

Fig. 12. Chaining of trees and brush is least detrimental to nest- 
ing mourning doves if patches of trees and brush are left stand- 
ing along drainageways and on steeper terrain. Bandera County, 
Texas. (Photo by E. Seidensticker, USDA-SCS). 
Habitat used by mourning doves during migration and 
on the wintering grounds is similar to that of the nesting 
grounds. Doves seek out groves of trees or brush species for 
roosting and these areas must be near water and food. 
Nearly any grain production area with an adjacent grove 
of trees suffices for their needs during this period. 
With the varied habitat types in the CMU and the ability 
of mourning doves to adapt to them, it is not likely that 
dove populations will be materially affected adversely by 
land-use practices in the immediate future. However, wild- 
life managers must keep abreast of alterations in land and 
agricultural practices to ensure that mourning dove popu- 
lations will continue to thrive. 
Mourning Dove Hunting Regulations 
and Harvest 
Hunting 
United States. —-With the increase of mourning dove 
breeding populations in the United States and coincident 
decreases of several other game bird populations, a dove 
hunting tradition has slowly built up through the years to 
the point where more doves are now taken by hunters on 
the North American Continent than any other single game 
bird (R. E. Tomlinson, H. M. Reeves, unpublished reports). 
Hunting of mourning doves is most popular in the South 
and Southwest, but it affords a substantial amount of rec- 
reation in the Midwest as well. 
The mourning dove season ushers in the hunting season 
in most States, usually beginning in September and con- 
cluding in October or November. Hunters shoot mourn- 
ing doves with shotguns of several gauges; the most popu- 
lar shot sizes are Nos. 72-9. Hunting strategies vary, but 
they can be classed basically as field shooting, hunting near 
water sources, roost shooting, pass shooting, and jump 
shooting. Each method has its adherents, but field and pass 
shooting are most popular, Hunting practices vary by area 
and are dependent on climatic, vegetative, and water con- 
ditions as well as personal preference. 
Latin America. —Mourning dove hunting also occurs 
throughout the winter range in Mexico and Central 
America (Blankenship and Reeves 1970). Doves arrive on 
the southern wintering grounds in October and generally 
migrate northward in February or March. Hunting takes 
place throughout that period, but it is usually heaviest dur- 
ing December and January (Estrada O. 1978; P. C. Purdy, 
unpublished report). 
In Mexico and Central America, “legal” hunting with 
shotguns by residents is usually through the auspices of 
hunting clubs from metropolitan areas. Groups of sports- 
men organize and hunt doves together in agricultural areas 
usually within 200 km of their residences. Hunting by non- 
residents (mainly Americans, Jamaicans, and Canadians) 
occurs in several Latin American countries and is a valued 
type of tourism. Hunting by foreigners is usually a group 
activity through organized guide service. During the study 
years, Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua pro- 
moted hunting by tourists. 
Subsistence hunting is widespread but occurs in unknown 
amounts in Latin America. Methods of taking doves include 
traps, .22 caliber rifles, and slingshots. There is some mar- 
ket hunting, but this activity is thought to be small. 
Harvest 
United States. — Although there is little doubt that the 
harvest of mourning doves by hunters has greatly increased 
in the United States during the past 40 years, a uniform 
nationwide survey has been unavailable to measure this 
important statistic accurately. Past estimates of mourning 
dove harvest, therefore, have been based on guesswork, 
compilations of incomplete State statistics, or indirect com- 
putations from several data sources. Although these esti- 
mates are subject to considerable error, they can be used 
as gross approximations of the harvest for chronological 
comparison. 
In 1942 the estimated harvest of mourning doves in the 
United States was 11 million birds (McClure 1944). The 
annual kill slowly increased to about 15 million doves in 
1949 (Dalrymple 1949) and 19 million in 1955 (Peters 1956). 
By 1965 the U.S. mourning dove harvest had jumped to 
about 41 million (Ruos and Tomlinson 1968), and the most 
recent estimate places the figure at 49 million (Keeler 1977). 
Two methods were used in the present study to derive 
the CMU harvest figure. The first was a compilation of indi- 
vidual State estimates from random card surveys of small 

