Parent/Child Dove Hunt Planned

If you plant a dove field, the kids will come, or at least that’s what the Game and Fish Division is hoping. To encourage more participation by young hunters, the state is planning its first-ever parent/child dove hunt.

The Game Management Section is sponsoring the parent/child dove shoots at Pine Log WMA on Saturdays and state holidays throughout the first dove season, which runs from Sept. 7 through Oct. 6.

The hunt is open to all children, ages 12 to 16, with adult supervision. One adult may supervise up to two kids, and the adult does not have to be the child’s parent. Any adult, age 18 and over, may supervise a child during the hunt, and the adult may hunt, too.

“We’d like to stress that this hunt is not limited to “parent/child,” said Game Management Biologist Jim Ezell. “If you know a kid in your neighborhood who might like to hunt, you are more than welcome to bring him along.”

The 40-acre field has been planted in grain sorghum, and it’s growing well, said Jim. A local farmer was contracted to plant the field, and he will combine the grain just ahead of dove season.

“Planting a dove shoot can be a hit or miss proposition,” said Jim. “But the field looks good, and we are hoping for some good shoots in September.”

To find the field, go north on Hwy 411 from Cartersville to White.: turn right on Oak Street. The field is located about 1 mile down Oak Street.

Georgia Hunting regulations require hunters age 16 and over to have a Wildlife Management Area (WMA) Stamp and a hunting license. The WMA stamp is available for $15.60 at most places where hunting licenses are sold.

Hunters aged 12 to 15 may hunt without a WMA stamp or hunting license, but they are required to have passed a hunter education course and must carry the hunter education certification card with them in the field.

The Parent/Child Dove Hunt is part of a statewide program to recruit young hunters. New specialty hunts sponsored by the Game and Fish Division for adult/child hunters this fall include a quota parent/child duck hunt at the Oconee WMA waterfowl area; parent/child deer hunt at Lake Russell WMA; and a parent/child turkey hunt scheduled for Rum Creek WMA next spring.

Other opportunities for an adult to take his kid or “adopt” someone else’s kid and take him or her hunting include the parent/child deer hunts at Cedar Creek, Blanton Creek, Sapelo Island, Paulks Pasture and Ossabaw Island WMAs and the youth hunt at Eufaula National Wildlife Refuge.