TRI-VALLEY WA
"There's some phenomenal hunting on Tri-Valley the first couple of days during the opener," said wildlife biologist Mike Reynolds. "But when the hunting pressure picks up, the birds don't stay around for long.

"The doves are attracted to sunflowers and wheat that are planted in the dove fields. We work at having seed on the ground before and during the first part of the season. The action can be fast and furious."

According to Michael Zaleski, wildlife area supervisor, Tri-Valley seems to be in a natural flyway for migrating doves.

"There's plenty of water, food and bare ground to keep the birds around once they get here," he said. "On the average, hunters do well during the first two or three days of the season.

"But after that, the doves stop using the fields as much. The birds become scarce when the shooting starts and local farmers start cutting their corn. But a persistent hunter can still find a few birds later on.

"Hunters can often locate birds in food plots and other areas away from the dove fields around Tri-Valley, so it pays to take time to look around."

Twenty-five acres in four separate fields are planted to attract doves to the area. An area map will help hunters find the fields that are located on small, secondary roads.

The Tri-Valley WA covers 16,200 acres near Dresden in Muskingum County. For more information, contact the ODOW's District Four office at (740) 589-9930, or the wildlife area manager at (740) 454-8296.

WOODBURY WA
This is another topnotch dove-shooting destination for public-land shooters. According to biologist Reynolds, Woodbury can have hundreds or thousands of birds working the fields when the season opens.

Birds may leave the area during the first day or so and seek out other fields. Many shooters never make it back around to these dove fields and miss out on some excellent shooting later in the season. Limit shoots are a possibility throughout the season.

The huge Woodbury WA covers 19,050 acres. In the northwestern unit, three fields covering a total of 18 acres bring in the doves. In the central section, four fields totaling about 25 acres are close together.

The Big Island Wildlife Area is biologist Gary Ludwig's top pick for mourning dove hunting in Ohio.

Woodbury Wildlife Area lies in Coshocton County. To reach the fields from state Route 79, take county Road 82 east to township Road 59, and then continue south on township Road 59. For more information, call the ODOW's District Four office at (740) 589-9930, or the area manager at (740) 824-3211.

CAESAR CREEK WA
ODOW staff work hard to make Caesar Creek Wildlife Area one of the Buckeye State's finest dove-shooting destinations.

"We have five hunt fields at Caesar Creek that average about 10 acres each," said area manager Scott Phillips. "The crops consist of sunflowers, corn, millet and wheat, but the condition of the fields depends on the weather and changes from year to year. Overall, we do our best to ensure excellent hunting opportunities when the dove season opens."

Caesar Creek and the Spring Valley Wildlife Area provide outstanding hunting opportunities. In 2006, during the region's controlled three-day hunts, 212 hunters shot 8,842 shells to score 1,583 doves. The average harvest per hunter was 7.5 birds.

"The overall satisfaction rating given by these hunters was excellent," said Phillips. It's certainly not hard to understand why.

Caesar Creek WA lies in Clinton, Greene and Warren counties southeast of Dayton and south of Xenia on state Route 308. The area covers 10,186 acres. For more information, call the ODOW's District Five office at (937) 372-9261, or the area manager at (937) 488-3115.

DARKE WA
Darke WA, definitely one of the state's smaller public dove-hunting spots, offers a good chance of taking home a few birds. "About two weeks before the season opener, we manipulate the fields to draw both resident and migrant doves," said Mike White, Darke's area manager.

"The area is surrounded by farmland and a few ponds that make the area more enticing to doves. We haven't taken a survey among the hunters, but some quality shooting goes on throughout the season. However, most of the birds harvested are taken within the first week."