
Table 15. Mortality attributable to hunting for mourning 
doves banded in Missouri 1968-76 and recovered through 
1976. 

Statistic Males Females Adults Immatures 
Direct recovery rate? 0.026 0.023 0.025 0.033 
Harvest rate> 0.080 0.073 0.077 0.103 
Kill rate® 0.108 0.099 0.104 0.139 
Mortality rated 0.533 0.688 0.576 0,750 
Mortality due to 
hunting® 0.203 0.143 0.181 0.186 

aFirst year after banding —from Table B-8, 
bHarvest rate = recovery rate/reporting rate. 
Kill rate = harvest rate/(1 — crippling rate). 
dAverage mortality rate from Tables 11-14. 
Kill rate/mortality rate. 
Discussion 
Geographic Dispersal of Doves 
Banded in Missouri 
Mourning doves banded in Missouri were recovered pri- 
marily in the Central and Eastern Management Units but 
some doves moved into Mexico and Central America. Two 
doves were recovered in California (Western Management 
Unit), but this may represent wandering of immatures, 
since both doves were immatures at the time of banding 
in Missouri. 
Although there were exceptions, mourning doves were 
harvested along two main pathways. Doves from eastern 
Missouri generally moved south-southeast into Mississippi, 
Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and 
Florida. Some central Missouri doves also migrated to the 
southeast. Most doves from the central and western regions 
of Missouri migrated across Kansas and Oklahoma into 
Texas, Louisiana, Mexico, and Central America. Wight 
(1954) demonstrated that many doves banded in Missouri 
migrated into Texas and Mexico. However, our study shows 
that the migration route of doves banded in eastern Mis- 
souri is similar to that of doves banded in States bordering 
Missouri on the east, and the movement is primarily south- 
eastward, The importance of Missouri doves to the harvest 
in Florida is shown by Marion et al. (1981). During 
1931-78, 11.4% of the weighted direct recoveries of doves 
banded elsewhere and recovered in Florida were doves 
banded in Missouri. 
About 76% of the direct recoveries of doves of all ages 
banded in Missouri 1968-76 were made in Missouri. The 
percentage of adults recovered in Missouri was significantly 
higher than immatures: 86 vs. 72% . The lower percentage 
of immatures may be due to their leaving the State before 
or shortly after the opening of dove season on September 1. 
The early movement of immature doves has been reported 
in Illinois (Hanson and Kossack 1963), Louisiana (Watts 
11 
Table 16. Estimated mourning dove productivity required 
to maintain a stable population (immatures per adult). 



Mortality Survival of Productivity 
Year of adults immatures required 
1969 65.66 23.95 2.74 
1970 28.03 32.51 0.86 
1971 53.24 32.72 1.63 
1973 55.30 17.69 3.13 
1974 74.55 28.39 2.63 
1975 76.69 17.44 4.40 
Average 57.6 25.1 2.3 

1969), and Tennessee (Orr 1973). Tomlinson et al. (1960) 
found that immature doves in Missouri left the natal area 
soon after banding. It was not determined whether these 
doves left the State or merely left the area of banding. 
Dunks (1977) reported that immature doves in Texas were 
more likely to migrate outside their breeding area than 
adults. 
A higher percentage of total recoveries of adult males 
than adult females was made in Missouri: 93 vs. 72% . This 
finding is also supported by earlier studies. Harris (1961) 
reported more males than females in a 141-bird sample of 
southwest Missouri doves taken by hunting between 1 Sep- 
tember and 6 October 1956. He attributed this to more 
males in the population or their greater vulnerability to 
hunting. Chambers et al. (1962) found wintering flocks of 
doves near the Fountain Grove Wildlife Area in northwest 
Missouri composed mostly of adult males, and offered evi- 
dence that male doves tend to winter farther north than 
females. Henry (1970), also working in Missouri, reported 
that the percentage of males recovered in Missouri was 
higher than females. He believed this to be the result of 
females being more migratory than males. In the present 
study there was some evidence that females may migrate 
much farther south than males. Four recoveries of females 
were made in Central America. No males were recovered 
this far south. 
For some reason, doves (both adults and immatures) 
banded in both the eastern and central regions of Missouri 
had appreciably higher in-state recovery rates than did those 
banded in western Missouri. Utilizing another data set, 
Henry (1970) found a higher rate of in-state recoveries for 
doves banded near Columbia, Missouri (central region), 
than those banded at the Fountain Grove Wildlife Area 
(western region). He suggested that this difference might 
be due to heavier hunting pressure and higher band-report- 
ing rates at Columbia. These explanations seem question- 
able from our data, which were based on several banding 
locations in each Missouri region, but we can offer no alter- 
native suggestions. 
For adult females and immatures, the percentages of 
indirect in-state recoveries were similar. For adult males, 
however, they differed significantly; only 78% of adult 
male indirect recoveries were made in State compared with 
