Hunting September game birds is good warmup for waterfoul and upland seasons

Standing in the brush along an abandoned rock quarry, I scanned the blue, cloud-free September sky for flying birds.

My prey? Band-tail pigeons, the West Coast’s cousin to the extinct passenger pigeon. One of the speedy birds broke over the trees, and I dropped it with a single shot.

It was my first band-tail hunt. I had heard they were a challenging bird for wing shooters, and here I had taken one with a single shot. What was so hard about this?

Twenty-one shots later, when I had finally harvested my second band-tail, I was a doubter no longer.

Yes, these birds would be a challenge for any wing shooter.

Band-tails are only one of the local migratory game birds of September, with the other one being mourning doves. Both are fun to hunt, good on the table, and a perfect way to warm up for the upcoming waterfowl and upland seasons.

Doves are, undeniably, the most popular of the two birds. According to Eric Holman, the Region 5 wildlife biologist, in 2023, hunters took 28,440 doves. They were harvested by 7,128 dove hunters.

Doves are about the size of a robin, with light gray bodies, and dark splotches on their wings. They are common at bird feeders in suburban areas, but mostly stick to open, dry country. They can be told from the larger non-native Eurasian collared dove by their size, and they are a darker color, with sharper tails.

Colored doves are not considered a game bird and can be taken any time of year, and there are no daily limits. These birds are more of an urban bird, but they can be found around dairies and anywhere there is scrap grain. Their tails are more square than sharp, and they have a dark band around their necks.

Holman said that the east side of the Cascades has the best opportunities for mourning doves, but there is some good dove hunting in Clark County.

“Klickitat County has the best dove habitat in Region 5,” Holman said. “It has that mix of feed fields and open country that they like.”

He points to the Klickitat County Wildlife Area as being a good bet.

Closer to home, he said the Shillapoo Wildlife Area, along Vancouver Lake, has the right mix of agricultural fields, water sources, and roosting trees, and it draws decent numbers of doves.

“It does get hunted for doves, and they do harvest some there,” Holman said. “Hunters should look for agricultural fields where there are trees nearby to roost in.”

This August has been unusually cool and wet, which can have a tendency to push the warm weather-loving doves to start heading south, but Holman doesn’t think all the birds will be gone come opening day. He reports that the birds to the north will be passing through, and those birds should keep hunters busy.

Hunting hotspots also include ponds with banks that are clear of brush and cover, the favored areas for the birds to drink. They are wary, and they prefer open areas where they can see any approaching danger.

Dove season opens on Sunday, Sept. 1, and runs through the end of September, with a daily limit of 15 birds.

While doves are a challenging target with their speed and erratic flying patterns, the band-tail pigeon is even faster, and more difficult to harvest. These migratory birds are also much more sharp-eyed, and the hunter that does not conceal themselves well will watch as the birds swerve aside out of range.

Band-tail pigeons are a blueish grey, with a light band on the back of the neck, as well as a light band on their tail, which gives them their name.

They were once a more popular game bird, but now only a hundred or so are taken by a small number of hunters each year.

The numbers of band-tails plummeted in the eighties from over hunting, forcing wildlife managers to close all hunting until they recovered. That closure meant a generation of bird hunters never learned how to hunt them, and even though numbers are now strong, they are still not as popular as they used to be.

Larger than the dove, they are about the size of the rock doves, the pigeons we all see in the cities. However, these are wild birds that feed mostly on cascara berries and elderberries, and stick mostly to the higher elevations. They are also frequent visitors to bird feeders, often arriving in big flocks that quickly strip the feed.

Hunters look to pass shoot the birds over mineral springs and water sources. They often travel is large flocks, and can be targeted as they pass over saddles in the Cascades. Any place that has a lot of cascara trees can also bring the birds in.

These are a tough bird, so most hunters run with shot sizes that are larger than the common loads used for doves, which are usually hunted with shot sizes seven and eight. The heavier five or six shot works better for band-tails.

The season runs Sept. 15-23, with a daily limit of two birds. To hunt either doves or band-tail pigeons, a small game license is required.

All hunters of migratory game birds (ducks, geese, doves, coots, and snipe) are required to complete a Harvest Information Program (HIP) survey at a license dealer and possess a state migratory bird permit as evidence of compliance with this requirement when hunting.

For more information on seasons, permits, and other regulations, check the WDFW website at: https://www.eregulations.com/washington/hunting/game-bird/migratory-game-bird-seasons