Dove Hunting - Is it a thing?

John Singer said:
I have only been a Minnesota resident for two years. I apply for the unit just nort of the one that you hunt. I did not draw the first year but did last year.
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Nice. That's a good unit as well. Expect the every other year trend to continue on your draw success. The only time I got picked twice in a row in my unit was my first 2 years, I either got lucky or someone messed up.

Did you get your sharp tail in the same unit last year? I got my first Sharpie last year north of highway 2. Technically you can't hunt sharpies south of 2 but if you're a licensed prairie chicken hunter in your zone, it's kind of a grey area and a Warden I talked to up there said legally you're "ok" if you shoot a sharpie if you're mistaking it for a prairie chicken.

In my unit, I've only kicked up one group of sharpies in the 12 years hunting them (which I promptly missed) then realized they were sharpies after hearing them chuckling away. Which I find just plain weird I haven't encountered more up there.
 
Munster927 said:
Nice. That's a good unit as well. Expect the every other year trend to continue on your draw success. The only time I got picked twice in a row in my unit was my first 2 years, I either got lucky or someone messed up.

Did you get your sharp tail in the same unit last year? I got my first Sharpie last year north of highway 2. Technically you can't hunt sharpies south of 2 but if you're a licensed prairie chicken hunter in your zone, it's kind of a grey area and a Warden I talked to up there said legally you're "ok" if you shoot a sharpie if you're mistaking it for a prairie chicken.

In my unit, I've only kicked up one group of sharpies in the 12 years hunting them (which I promptly missed) then realized they were sharpies after hearing them chuckling away. Which I find just plain weird I haven't encountered more up there.
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I shot the sharptail grouse up near Thief River Falls last fall. I participated in a marathon 4 day hunt where we shot prairie chickens, sharptail grouse, ruffed grouse and a Hungarian partridge.

In 2019, my son in law shot two prairie chickens and a sharptail while prairie chicken hunting.
 
John Singer said:
I shot the sharptail grouse up near Thief River Falls last fall. I participated in a marathon 4 day hunt where we shot prairie chickens, sharptail grouse, ruffed grouse and a Hungarian partridge.

In 2019, my son in law shot two prairie chickens and a sharptail while prairie chicken hunting.
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Nice I was trying to do the same last year up by Thief River Falls over a 3 day weekend. I was only able to connect with a few sharpies and a ruffed.
 
John Singer said:
While turkeys are technically an upland bird, so are crows.

I was only counting the upland birds that I can hunt over my dog.
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Turkeys are classified legally and scientifically as upland game birds. Crows are not.

Your second point is true however, carry on.
 
Dove and woodcock are technically migratory game birds ...

Woodcock are obviously hunted like most upland game birds, but dove hunting more closely relates to waterfowl hunting (primarily pass shooting or over decoys).

Dove seasons are controlled (season start, season length, limits) by the USF&WS. The USF&WS publishes annual reports, conducts banding projects, and manages harvest information through HIP ... ducks, geese, coots, snipe, woodcock, dove, etc.... Some southern states have split seasons similar to waterfowl.

A state like MN just lumps doves into their small game grouping.
 
Munster927 said:
Nice. That's a good unit as well. Expect the every other year trend to continue on your draw success. The only time I got picked twice in a row in my unit was my first 2 years, I either got lucky or someone messed up.

Did you get your sharp tail in the same unit last year? I got my first Sharpie last year north of highway 2. Technically you can't hunt sharpies south of 2 but if you're a licensed prairie chicken hunter in your zone, it's kind of a grey area and a Warden I talked to up there said legally you're "ok" if you shoot a sharpie if you're mistaking it for a prairie chicken.

In my unit, I've only kicked up one group of sharpies in the 12 years hunting them (which I promptly missed) then realized they were sharpies after hearing them chuckling away. Which I find just plain weird I haven't encountered more up there.
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Shooting sharptail grouse while hunting prairie chickens is not really a "grey area".

From the MN DNR Prairie Chicken website, prairie chicken hunters can actively target sharptail grouse.

Sharp-tails allowed​

Did you know that prairie chicken hunters may harvest sharp-tailed grouse in the permit area in which they are designated to hunt? This does not apply to the east-central sharp-tailed zone, which is closed to all sharp-tail hunting.
 
They may also want the sharptails removed some to keep the chicken population a little more genetically pure. Few less hybrids.
 
John Singer said:
Shooting sharptail grouse while hunting prairie chickens is not really a "grey area".

From the MN DNR Prairie Chicken website, prairie chicken hunters can actively target sharptail grouse.

Sharp-tails allowed​

Did you know that prairie chicken hunters may harvest sharp-tailed grouse in the permit area in which they are designated to hunt? This does not apply to the east-central sharp-tailed zone, which is closed to all sharp-tail hunting.
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What I was referring to is prairie chicken hunting South of Highway 2. You can't legally hunt sharptail grouse south of highway 2 (referring to the only open sharp tail zone).

No one can hunt sharpies south of 2. But licensed chicken hunters can. So that's where the grey area I'm referring to is. Per the game Warden I talked to in the area saying he would like people to not shoot sharps while prairie chicken hunting (south of 2) but that he wouldnt ticket anyone for it because you can't really identify a sharp from a chicken in the field.
 
Munster927 said:
What I was referring to is prairie chicken hunting South of Highway 2. You can't legally hunt sharptail grouse south of highway 2 (referring to the only open sharp tail zone).

No one can hunt sharpies south of 2. But licensed chicken hunters can. So that's where the grey area I'm referring to is. Per the game Warden I talked to in the area saying he would like people to not shoot sharps while prairie chicken hunting (south of 2) but that he wouldnt ticket anyone for it because you can't really identify a sharp from a chicken in the field.
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As I pointed out in my post above, it is not a matter of the game warden's discretion. It clearly stated in the MN DNR Hunting Guide that licensed prairie chicken hunters can target sharptail grouse during their prairie chicken hunt.
 
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While prairie chickens and sharptails do look similar, they are really rather easy to tell apart both in flight and in hand.
 
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