Kentucky dove hunters averaged 20.3 mourning doves a season in the ten seasons from 2013-14 through 2022-23, the highest average among 34 states. Utah hunters had the lowest average at 5.2. Kentucky also reached the top ten in every one of those seasons, something no other state managed.
ISeptember Hunts
Kentucky, South Carolina and Arizona Led in Doves per Hunter
The state estimates come from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Harvest Information Program. Here doves per hunter means a state's estimated harvest over the ten seasons divided by its active hunters over those same seasons, for the 34 states that averaged at least 3,000 dove hunters. Behind Kentucky were South Carolina at 19.6, Arizona at 18.9, Georgia at 18.0 and Texas at 17.7.
With about 15,150 hunters a season, Kentucky is a small dove state. Texas is the biggest dove state. Its 211,960 hunters a season made up 28.8% of all state dove hunters in the window and took 32.3% of the doves.
Swipe table to see every column
| State | Hunters a season | Doves a season | Doves per hunter | Doves per day afield | Rank | Doves per hunter, 2023-24 and 2024-25 | Rank, 2023-24 and 2024-25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kentucky | 15,150 | 307,800 | 20.3 | 7.48 | 1 | 18.2 | 6 |
| South Carolina | 25,290 | 494,600 | 19.6 | 6.96 | 2 | 17.7 | 7 |
| Arizona | 20,440 | 385,400 | 18.9 | 6.3 | 3 | 19.1 | 4 |
| Georgia | 39,960 | 719,700 | 18 | 7.25 | 4 | 15.6 | 12 |
| Texas | 211,960 | 3,743,600 | 17.7 | 5.33 | 5 | 19.6 | 1 |
| South Dakota | 5,420 | 93,800 | 17.3 | 6.26 | 6 | 19.3 | 3 |
| Mississippi | 13,950 | 234,400 | 16.8 | 7.65 | 7 | 13 | 20 |
| Oklahoma | 17,830 | 298,000 | 16.7 | 6.35 | 8 | 16.3 | 10 |
| Kansas | 25,260 | 413,500 | 16.4 | 6.09 | 9 | 19.1 | 5 |
| Tennessee | 21,030 | 340,300 | 16.2 | 6.89 | 10 | 13.9 | 17 |
| Arkansas | 15,120 | 242,500 | 16 | 6.96 | 11 | 15 | 14 |
| Illinois | 15,580 | 249,600 | 16 | 6.1 | 12 | 10.7 | 27 |
| Louisiana | 12,560 | 195,300 | 15.6 | 6.54 | 13 | 15 | 15 |
| North Dakota | 4,440 | 68,600 | 15.5 | 5.25 | 14 | 17.5 | 8 |
| Florida | 8,230 | 127,000 | 15.4 | 5.34 | 15 | 16.3 | 9 |
| Indiana | 8,490 | 130,600 | 15.4 | 5.51 | 16 | 13.6 | 18 |
| Alabama | 31,120 | 478,300 | 15.4 | 6.98 | 17 | 15.3 | 13 |
| Nebraska | 10,930 | 164,900 | 15.1 | 5.68 | 18 | 19.3 | 2 |
| California | 48,680 | 720,300 | 14.8 | 5.83 | 19 | 16.1 | 11 |
| New Mexico | 7,660 | 110,100 | 14.4 | 4.54 | 20 | 9.7 | 29 |
| Ohio | 11,450 | 161,200 | 14.1 | 4.61 | 21 | 11.2 | 26 |
| North Carolina | 41,190 | 564,200 | 13.7 | 6.05 | 22 | 12.6 | 22 |
| Missouri | 24,240 | 329,600 | 13.6 | 5.52 | 23 | 11.8 | 24 |
| Virginia | 15,800 | 210,000 | 13.3 | 5.63 | 24 | 12.9 | 21 |
| Maryland | 5,720 | 70,000 | 12.2 | 5.16 | 25 | 13.4 | 19 |
| Iowa | 8,830 | 108,100 | 12.2 | 4.42 | 26 | 11.9 | 23 |
| Idaho | 7,980 | 93,700 | 11.7 | 4.29 | 27 | 10.6 | 28 |
| Colorado | 12,050 | 140,100 | 11.6 | 5.17 | 28 | 14.6 | 16 |
| Washington | 4,260 | 41,800 | 9.8 | 3.92 | 29 | 11.3 | 25 |
| Pennsylvania | 14,010 | 123,300 | 8.8 | 2.54 | 30 | 6.6 | 31 |
| Minnesota | 6,700 | 58,800 | 8.8 | 3.37 | 31 | 7.7 | 30 |
| Wisconsin | 6,270 | 45,700 | 7.3 | 2.11 | 32 | 6 | 32 |
| Oregon | 3,260 | 21,000 | 6.5 | 1.98 | 33 | 4.8 | 33 |
| Utah | 6,940 | 35,800 | 5.2 | 2.45 | 34 | 4.5 | 34 |
IIYearly Ranks
Kentucky Reached the Top Ten Every Season, Utah Was Last in Seven
One big year can carry a pooled average, so we also ranked the 34 states in each of the ten seasons. Kentucky reached the top ten in all of them and the top five in 6. South Carolina reached the top five most often with 7 seasons, while Arizona did so in 6. Among the top five Georgia had the biggest swing, from first in its best season to 23rd in its worst.
