Missouri Dove Season 2026: Dates, Limits & Hours

When Is Dove Season in Missouri?

Missouri dove season runs September 1 through November 29, 2026. It is a single, continuous, statewide season with no north or south zones, and in 2026 it opens on a Tuesday. At roughly 90 days it is one of the longest wingshooting windows the state offers, though the best hunting is concentrated in the first two weeks before the early migrants clear out and local birds wise up to the pressure.

Two questions come up every year. How long is dove season in Missouri? About 90 days start to finish. When does dove season end? November 29, 2026, by which point most hunters have long since moved on to deer and ducks. Dates are set each year under the federal framework, so confirm the current opener and closer on MDC.

Dove Limit: Daily & Possession

The Missouri dove limit is easy to remember:

• Daily limit: 15 doves.
• Possession limit: 45 doves.

Those numbers are an aggregate across all three legal species combined, not 15 of each. The possession limit is the most you can have on hand after opening day, so on a fast shoot you are still capped at 15 birds a day no matter how well they are flying. Limits are reviewed annually, so verify the current numbers on MDC before you hunt.

Shooting Hours

Legal shooting hours for Missouri dove season are one-half hour before sunrise to sunset. In practice, dove hunters live in two slices of that day: the early feed just after legal light, and the last hour or two before sunset when birds pour into water, gravel, and roost trees. That evening flight is the classic Missouri dove hunt.

Confirm the current shooting hours on MDC before opening morning, since they are set with the rest of the migratory bird framework each year.

Which Doves Are Legal in Missouri?

Three dove species are legal to hunt:

• Mourning dove, the primary target and the bird most of these hunts are built around.
• Eurasian collared-dove, a larger introduced bird that is legal and counts toward your limit.
• White-winged dove, less common this far north but legal if one turns up.

All three count toward the combined 15-bird daily limit. Eurasian collared-doves are exempt from limits in some states, but in Missouri they count, so tally every bird you drop in the bag.

Baiting Rules and Normal Agricultural Practice

This is where dove hunters get crossways with the law, so it is worth getting right. You cannot hunt dove over bait, meaning grain or feed that has been scattered, piled, or placed to draw birds in. The rule has teeth: an area is considered baited for 10 days after the bait has been completely removed, because doves keep returning to a spot well after the free groceries are gone.

What is legal is a field managed by normal agricultural practice. Planted and harvested sunflowers, silage, wheat stubble, and millet are the backbone of dove hunting, because manipulating a crop as part of a genuine farming operation is not baiting. The line between a legal cut field and an illegal baited one is real and enforced, so read the federal migratory bird baiting rules and MDC's guidance before you set up on ground someone else planted.

Permits & HIP Registration

To hunt dove in Missouri you generally need a small game hunting permit and a Missouri Migratory Bird Hunting Permit, plus free Migratory Bird Harvest Information Program (HIP) registration, which takes a minute and is the step people forget in the rush to the opener. Dove hunters do not need a federal Duck Stamp, which is a waterfowl requirement.

Hunter education certification is required for anyone born on or after January 1, 1967, unless they are hunting under an Apprentice Hunter Authorization. Confirm current permit options, HIP registration, and pricing on MDC before the season.

Where & How to Hunt Dove in Missouri

Doves key on three things: food, water, and grit. Find a recently cut or planted field near open perches and a water source, and you have found a dove hunt. Silage, sunflower plots, wheat stubble, and weedy field edges pull feeding birds, while ponds, gravel bars, and dead trees give them the water, grit, and loafing spots they want between meals.

The evening flight is the money window. Set up on the downwind side of a field or between the feed and the water, keep low against a fence line or in light brush, and let the birds work. A few dove decoys clipped to a fence wire, or a spinning-wing decoy out in the open, will finish passing birds that would otherwise skirt the edge. MDC also plants and manages public dove fields across the state, a great option if you do not have private ground, though they draw a crowd on opening weekend.