Lehigh Valley Outdoors
  • Home
  • Hunting
  • Fishing
  • Boating
  • Archery
  • Sports Vehicles
  • Golf
  • Shooting Sports
  • Other
  • Home
  • Hunting
  • Fishing
  • Boating
  • Archery
  • Sports Vehicles
  • Golf
  • Shooting Sports
  • Other

Lehigh valley outdoors

By Nick Hromiak

Dove and early goose hunting season opens Sept. 1

8/24/2018

0 Comments

 

The first part of the small game season traditionally gets underway on the first day of September, and this is when dove and geese become legal game. This year, Sept 1 falls on Saturday, which is great for hunters as it’s a weekend. 

These fast flyers are challenging birds to hunt and down as they offer every conceivable wing shot. In flight there are incomers, outgoers, quartering left, quartering right, in front, crossing behind and directly overhead. No other gamebird offers these type of shots. And because of their unpredictable flight patterns, it’s been said that it takes seven shot shells to down one bird. 

But the secondary challenge in dove hunting is finding where to hunt them. In Lehigh County, dove hunting possibilities are thin. Thanks to warehouse and housing developers, a good number of former dove habitat is gone. I recall hunting with my - at the time – pre-teen son many moons ago in a sunflower field across from Mack Trucks in Macungie. That was the best dove hunting I ever experienced. We got our limits and in fact my son got his first-ever double. That spot is long gone to development as is the entire area. 

Breinigsville too, was always a hot spot but I don’t have to tell you what’s there now and what created heavy tractor trailer  traffic. Limeport was another good dove area. Now most of it is homes. 

The only dove possibilities are on the northern tier of Lehigh in Lynn, Weisenberg and Lowhill townships and of course State Game Land #205 in Lowhill where it’s located off Route 100.  

The Pennsylvania Game Commission has Managed Dove Fields where land managers plant food and cover plots for the birds. These areas can be found on the agencies’ website under Hunt, then check Waterfowl & Migratory Game Bird sites. Click on the game land symbol to the area you’d like to hunt and it will show where the area is. The closest I found was in Berks County at Blue Marsh Lake. 

In Northampton County, best bet is if you spot a likely farm and get permission from the farmer or landowner, try it. Otherwise its SGL #168 along the Blue Mountain. 

Since there is more farm land in upper Berks County around Topton and Lyons, most of which is primarily owned by Mennonites who customarily don’t sell their land, I’ve seen a good many doves perched on utility lines when driving back- roads there. 

As it’s the most hunted game bird in North America, hunters need to find their favorite natural meals. Ninety percent of dove meals consist of seeds like from foxtail, ragweed, pineseed, pokeweed, wheat, oats, soybean, sunflower and believer it or not considering their small mouths, corn. 

Their flyways normally are from roosting to eating to picking grit then watering. If you can find similar areas, you may have a dove spot. 

Dove season runs from Sept. 1- Nov. 24 and again from Dec. 18 – Jan. 5. Daily limits are 15 with a possession limit of 45. 

As for Canada geese, they’re even tougher to hunt right now with all the standing corn and soybean fields. For them it’s a crap shoot as to where they’re putting down right now to eat. Until more crops are harvested, goose hunting will be tough. Their season runs Sept 1 – Sept. 25 with a daily limit of one and possession limit of three. 

Hunters don’t forget, a migratory stamp is needed to hunt doves and a Duck Stamp for geese. 
​
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Nick Hromiak has been an outdoors and automotive  writer for over 30 years. He's been published in numerous national and state-wide outdoor magazines and newspapers. 

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016

    RSS Feed

      Subscribe!

    Subscribe to Newsletter
Proudly powered by Weebly