# Shooting doves off power lines or in trees; ethical or not



## ducfanatic (Sep 1, 2020)

I have a couple of hunting buddies who get into it all the time about whether or not an adult should shoot doves off power lines and trees. Personally, I say kill em when you can. What do yall think?


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## K80 (Sep 1, 2020)

I don't care how you kill'em but it's just plain dumb to shoot one off the powerline. 

Truthfully,  they are to easy to hit while flying to shootem sitting on a limb.


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## georgia_home (Sep 2, 2020)

Powerline, no, but not a matter of ethics. Damage to the line. I’ll walk over until they fly.

Limb or other spot, mehhh. I’ll usually walk over until they fly. But, on occasion...


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## Dr. Strangelove (Sep 2, 2020)

I was taught not too but to each his own. I give no cares what someone else does.


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## glynr329 (Sep 2, 2020)

If you are a terrible shot and need to kill dove so you can brag I killed 10 dove go for it. Maybe you are using a BB gun and can't hit a flying dove then sure bust him out of a tree. I personally pretty sure if I couldn't kill a dove with a shot gun I would take up knitting or something because shooting is not your strong point. Every one is not good at somethings find what you are good at.


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## bear claw (Sep 2, 2020)

I normally wait till they land in my corn pile an then get 2 or 3 with one shot but I'm not bragging.


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## ugajay (Sep 2, 2020)

They're dead birds either way. I'll blast them out a tree and don't care what anybody else thinks.


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## Mexican Squealer (Sep 2, 2020)

Limit is a limit. Fill yours how you want


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## oops1 (Sep 2, 2020)

We were at a shoot once and the host gave a long speech about not shooting them off the power line. He even held up an example of the shot/severed line from a previous years hunt. A few hours into the hunt..they shut it down because some moron shot the line in half and the power company had to come fix it and didn’t wants folks shooting while they were out there. Can’t say I blame them. Food for thought.


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## spring (Sep 2, 2020)

Just expect your friends to mess with you and give you some crap if they see you do it.  Even worse is to shoot a pen-raised quail from a tree. That's when you throw a stick or something and try to get it to fly.

Ideally, as others have mentioned, shoot the dove as it flies when you approach it.


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## Beagler (Sep 2, 2020)

How other people kill birds isn’t any my business, kill them anyway you want.  But here I own the property, it’s my dove field. I pay to put it in and I hand pick my guests, there’s no shooting dove on the power lines in the trees or on the ground. My land my rules.?


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## Souhternhunter17 (Sep 2, 2020)

Personally I will kill them sitting on either. However if asked not too it wouldn’t be an issue.


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## specialk (Sep 2, 2020)

did it a bunch as a kid.....also, we had several salt licks in our cow pastures....one was right out our back door....i'd slip out the front door with my ithaca auto 12 and blast 3 rounds as fast as i could pull the trigger.....picking up a dozen was not uncommon....they sure tasted good.....


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## JustUs4All (Sep 2, 2020)

Ethics are a personal thing.  I am happy to see that this thread has not devolved into a "My ethics are better than yours" thread.  IMO if you are hunting for the sport of it there would be little sport in shooting sitting birds but if you are hunting for some birds to eat the sitting bird is a surer target for the pan.

My Dad and I mostly hunted quail but went to a few dove shoots.  His opinion was that wing shooting was a sport in which one could test his skill against a speedy or erratic opponent.  Due to his influence, for me there is no sport in shooting birds that are not flying.  

My Dad told me of a G-Uncle who loved to eat English Sparrows of all things.  He would take a shovel and create a shallow trench in open ground and sow it with cracked corn.  When the trench was sufficiently full of birds he would shoot down the trench twice with his double barrel.  Neither Dad nor I had a problem with that.

To each his own.


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## Foster (Sep 2, 2020)

Shooting lines can affect the people that live in the area. I wouldn't want someone to do that in my neighborhood so I don't do it...anymore. I didn't always know it would affect the lines.

I love wing shooting but I like to eat dove. 

To each his own as long as it doesn't screw with the other guy.


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## kmckinnie (Sep 2, 2020)

I need a new line to the house anyway.


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## KS Bow Hunter (Sep 2, 2020)

I don't fish for trout with corn, I don't hunt over a corn pile, I won't hunt high fence, and I won't shoot a game bird on the ground unless it is turkey...if you can't kill quail, pheasant, doves, and ducks on the wing, then this sport may not be for you...

It may be legal, and you could argue it is as ethical as on the wing, but it certainly isn't sporting...


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## NCHillbilly (Sep 2, 2020)

I would say it's definitely not ethical to shoot a bird off a power line, because you can damage the line and maybe worst case, kill some nearby people if the line breaks and falls to the ground. At best, it's idiotic.

As far as shooting them out of trees, I guess it depends on how badly you want a dove.


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## kmckinnie (Sep 2, 2020)

For 15 birds I’d like to also add. 
A true sports man should only need 1 box of shells........
Why y’all bring so many boxes......


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## NCHillbilly (Sep 2, 2020)

kmckinnie said:


> For 15 birds I’d like to also add.
> A true sports man should only need 1 box of shells........
> Why y’all bring so many boxes......


I can't answer for anybody else, but the reason I bring so many shells is because I suck at hitting doves when they're flying around in the air.


