First time Dove hunting...

Used to quail hunt a long time ago and shot a few dove on my family's ranch, but never official dove hunting. I have called a couple of day lease places in north Texas so I know where I can go, but I don't really know what I'm doing. Well, I know how to shoot birds, and I've watched enough DFW outdoorsman to know the majority of dove hunting takes place sitting down :P But that's about it. I would be going alone for a first time and it probably will be a complete failure, but I'm willing to give it a try. Any advice/suggestions? I thought about asking the lease owner advice/tips/places to go on the property, but before I did that I thought I'd ask here. I didn't want the lease owner to think I am a complete noob and never shot a gun or anything like that by me asking dumb questions. Also I know a couple more weeks in the season, but this late in the season even paying for a day lease i don't know how many dove will still be around? Again, I'm very new to this so try not to give me a hard time

Start looking for a place to hunt next year. And book your rooms NOW! (hint hint go west young man)

* Ok, so when you see the dove coming, do not move. If you move at all, the dove will see you move, and flare. When dove is in range, then move to mount your gun, even stand up if you want to, I normally just stay in my seat.
* Talk to land owner, get him to put you in a good spot where the dove are flying.
* Avoid sun in the eyes type spots.
* Get yourself a mojo will help, just stick that out 20 yards in front of you, but you don't need to mess with that if you don't want to.
* 7.5 or 8 size pellets.
* When you shoot a bird, mark where it lands, and walk strait to it not taking your eyes off the spot. When you get to that spot and you do not see the bird, mark the spot, with rock or stick on the ground, or whatever, then start looking for the bird. This will help you finding birds, they can be hard to find sometimes.

That is really good advice, Guy! I have found a lot more dead birds by marking my spot than I did before. I've seen guys drop a hat, or do anything.

What I actually use is something I bought for $1 at Academy one day because I saw it there. I would have made it myself but I didn't have the spare stuff at home and it was right in my face. Not sure if they have them anymore. Anyway-- here it is... the complicated bird marker... it's a fender washer with a bit of fluorescent orange ribbon tied through it. I can get real far from that marker, or be in high grass, and come back near the spot and find it right away!

What i do when marking birds is to see where it lands then find something way off in the distance. This makes it where the bird is in-between your chair and that object. I have found that if i only look where the bird went and happen to take my eye off of it, it is to hard to find where the bird landed because the field or grass it landed in all look the same and you can't find the spot you marked exactly. When walking to your downed bird and another bird files by it is easy to shoot and mark multiple birds this way. Just mark it the same way and leave something where you shot so you know the exact line to walk. Now if the bird is only wounded and not killed by the shot, go get that bird right away because they can and will run away and hide.

I've hunted dove now for about 30 years and still have times when I have to search forever for downed birds. Once they hit grass they blend remarkably well. On my place I have a lot of broom weed and kleingrass and when birds fall into it, ugh.

thanks for the tips! so you guys don't think it's too late in the season to have any luck? i was just afraid they've all moved on.

No...still lots of birds around. Keep in mind the Eurasians or ring necked doves don't count toward your limit. Depending on where you live/hunt there is another opportunity in December too.

Local dove will still go feed and water, A good number roost in towns and fly to feed in water. Hint, look for spots within several miles of West Texas town and there'll be a few birds.