Sounds Of Shotgun Fire Heralds the Opening of Dove Hunt

By STEPHANIE BUNKER

Moapa Valley Progress

Like clockwork, the first day of September rolls around and the shooting begins.
The opening morning of the dove hunt is not a good day for Moapa Valley residents to sleep in. The legal shooting time began at 5:42 am. But down at the Overton Wildlife Management Area (WMA) hunters were lined up long before that, ready to be checked in and get their favorite hunting spot.
Many were in line by 4:00 in the morning. One excited hunter even slept in his cot at the gate to ensure entering the hunting grounds.

Dove hunting goes on throughout the fields and outskirts of Moapa Valley. But many hunters from Las Vegas and Henderson like to use the WMA every year. There were also a handful of locals there to hunt on the management area opening morning.
The maximum number of hunters allowed on the WMA is 60. This year the WMA had 50 hunters participate on opening morning.
“Anyone that showed up and wanted to hunt got to go out this morning,” said OWMA manager Bennie Vann.

The hunters can reserve a spot for the first morning or first weekend hunt by mailing in a form. Or they can just show up the morning of and wait on standby in case there are any openings. There were 27 reservations this year, with a few that didn’t show. Twenty-five of the hunters present had no reservation but were allowed in due to so many openings.
Mourning Dove had been seen in abundance in the area during the weeks prior to the hunt opening. But on the morning of the hunt, dove numbers were down.

Vann explained that storms in the area tend to stir up the birds and drive them further south. Vann, who takes two bird counts a month in the WMA, said there was three times the amount of dove at the WMA just before the last big thunderstorm on August 22. But despite the lower numbers there were still birds flying, Vann said.

But not every hunter came out successful. Jason Mace and Don Bunch had never come to Overton for the dove hunt before. But even though they went home empty handed they enjoyed their time in the area.

Sami Salmon comes to the WMA every year for the dove hunt. He collected 6 dove that morning. He commented that the dove numbers were actually better last year than they were this year. Salmon enjoys the dove hunt and said that he may come out from Las Vegas again to hunt later this season.
Howard Haut is a local man and he shot 2 birds on opening day. “Its slow hunting, but I have seen worse years,” he said. “There are still birds out there.”

As the hunters exited the gates of the hunting area, Vann and Andrew Coonen were there to inspect and record the kills. They take note of whether the birds are Eurasian Doves, a juvenile, or adult Mourning Dove.
Vann explained that the Eurasian Dove actually isn’t a game bird. They can be shot at any time of the year and there is no limit to how many can be killed by one person.

The Mourning Dove however are game birds and a limit of 15 birds per person may be shot in a day. A few years ago the limit of birds was increased as well as the season lengthened.
“Now a hunter can shoot a quail and a dove in the same hunt,” Vann said.
That is, if the hunter is lucky enough to see a Mourning Dove in the month of October after quail season gets underway.