USFWS estimates tend to have more sampling error where there are few dove hunters, and Kentucky's smallest season estimate was 11,200 hunters compared with at least 170,300 in Texas. Over the ten seasons the USFWS 95% confidence band on one season's doves per hunter ran from plus or minus 22% in Kentucky's narrowest season to 78% in its widest, compared with 17% and 25% in Texas.
At the low end, Utah hunters averaged 5.2 doves a season and 2.45 a day. Utah ranked last in 7 of the 10 seasons and never climbed above 32nd. Moving up from the bottom, Oregon came next at 6.5 with Wisconsin above it at 7.3. Minnesota and Pennsylvania both averaged 8.8. Not one of those five reached the top ten in any season. Delaware, Montana, Nevada, Rhode Island, West Virginia and Wyoming averaged fewer than 3,000 dove hunters and are left out of the rankings.
Swipe table to see every column
| State | Doves per hunter, 10 seasons pooled | Rank, pooled | Seasons in the top five (of 10) | Seasons in the top ten (of 10) | Best season rank | Worst season rank | Error band, narrowest season (plus or minus %) | Error band, widest season (plus or minus %) | Fewest hunters in a season (estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kentucky | 20.3 | 1 | 6 | 10 | 1 | 10 | 22 | 78 | 11,200 |
| South Carolina | 19.6 | 2 | 7 | 8 | 1 | 11 | 31 | 58 | 20,400 |
| Arizona | 18.9 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 2 | 16 | 7 | 24 | 13,100 |
| Georgia | 18 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 23 | 19 | 51 | 32,400 |
| Texas | 17.7 | 5 | 4 | 7 | 3 | 14 | 17 | 25 | 170,300 |
| South Dakota | 17.3 | 6 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 16 | 32 | 79 | 4,000 |
| Mississippi | 16.8 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 24 | 25 | 44 | 10,300 |
| Oklahoma | 16.7 | 8 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 22 | 24 | 56 | 13,600 |
| Kansas | 16.4 | 9 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 21 | 21 | 56 | 21,800 |
| Tennessee | 16.2 | 10 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 26 | 32 | 65 | 12,000 |
| Pennsylvania | 8.8 | 30 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 34 | 36 | 76 | 9,200 |
| Minnesota | 8.8 | 31 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 33 | 58 | 108 | 3,900 |
| Wisconsin | 7.3 | 32 | 0 | 0 | 29 | 34 | 40 | 88 | 3,600 |
| Oregon | 6.5 | 33 | 0 | 0 | 31 | 34 | 43 | 77 | 2,500 |
| Utah | 5.2 | 34 | 0 | 0 | 32 | 34 | 31 | 87 | 3,100 |
IIIChanged 2023 Survey
Texas Took First While the Bottom Five Were Unchanged
Adding the state estimates puts dove hunters at 625,000 in 2022-23 and 1,018,200 in 2023-24, an increase of 63%. USFWS points out the problem in its 2023-24 and 2024-25 report and writes that "Due to modifications of the FWS online harvest survey application prior to the 2023 hunting season, estimates of harvest and hunter activity may not be comparable to previous years." The changes were meant "to (1) remove the account login and password, replacing it with a survey invitation access code, and (2) improve response rates by sending end-of-season reminder emails to all hunters with email addresses." The report also says the estimates for those two seasons "were very high for some species groups, including ducks, geese, and doves."
