A complete list of public dove fields is posted on the SCDNR Web site at www.dnr.sc.gov. Click on "Hunting" to locate the list.

In an ongoing effort to better manage dove populations, wildlife biologists have been banding doves for the last several years. The objectives of the pilot banding study were to estimate band-reporting rates, estimate preliminary harvest rates and obtain information to build a long-term banding project. The objectives were met, and now dove banding is operational in many states, including South Carolina.

"Dove banding is essential for the data-driven models used for managing dove populations," Dukes said. "We learned a great deal about our dove population as a result of banding."

Doves are banded during the pre-season period, primarily in July and early August. Since 2003, 5,604 doves have been banded in the state. There have been 401 recoveries.

"Ninety-three percent of our recoveries were within the state," Dukes said. "This indicates that what we do in relation to harvest management affects primarily our doves. In other words, we are responsible for our own resource.

"We have had 22 recoveries outside of the state. Most were just across the line in Georgia, but some other states included North Carolina, Florida, Indiana and Kentucky.

"This past season, we had the first two recoveries in Florida," Dukes said. "I'm surprised that it took this long before we had some recoveries there."

Thirteen doves banded outside of South Carolina have been recovered during the season here. The most came from Pennsylvania with four bands, followed by Ohio with two. Some other states included Maryland, Kentucky, Louisiana and Missouri.

"About 88 percent of the recoveries occur during the first season," Dukes said. "This is not surprising since this is the period when most people are dove hunting.

"Around half of the total recoveries are during the first week of the season. While some people might think this is high, I would have thought it would have been higher given how many people are out hunting that first week of the season."

Other information that dove banding provides is a reporting rate. This is the percentage of banded doves harvested that are actually reported to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Bird Banding Lab in Laurel, Maryland. Since everyone likes to kill a banded bird, you would think the estimate would be 100 percent, but it's not.

The estimate for South Carolina is approximately 69 percent. This is higher than most states but not as high as the north-central region of the United States (the Dakotas and Nebraska), which averaged nearly 95 percent.

Bands also provide wildlife biologists with a measure known as harvest rate, which is the proportion of the population harvested by hunting, and survival rate, which is the annual probability of surviving from one year to the next.

"The harvest rate for adult doves from 2003 to 2005 was 6.3 percent," Dukes said. "The juvenile harvest rate was 11.6 percent, which is in line with the idea that juvenile harvest is twice the adult harvest. South Carolina has some of the highest harvest rates in the country.

"Survival rates averaged 39 percent for adults," Dukes said. "What this means is that if you were an adult dove, you have a 39 percent chance of surviving to your second birthday. For juveniles, the survival rate is 27 percent, which means you have a one-in-four chance of making it to your first birthday. For some states, their estimates were even lower.

"These figures are lower than what you see for many species of wildlife, but we know that the dove population has a high turnover rate," Dukes said.

South Carolina offers good public dove hunting and boasts a robust dove population, something it plans to continue to provide well into the future through diligence and careful monitoring.