DOVE REGULATIONS REVIEW
All persons who hunt migratory game birds, including doves, are required to have in their possession a Tennessee Migratory Bird Permit (TMBP) in addition to other required Tennessee licenses and permits, with the following exceptions: landowners hunting on their own land, disabled veterans, residents of Tennessee who are 65 or older, Lifetime Sportsman License holders, and residents of Tennessee under 13 years of age. Military personnel on leave or furlough will be required to possess the TMBP when hunting migratory birds even though they are not required to possess a hunting and fishing license.

The TWRA said everyone who hunts on a WMA is required to have a WMA permit except the holder of a Lifetime Sportsman License, Annual Sportsman License, Annual Senior Citizen Permit (Type 167), and youths under age 16 hunting small game and waterfowl. However, there are some WMAs that do not require a WMA permit. Youth hunters must be accompanied by an adult with a valid WMA permit.

The agency also said the mourning dove is the most hunted and the most harvested migratory game bird in North America. There are about 450 million birds in the continental population. The overall harvest in the U.S. is 45 million birds. In Tennessee, some 100,000 dove hunters harvest an estimated 2 million or more doves annually.

The key regulation on dove hunting, as most veteran hunters know, concerns baiting: No persons shall take migratory game birds by the aid of baiting, or on or over any baited area. Baiting means the placing, exposing, depositing, distributing or scattering of shelled, shucked or unshucked corn, wheat or other grain, salt or other feed so as to constitute for such birds a lure, attraction or enticement to, on, or over any areas where hunters are attempting to take them.

The TWRA notes good dove hunting is frequently found where grain and other feed is distributed in the ordinary course of farming activities. Federal hunting regulations recognize this fact. Doves may be legally hunted where grain, salt or other feed is found scattered solely as the result of normal agricultural planting or harvesting and distributed or scattered as the result of bona fide agricultural operations or procedures. Additionally, doves may be hunted over crops or other feed raised for wildlife management purposes and manipulated in the field where grown.

Normal agricultural planting or harvesting includes many factors, such as time of year, rates of application, methods, seed source and equipment efficiency. Questions about what constitutes normal agricultural planting or harvesting practices should be addressed to the University of Tennessee Agricultural Extension Service.

The harvest of such grain crops as corn, wheat, milo, sorghum, millet, sunflower, buckwheat and others may attract doves. During the harvest, seeds may fall to the ground and become available to wildlife. Hunting over normally harvested fields is legal. However, a field would be considered baited for doves if harvested grain is redistributed on the field after harvesting.

Crops such as browntop millet, sunflowers, corn, grain sorghum, wheat or other small grains can be grown for wildlife management purposes and the mature plants can then be manipulated to improve dove hunting. This manipulation can include mowing, dragging down and disking and does not have to be related to any type of agricultural process. However, no distribution of additional grain or redistribution of grain once removed from the field may occur. Planting a grain field in the previous fall or spring and manipulating it before the dove season is the most reliable way to attract doves over a longer period, and is also the safest way to avoid any question of baiting or intent to bait doves.

While federal law allows the growing of a grain crop to be manipulated specifically for the purpose of attracting doves for hunting, the sowing of any grains immediately before or during the hunting season for the purpose of attracting doves is considered baiting and is illegal to hunt doves over. It is legal to plant winter grains in the fall to mature and be manipulated for dove hunting the following year's hunting season.

Find more about Tennessee fishing and hunting at: TennesseeSportsmanMag.com