Taking 2023-24 and 2024-25 on their own puts Texas first at 19.6 doves per hunter. Nebraska, South Dakota, Arizona and Kansas were close behind Texas at 19.1 to 19.3 in that order. Kentucky fell to sixth at 18.2. Seven of the earlier ten leaders remained in the top ten, and the same five states were at the bottom with Utah last at 4.5. The state rankings for the two periods showed a rank correlation of 0.79. Nebraska rose from 18th to 2nd and Georgia fell from 4th to 12th.
IVFewer Dove Hunters
Summed Hunter Estimates Dropped 48% While June Dove Counts Dropped 12%
Adding the state estimates gives about 1.21 million dove hunters and 24.4 million doves in 1999-00. The 2022-23 season was the final one before the survey change, and the sums from the 2021-22 and 2022-23 report had fallen to 625,000 hunters and 8.25 million doves. The hunter total dropped 48% and harvest dropped 66%. Doves per hunter also dropped from 20.3 a season to 13.2.
The June dove count dropped much less. The North American Breeding Bird Survey counts doves in June along fixed roadside routes. The average on 2,377 routes run in both 1999-2003 and 2018-2022 fell 12%, from 31.7 mourning doves per route to 27.8. The route figures cover multi-year June blocks, with five survey years in 1999-2003 and four in 2018-2022 because no routes ran in 2020. The hunter figures compare two single seasons, so treat the two drops only as a rough contrast.
Across 34 ranked states BBS mourning doves per route in 2013-2022 loosely tracked doves per hunter from 2013-14 through 2022-23, with a rank correlation of 0.59. Kansas routes counted more doves than any other ranked state in those years at 75.5 per route, but Kansas placed ninth in doves per hunter.
Swipe table to see every column
| Season | Hunters | Doves | Doves per hunter | Survey |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999-00 | 1,206,500 | 24,437,300 | 20.3 | before 2023 change |
| 2000-01 | 1,217,800 | 26,295,000 | 21.6 | before 2023 change |
| 2001-02 | 1,187,500 | 23,575,700 | 19.9 | before 2023 change |
| 2002-03 | 1,165,800 | 22,719,200 | 19.5 | before 2023 change |
| 2003-04 | 1,048,000 | 18,332,500 | 17.5 | before 2023 change |
| 2004-05 | 1,096,700 | 19,990,000 | 18.2 | before 2023 change |
| 2005-06 | 1,144,900 | 22,150,100 | 19.3 | before 2023 change |
| 2006-07 | 1,053,100 | 19,272,000 | 18.3 | before 2023 change |
| 2007-08 | 1,111,600 | 20,550,400 | 18.5 | before 2023 change |
| 2008-09 | 994,100 | 17,402,300 | 17.5 | before 2023 change |
| 2009-10 | 974,500 | 17,354,800 | 17.8 | before 2023 change |
| 2010-11 | 960,100 | 17,230,500 | 17.9 | before 2023 change |
| 2011-12 | 955,400 | 16,580,900 | 17.4 | before 2023 change |
| 2012-13 | 829,100 | 14,490,500 | 17.5 | before 2023 change |
| 2013-14 | 857,100 | 14,530,000 | 17 | before 2023 change |
| 2014-15 | 839,500 | 13,809,400 | 16.4 | before 2023 change |
| 2015-16 | 749,000 | 13,157,300 | 17.6 | before 2023 change |
| 2016-17 | 837,900 | 13,502,000 | 16.1 | before 2023 change |
| 2017-18 | 709,200 | 11,561,100 | 16.3 | before 2023 change |
| 2018-19 | 694,400 | 10,374,600 | 14.9 | before 2023 change |
| 2019-20 | 662,600 | 9,983,400 | 15.1 | before 2023 change |
| 2020-21 | 745,700 | 11,704,100 | 15.7 | before 2023 change |
| 2021-22 | 643,000 | 9,201,900 | 14.3 | before 2023 change |
| 2022-23 | 625,000 | 8,254,500 | 13.2 | before 2023 change |
| 2023-24 | 1,018,200 | 16,759,700 | 16.5 | changed online survey |
| 2024-25 | 947,200 | 14,607,500 | 15.4 | changed online survey |
VSurvey Cautions
Survey Error, Repeat Counts and No Answers About Causes
Harvest Information Program figures are survey estimates, with more error in states that have few dove hunters. A hunter who hunts doves in two states gets counted in each, so the national sums count some hunters twice. The sums still come within 11,200 hunters and 400 doves of the printed U.S. totals.
