First or second weekend best for doves

First or second weekend best for doves

which is best ?

Thanks

Opening day then they mysterious disappear. Seriously, it all depends on the lease. If you are hunting outside the migratory flyway then opening day is going to be the best. If the lease is only holding local birds then you will be done after the second day.

All season.

On private land with only a couple people hunting it really does not seem to matter but on big day lease fields with 50-100 hunters after the first day of hunting the majority of the birds will be gone.

First day ( Sept 1st) is always the best! Usually the first weekend is better than the next.

Then for me it kind of levels out for 2 weeks till all the first week hunters are gone.
After that point it depends on the cool fronts we get in that determine if we get any new birds in and how good the hunting is.

Opening day for a particular spot is always best, because after that there are less birds because they get shot and also educated. But after open day, there are less crowds, and later in the season migratory birds move in.

.


This +1. I always do better late season. Have done well in the winter season as well

opening day...

Around here opening day then it goes downhill pretty quick. In October when the northern birds show up it can get good and with a lot less pressure, but not AS good.

But you can have great hunts on private land that hasn't been shot out yet any time during the season as long as weather hasn't pushed them out.

Alot of factors in that question. Like stated above, if you hunt private land it can stay good for a while with only a few hunters. Ive had some of my best days a week or more into the season. When birds change their flight patterns away from the leased feilds. But in all I can always count on limits the first 2 or 3 days.

Leased feilds usually get tough to hunt after a couple days, over hunted.

i always try for the first few days. they always seem to be the best for me. but hunting is not always about the killing. i like to get out with friends and family as well even if were not killing anything.

First 10 days.
After that it only gets good right after every solid rainstorm

I had steady shooting last year from the opener through the first 3 or 4 weeks of the season...then it got REALLY good with the migration, for maybe 10 days in October. It pretty much shut down to the point where I was getting just 4 or 5 birds on morning hunts during the last 10 days of the season.

It just depends on the lease really...I say hunt both! If you think the local birds will be gone from your lease after the opener then take your time off the 2nd week...birds move around and hunting pressure, at least in my area, goes way down after that first week. This year, with the opener on a Monday, I expect the first Sat/Sun of the season to be fully retarded, but a lot of folks will have to work Tues-Fri after the opener so maybe with less hunters that would work out.

It's a crap shoot....and after the opener it'll depend heavily on how your lease is setup and then later in the season, how the rain/fronts roll in. With the el nino pattern looking more and more like it will fully present itself soon, we'll probably see more rain than normal, so be as flexible as you can, and don't be afraid to fight a muddy field to get in some good shooting!

No actually last day...

"When dove season opens, we're gunna hunt until dove season ends"
The Dove Commander

I hunt every afternoon if possible, but I really like the cold front birds of late September and October.

We never get those anymore... maybe in late November this cold front thing will come through lol

You get 70 days of hunting between the two seasons so hunt all 70 days like I (try to) do.
PS it is all for the dogs

Opener and next day after opener. Then a week or so to settle down, hunter participation goes way down, and birds resettle and or are blown out by the first cool fronts. You can have great hunting but have to look for a little harder and be out there more.