Dove hunting opportunity has been expanded for South Carolina sportsmen this year. The US Fish & Wildlife Service has offered 20 additional days for the dove season. The S.C. Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has selected this offer and the dove season will be 90 rather than 70 days, as in the past. As a result, the 2014-2015 mourning dove season in South Carolina is Sept. 1-6 (noon until sunset); Sept. 7–Oct. 11; Nov. 15-29; and Dec. 13–Jan. 15. Legal hunting hours for mourning dove season, except for Sept. 1-6, are from 30 minutes before sunrise until sunset. The daily bag limit is 15 birds per day.

In addition to more days afield, South Carolina hunters this year may also hunt doves over fields which have been top sown with wheat according to Clemson Extension Service Guidelines. These guidelines now allow for top sowing of wheat without covering between Oct. 1 and Nov. 30 when evenly spread on a well-prepared seedbed established by heavy tilling. Spreading rates may not exceed 200 pounds of wheat per acre. Fields to be hunted may not have wheat that has been sown more than once on the same ground. Piling, clumping, or concentrating of wheat is not a normal agricultural practice and may result in a baited situation.