Because I have Harry’s permission I respectfully post the following:

[Furseeker]

I woke up this morning and slipped out of bed without waking my wife. I prepared a thermos full of coffee, loaded a few guns and headed for the dairy. It’s Sunday morning and I was in a big hurry to get out and commune with Mother Nature. After setting the decoys in the dead trees that I know where the doves like to land I went back to the manger or sit and drink my coffee while I waited for the birds to come in.

It didn’t take long; in fact a few came in while I was setting up the decoys. I had one land literally 20 inches away from me, poor little guy just about turned himself inside out when he realized his mistake and flew away. I missed the first few easy shots with my B28 so I picked out a knot on the tree and shot at it. Some how the zero had shifted 4 or 5 inches to the right from 25 yards, after I re zeroed the rifle I managed a few with that gun. I will have to put that one on some paper today to try and figure what’s going on with it.

The rest of the morning I opted for the 350 Feuerkraft Pro Compact and was not disappointed with it. Even today I had a few fly offs but I’m willing to admit that is just part of air rifle hunting. It’s fun hunting these birds, but I’ve cleaned my share of them the last couple of days, and that’s not near as fun as hunting them. I will cook up a bunch of them tonight to take them to work for some of my coworkers.

I see from my last post there may some question as to the legality of shooting these birds with my air rifles. So I’ll say again, I’ve checked with the state, I’ve talked with the local game warden, I’ve been checked by the local game warden and I’m well within the law when it comes to harvesting these birds with my air rifles. The only thing the state requires is that you leave enough feathers on the birds so that the black ring on the back of their neck is clearly visible. The state of Utah is watching these birds very closely, they were a rare sighting in the state a mere 5 years ago and now they number in the thousands. One of the state biologists told me that these birds have the potential to be as densely populated as the Starling. They don’t migrate and they raise several broods a year.

[Rico14]

Here in Ca it's legal to use an air rifle to take the Eurasian doves also. There is also no limit.

[454 Big Block Chevy]

in georgia, air rifle hunting is legal for all small game, even birds.  and the Eurasion is an invasive species, and no closed season, nor a daily limit.

[longislandhunter]

Anyway  you can box up some live birds and send em to me ? 

Since they don't migrate maybe if I let em loose near my home they'll take up housekeeping  

Seriously though, excellent hunt and pics. 

Jeff

[only1harry]

Yeah Jeff and I will take real good care of them here in NY

Nice shooting as always Dave!  Too bad about the zero shifting on the B28.  It happens, especially with the Magnum Springer.  You have to watch for scope shift and stock screws getting loose from the pounding they get.

By all means keep posting buddy!  Love the pics!! and I 'm jealous as hek!

[The Knot]

dove = pideon= flying rat = who really cares nice work shoot them all nobody will miss them crapping in our food supply

[dk1677]

Nice shooting Dave!

[Carl]

I did a quick search on them as well. It looks like they are invasive here in Texas and can be taken year round.
In the wiki, It looks like they are pretty far ranging from Mex to Alaska and from the East coast to the West.
Take as many as you can, they are shouldering out the native birds, much like the starlings.

[only1harry]

Now I see why they don't just release a few here in NY  

It's a shame that everyone else has all the fun, hehehe.  Are there any laws against transporting these birds over state lines? 

[Carl]

Just wait, they are coming your way.

[Furseeker]

I’m a bit of bird nut, and like to study about all kinds of birds and enjoy watching them. A few years ago I really got into photographing them. I remember when the bird watching society was all excited about the first reported sighting of them here in Utah. It was down in the St. George area, about 300 miles South of where I live. Then about a year later I remember seeing the first one locally. And before I really got into the air rifle hunting we would see an occasional Eurasian during the September Mourning Dove hunt. They kept becoming more common every year since that time. Out here in Utah we always seem to get a little cold snap just before the Sept. 1 opener, that weather gets the Mourning Doves moving for warmer climates. The ECD’s seem to handle the colder weather a lot better, and I can tell you in the last three days I’ve seen approximately 300 to 400 hundred doves and less then 5 of them were the native Mourning Dove. The state biologist told me that the experts aren’t sure how their arrival will affect the Mourning Doves but he did tell me the state has no plans to try to regulate the harvest of the new comer. As long as it has no long term effects on the native species I like the idea of having an almost unlimited supply of eatable targets to pursue all 12 months of the year.

[shadow]

Great shooting and pic's bro and that's a feast of feather there too. Ed

[Mebits]

ECD's have been spotted within 200 miles of me. I'm SO eager to see them...and I feel guilty about that.

So it is. Mourning doves are so small and such a pain to comply with regulation. ECD's look like two make a nice meal and they can be readily taken by air gun in a suburban environ.

[454 Big Block Chevy]

ECD's are soooo tasty too... they have all the taste of Mourning doves, yet are 2x as big.

[Mebits]

That's what I'm talking about!

It's fascinating to watch the birders' data year by year.

http://gbbc.birdsource.org/gbbcApps/report?cmd=showReport&reportName=SpeciesCity&species=eucdov&state=US-KY&year=2010

Not long ago, there were ZERO sightings. Recently we've had numerous sightings as close as Louisville and Lexington.

M

[Jonesin]

Dove's are good but a bit on the dark meat side. I like's me the white meat (all birds considered). I have had a few dove BBQ's but I would rather have a white meat (less gamey tasting) bird. Pheasant like. Just IMHO.

[Atchman2]

I've always thought Pheasant tasted gamey to me at least.  Nice shooting my brother from Utah!  Like I've said before, for some reason in TN Doves are under the migratory birds laws so have to be shot with a shotgun.  I think I could limit out power line shooting them with my air guns.  

I'll have to see if they'll change that law. It is kinda silly if you think about it.  I can see not shooting ducks or geese with an air gun (though I'm sure they would do the job!), but doves? 

We can shoot pigeons and those collared doves with an airgun though.  They are nuisance species.  I've never seen any of them, but I've heard of some being spotted in West Tennessee. 

[Mebits]

Dove's are good but a bit on the dark meat side. I like's me the white meat (all birds considered). I have had a few dove BBQ's but I would rather have a white meat (less gamey tasting) bird. Pheasant like. Just IMHO.

If you treat dove and pigeon like duck breast, and serve it medium rare, the flavor and texture are exquisite.

[Mebits]

We can shoot pigeons and those collared doves with an airgun though.  They are nuisance species.  I've never seen any of them, but I've heard of some being spotted in West Tennessee. 

There seem to be a lot of sitings in Tenn.

http://gbbc.birdsource.org/gbbcApps/report?cmd=showReport&reportName=SpeciesCity&species=eucdov&state=US-TN&year=2010

You can check it out year by year, too, if you like.

[Atchman2]

Most of those are way west of me.  What folks don't realize it is closer for me to drive to Ohio, KY, IN, GA, AL etc that it is to drive to Memphis despite the fact we are in the same state