Dove season will open on its traditional date of Sept. 1, and the outlook for the season is good. The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources will be offering 90 public fields with more than 1,000 acres on which to hunt doves this year.
The daily dove bag limit remains 15 doves, with a 90-day season in three segments. The first segment of dove season closes Oct. 26. The second segment opens Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 24) and closes Dec. 4, while the third segment opens Christmas Eve (Dec. 24) and closes Jan. 15, 2023.
In addition to a valid Kentucky hunting license and a Kentucky Migratory Bird/Waterfowl permit, hunters must also have their Harvest Information Program (HIP) confirmation number prior to heading afield.
To get their confirmation number, hunters must visit the Kentucky Fish and Wildlife website at fw.ky.gov, click the My Profile tab and answer a brief survey about their migratory bird hunting activities during the previous year.
This confirmation number provided at the completion of the survey must be written on the hunting license or Kentucky Migratory Bird/Waterfowl Hunting permit. Hunters may also reprint their license free of charge after completing the survey, as the HIP confirmation number will then be displayed on it.
The HIP survey is utilized by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to conduct more in-depth, follow-up hunter surveys. These in-depth surveys provide vital information on harvest in Kentucky and in the United States, and help federal and state wildlife agencies to manage hunting opportunities for sustainability.
Through Aug. 31, hunters may not enter public dove fields. Scouting must be done outside of the fields until they open, and seekers are encouraged to use binoculars from parking lots.
Wes Little, a migratory bird biologist with Kentucky Fish and Wildlife, notes that every time doves are “flushed” from a field, it runs risk of them not returning to the area. Even people walking into them can inadvertently scare away flocks before the season opening.