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## kmckinnie (Sep 2, 2020)

I bring 3 boxes.


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## NCHillbilly (Sep 2, 2020)

kmckinnie said:


> I bring 3 boxes.


That will usually get me about 3 birds.


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## Hillbilly stalker (Sep 2, 2020)

Some people around here set a couple poles and string their own cable. The phone company used to help do it as a community service ( if you knew a guy). It was done to slow up the birds for the young uns only. If a grown man shot them like that, no one would say anything, but everybody would be thinking the same thing. The ideal is to make it a more productive hunt for the the kids. The traditional father & son dove hunt is a long standing tradition in the South.  Shooting active powerlines is both dangerous and most likely illegal. I could rightfully see the the power company suing  and winning a case against the person putting on the hunt. Knocking out the power to a community in this intensive heat could really have some serious consequences to elderly people who need their A/C.

 “Legal” is the bare minimum accepted standard set by law...”Ethical” is the standard a man holds himself to.


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## Nicodemus (Sep 2, 2020)

Even if you don`t cut a powerline down, it sets it up for damage and deterioration that can cause it to fail later. If it does fall when you shoot it, there is the chance that it will kill you and anybody in close proximity to it. If it happens to be a fiber optic line, even if there is no visible damage, one little pellet can cause a tremendous amount of destruction, and you will be liable for damages, and a possible prison sentence. The last fiber optic line damage from a gunshot  I worked, the bill was close to $100,000.


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## kmckinnie (Sep 2, 2020)

Nicodemus said:


> Even if you don`t cut a powerline down, it sets it up for damage and deterioration that can cause it to fail later. If it does fall when you shoot it, there is the chance that it will kill you and anybody in close proximity to it. If it happens to be a fiber optic line, even if there is no visible damage, one little pellet can cause a tremendous amount of destruction, and you will be liable for damages, and a possible prison sentence. The last fiber optic line damage from a gunshot  I worked, the bill was close to $100,000.



I believe the lines around here are bare copper. 
They still have those.


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## Nicodemus (Sep 2, 2020)

kmckinnie said:


> I believe the lines around here are bare copper.
> They still have those.




There`s still a lot of #4 and #6 copper lines in the rural areas. Not always, but they`ll usually be single phase primaries and neutral.


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## kmckinnie (Sep 2, 2020)

Nicodemus said:


> There`s still a lot of #4 and #6 copper lines in the rural areas. Not always, but they`ll usually be single phase primaries and neutral.



That’s what we got. I watched a lighting bolt cut one into. The line man cane out. Made sure the fuses where flipped. Used the grabbers and pulled them back up. Put the brass jointer on it. Flipped the fuses and bam ? 
Power.


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## Hooked On Quack (Sep 2, 2020)

"Do they fly ???"


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## ducfanatic (Sep 2, 2020)

Thanks for all the feedback guys. I can honestly say that yall have changed my mentality. No more shooting off the powerline for me. A tree, well thats another thing!!!!


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## basstrkr (Sep 2, 2020)

Hooked On Quack said:


> "Do they fly ???"



You beat me to it: That's what Billy would say : They can fly?


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## ucfireman (Sep 2, 2020)

NCHillbilly said:


> I can't answer for anybody else, but the reason I bring so many shells is because I suck at hitting doves when they're flying around in the air.



Finally something NC aint no good at. LOL


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## kmckinnie (Sep 2, 2020)

ucfireman said:


> Finally something NC aint no good at. LOL


Goodness ??


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## NCHillbilly (Sep 2, 2020)

ucfireman said:


> Finally something NC aint no good at. LOL


There's a lot of things I ain't no good at, unfortunately.


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## jrickman (Sep 2, 2020)

If I want a half dozen poppers and have 5 birds in the bag...I’ll shoot that last one right out of the tree but not off a power line.


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## Nimrod71 (Sep 3, 2020)

No Way.  It's the sport of hitting the ball, I mine the bird.  Shooting birds on a wire or limb is like playing T


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## Rebel's Dad (Sep 5, 2020)

My feeling is what's the point?  The fun of dove season is the difficulty and sport of shooting them on the wing.

I think people would be shocked (or maybe not if they're being honest with themselves) at how many dove are wasted each year because people don't really like eating them.  I used to go to a big shoot put on by a family a buddy was married into.  We'd end up cleaning dozens of birds that were literally dumped on us by people who "just didn't wanna mess with 'em."  No doubt in my mind a lot of those birds would have been wasted.

Lost my access to the shoot because my buddy got divorced.  I miss the shoot but I certainly don't miss that behavior.


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## glynr329 (Sep 5, 2020)

Guess I will get my sons BB gun and go shoot me some doves out of tree because I can’t hit them with a shot gun flying. Maybe I can find some of the wounded birds them guys that can’t shoot that landed in the trees.


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## jiminbogart (Sep 5, 2020)

kmckinnie said:


> For 15 birds I’d like to also add.
> A true sports man should only need 1 box of shells........
> Why y’all bring so many boxes......



15 birds?

Is there a limit where you shoot?


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## kmckinnie (Sep 5, 2020)

jiminbogart said:


> 15 birds?
> 
> Is there a limit where you shoot?


It’s just a goal per box.


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## spencer12 (Sep 5, 2020)

Where I come from we don’t have to worry about power lines. The only thing I ever hear is “Do not shoot my pivot”.


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