Doves per hunter is a season average for everyone who hunted at least once. It does not give a forecast for a particular field. The Breeding Bird Survey gives a June index of doves seen and heard from the road and says nothing directly about the fall flight. The figures leave out white-winged doves.
These tables do not tell us why Kentucky hunters bag more doves per hunter than Utah hunters. Managed fields, season length, bag limits and hunter skill all vary by state and none are in the data.
VIChoosing Dove States
Start With Kentucky, South Carolina, Arizona or Texas
Our read is that hunters took the most mourning doves per hunter a season over the ten pooled seasons in Kentucky, South Carolina, Arizona, Georgia and Texas in that order. Kentucky reached the top ten in every season, while Texas has the biggest dove harvest and the most hunters. Georgia fell to 12th at 15.6 with the changed survey, so look at its newer numbers before planning around it. Read the pooled 2023-24 and 2024-25 figures by comparing states with one another and keeping the older seasons separate.
NOTES AND SOURCES
- Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Migratory Bird Hunting Activity and Harvest during the 2023-24 and 2024-25 Hunting Seasons (Table 13, mourning doves).
- Also: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Migratory Bird Hunting Activity and Harvest Report, 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons.
- Also: U.S. Geological Survey and Environment and Climate Change Canada, North American Breeding Bird Survey, 2026 data release (1966 to 2025).
- Scope: Mourning doves, 40 states with a dove season in the Harvest Information Program reports, seasons 1999-00 through 2024-25, state grain. Ranking window 2013-14 through 2022-23.
- Method: State doves per hunter pools the 10 seasons: total doves over total active hunters (DERIVED from SAMPLED). Doves per day divides doves by days afield. National figures sum the state estimates. BBS check: mourning doves per standard route run on routes run in both 1999-2003 and 2018-2022, average of each route's mean. Of 144,146 route runs in the release, kept 110,223 U.S. runs that meet BBS standards (RPID 101, RunType 1). dropped 21,808 Canadian runs, 468 non-standard protocol runs and 11,647 runs that failed BBS standards. No routes were run in 2020. A route run with no row for the species counts as zero.
- Limits: Harvest Information Program numbers are survey estimates with sampling error, larger in states with few dove hunters.
- Limits: USFWS changed its online harvest survey before the 2023 season and says the 2023-24 and 2024-25 estimates may not be comparable with earlier years. Those two seasons are kept apart.
- Limits: A hunter who hunts doves in two states is counted in each state, so national hunter totals count some hunters twice.
- Limits: Doves per hunter is a season average across all active hunters. It is not a forecast for a field or a hunt.
- Limits: The Breeding Bird Survey counts doves along roadside routes in June. It is an index of birds seen and heard, not a population estimate or a fall flight.
- Limits: No Breeding Bird Survey routes were run in 2020, so the 2018-2022 block holds four survey years.
- Limits: These numbers show where hunters bagged more doves. They do not say why. Field management, season length, bag limits and hunter skill all differ by state.
Fully Drawn Research is an independent data analysis desk, not affiliated with any state wildlife agency, transportation agency, mapping provider or outfitter. Fully Drawn Research is an independent data and analysis desk. This paper reports FDR's own analysis of public agency and survey data. Harvest, catch and survey figures describe what hunters and anglers reported or what agencies counted or estimated, not how many animals or fish are present, and they reflect regulations and hunter or angler choices as well as wildlife numbers.
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