up with other hunters and their nonsense.
Dry Conditions
From what I can find, there seems to be conflicting data about the impact of dry conditions on the success of dove populations. On one hand, its thought that heavy rain hurts dove populations because the rain can ruin dove nests that are usually crudely built. On the other hand, it would only make sense that dry conditions would hurt dove numbers due to lack of free water, lack of feed, and lack of quality nesting areas.
Which brings me to my next point; I think that, at the end of the day, dove that are away from agricultural areas were not high this year. Based on data, previous trends, and anecdotal information, dove in areas away from farm fields were hurting this year all while dove living in agricultural settings were high this year.
Does this mean that they balanced out to create an above-average year? In my opinion, no.
The ability for the general public to find huntable agricultural land within Arizona (especially surrounding Phoenix) is not easy. Not to mention that Phoenix is surrounded by tons of public land that should be holding birds, right? Well, as we are seeing this year, maybe not.
We can sort of relate this to hunting deer on a private ranch. There are going to be giant, 200”+ deer on that ranch that people are going to be doing great with, but does that mean that we throw those numbers in with the mediocre deer that are outside the ranch? I don’t think so. Yes, this comparison isn’t 100% accurate because we are comparing fencing in a ground-moving animal to a bird that has no boundaries, but still.
Dove Are Moving
I think another thing that’s happening is that dove are moving. While you might see a ton of dove in one spot one year, they may be gone the next year.
This happened with me in 2017. I found an amazing spot. Three of us limited out a couple of times within a one week period. It was some of the best action I’d ever seen.
Fast forward to the next year and there were no birds. Not a single one. We stood out there for hours, waiting, hoping for anything to fly over. It just didn’t happen.
This is also consistent with my experience working as a dove trapper for AZGFD. One year we would have extreme success in one area, but the next year it was a bust. We did nothing different, and we would hit these areas just as hard as the year prior.
The Takeaway
At the end of the day, I think we are moving more into a time where scouting needs to be done to be a successful dove hunter. More hunters will continue finding places in the desert that contain large numbers of birds that are easily accessible, making these places more difficult to hunt (or at least more difficult to hunt without getting shot). Dove numbers will continue to fluctuate widely as more dry, hot summers will impact bird numbers.
Scout areas that have promising nesting/roosting areas, along with access to water and food, all of which are near to agricultural areas, and you will be successful. Just remember that the more elusive area/hard-to-get-to areas that you find with large numbers, the more successful you will be when it comes to actually hunting.
All of this excludes hunting farms and ranches – active agricultural areas, especially those that are private, will continue to provide for high numbers of birds.
I would also be willing to say that this is probably true for most of the Southwest US, but I can’t say with 100% accuracy.
Conclusion
Overall, I hope this not only provided you with an insight into this year’s early dove season in Arizona but also provided you with some information about how to be successful for next year. Keep in mind also that late-season dove hunting tends to be much different than the early season, so all that I just said may or may not be pertinent.
As always, I thank you all for reading and I will see you next time.