Field Guide · Collared Doves

Eurasian collared dove hunting with an air rifle

By James · Updated September 24, 2026 · Editorial policy

Collared doves are most of what's in my bird footage. They're an invasive species that crowds into farms, ranches, and neighborhoods, they're good eating, and California lets you hunt them year-round. Here's how I hunt them with an FX Impact M4 and 40.1gr slugs, and what I'd tell someone starting out.

The FX Impact M4 on collared doves, through the scope.

Step 1: Make sure it's a collared dove

The full legal breakdown, including white-winged, spotted, and ringed turtle-doves, is in can you hunt doves with an air rifle.

Step 2: Paperwork and where you can shoot

• License: a valid California hunting license. Check whether the upland game bird validation applies to you.
• Season and limit: open all year, no bag or possession limit (14 CCR §300).
• Method: air rifles are authorized for resident small game (14 CCR §311(f)).
• Where: private land with permission, where local ordinances allow discharging an air gun. A lot of collared doves live inside city limits, where you usually can't shoot.

Step 3: Energy and the right rifle

Collared doves are sturdier than they look. I want 12+ FPE arriving at the bird, the same floor I use for rabbits. Most hunting PCPs in .22 clear that easily inside 50 yards. The numbers for your load are in the FPE chart. For picking a rifle, start with the beginner PCP comparison. A rifle that's right for rabbits is right for collared doves.

My setup is heavier than you need: an FX Impact M4 tuned for 40.1gr ACE FRAG slugs. That's what lets me take the long shots in my videos. The full build is in my M4 slug setup.

Step 4: Shot placement

• Head: the cleanest kill. Small target, so keep it for close, steady shots.
• Upper chest: on a bird facing you, just below the neck. Bigger target, and it drops the bird where it sits.
• Avoid: low body shots. They give you birds that fly off wounded.

Step 5: Backstop discipline (the rule birds test hardest)

Birds sit high, which means misses fly far. My rule: if there isn't dirt or a solid bank behind the bird, there's no shot, however good the opportunity looks.

• Never shoot birds on power lines. There's no backstop, and you can damage utility equipment.
• Skyline shots are out. If there's only sky behind the bird, wait.
• Know the ground past the tree. Houses, roads, livestock, and people are all out.

Where and when to find them

Collared doves pile up where there's spilled grain and perches: farms, ranch yards, feedlots, and rural edges with dead trees and fence lines. Mornings and evenings are the busiest. Glass the perches before you walk in. They'll often come back to the same tree after you shoot, which is how multi-bird sits happen.

My honest numbers

On one filmed hunt with the M4, I took 15 shots at birds from about 30 to 130 yards. I recovered 5, and the 10 misses clustered at the long end. That's the real price of long-range bird shooting. Inside about 100 yards, the M4 is in its sweet zone. Past that, wind and range errors take over. What 100+ yard airgun shots really take →

FAQ

Sources

• Cornell Lab, All About Birds — Eurasian Collared-Dove identification
• Cal. Code Regs. tit. 14, §300 — upland game birds (Eurasian collared dove season)
• Cal. Code Regs. tit. 14, §311 — methods authorized for resident small game
• 50 CFR §20.21 — illegal hunting methods for migratory game birds
• Umarex USA — Understanding FPE in airguns