Top opener for doves goes to Iroquois, Des Plaines solid and Shabbona Lake

With the help of 15 limits, Iroquois County State Wildlife Area leads the list of harvest success for opening day of dove season on Sept. 1 at select public sites in Illinois.

Another notable opener came at Shabbona Lake State Recreation Area, which had its second straight strong opening day, and had the most hunters out I ever remember there (by far). Des Plaines State Fish and Wildlife Area had the solid opener that was expected.

Here is the list of harvest for opening day of Illinois’ dove season at select public sites, ranked in success order.

Site: Hunters, doves harvested, doves per hunter

Iroquois County SWA: 392, 38, 10.3

Jim Edgar/Panther Creek SFWA: 1,106, 133, 8.3

Des Plaines SFWA: 491, 62, 7.9

Shabbona Lake SRA: 369, 53, 7.0

Matthiessen SP: 455, 73, 6.4

Silver Springs SFWA: 444, 70, 6.3

Green River SWA: 601, 103, 5.8

Kankakee River SP: 49, 24, 2.0