Are You Ready For Minnesota Mourning Dove Season?

September 1st has always been a national holiday in my family. If you are a hunter you know why! September 1st is opening day for Dove Season!! My family has a property in Colorado where you could bag your limit in a half-hour if you were a great shot. If you are like me, it would take a lot longer, but it's about having fun and enjoying the sport. I'm not going to lie, I may have had Dove Huntingitious a couple of times and missed school! There's no shame in that. Right?

I'm so excited to see what Minnesota has to offer this year. According to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resouces, Dove season runs September 1st through November 29th in Minnesota. Like any hunt, it's best to start scouting early so you understand the patterns of the animal in the area you will be hunting. Most of the time, right before dawn and dusk is when you'll see the most birds and find the most success. The DNR website says that Southern Minnesota and Western Minnesota are the best places to hunt these birds due to the amount of agriculture land.

If you don't have access to private land, don't worry. Minnesota has public land that you can hunt. There are thousands of acres according to the DNR website. After obtaining the proper hunting licenses and having a plan, you should be ready to go! Just a helpful hint from years of hunting -- bring a 5-gallon buck to sit on! Once I figured that out, life was so much better.

I use to hate cleaning the birds. My younger brother taught me a few tricks that made it easy. He told me it's best if you have a sharp knife and make your first cut down the center of the chest of the bird. My mom would never let us do this in the house, so we normally cleaned our birds on the tailgate of our truck before heading home. Having a cooler handy made it easy for transport. Now the question is, what are you going to do with all those doves? We always wrap them in bacon, marinate them and grill them for an amazing meal. Happy hunting this year friends!