South Carolina · Dove · 2026–27 Edition
South Carolina Dove Season 2026–27: Dates, Bag Limits & Shooting Hours
01 — Seasons
| Season | Zones | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| Mourning Dove · Segment 1 | Statewide | Sep 5 – Oct 3 |
| Mourning Dove · Segment 2 | Statewide | Nov 13 – Nov 28 |
| Mourning Dove · Segment 3 | Statewide | Dec 18 – Jan 31 |
02 — Bag limits
| Daily | 15 total |
|---|---|
| Possession | 45 — three times the daily bag, per SCDNR's blanket possession rule for migratory birds |
03 — Shooting hours
Legal light on opening day (September 5, 2026) 06:31 — 19:43
Rule: One-half hour before sunrise until sunset. SCDNR prints this per species: the migratory-bird shooting-hours table gives Mourning Dove '1/2 Hour before Sunrise until Sunset', while Early Teal on the same table runs sunrise to sunset.. Sunrise/sunset shift daily — the times above are computed for opening day; use your local South Carolina sun times for any other date.
04 — License & HIP
Dove hunters in South Carolina need a South Carolina hunting license and — because doves are migratory game birds — HIP registration (Harvest Information Program). No federal Duck Stamp is required for doves.
South Carolina hunting license cost →
Where to hunt public land in South Carolina — WMAs by county & access rules →
05 — FAQ
When does dove season open in South Carolina?
The 2026–27 opener is September 5, 2026. Most states open Sep 1 under the federal migratory bird framework.
When does dove season end in South Carolina?
The latest 2026–27 closing date is January 31, 2027. Split segments and late seasons vary — see the table above.
Do I need a Duck Stamp to hunt doves?
No. Doves are migratory game birds but the federal Duck Stamp is only required for waterfowl (ducks, geese, brant, swans). Dove hunters need only their state hunting license and HIP registration.
How many doves can you shoot in South Carolina per day?
2026–27 bag limits: Daily — 15 total. Possession — 45 — three times the daily bag, per SCDNR's blanket possession rule for migratory birds. Limits are set per zone and per permit — check the agency's own regulations before you hunt.
What time can you start shooting doves in South Carolina?
On opening day (September 5, 2026) legal light runs 06:31 to 19:43. The rule is: One-half hour before sunrise until sunset. SCDNR prints this per species: the migratory-bird shooting-hours table gives Mourning Dove '1/2 Hour before Sunrise until Sunset', while Early Teal on the same table runs sunrise to sunset. Sunrise and sunset shift daily, so work the offset against your local South Carolina sun times for any other date.
Can I hunt doves on my own land in South Carolina without a license?
No — South Carolina requires anyone 16 or older to carry a valid license regardless of land ownership; the full licensing chapter lists no landowner exemption, despite a claim that circulates on several third-party sites.
Verified · South Carolina Department of Natural Resources · Last verified 2026-09-01
Publisher's note. Built 2026-09-01 — South Carolina was the largest open species-by-state gap in the project ('south carolina dove season' measures 1,300 searches a month, more than every other missing dove state combined). Why eRegulations and not dnr.sc.gov: SCDNR's own dove page (dnr.sc.gov/wildlife/dove/index.html) links eRegulations itself for regulatory content — the same arrangement as Delaware, where DNREC also names it as its display. The printed SCDNR regulations book (dnr.sc.gov/regs/pdf/Regs2627.pdf) would be the deeper source, but it is 44.8 MB and ran into a download timeout here every time; a partial download produced a damaged PDF with no readable xref table. Checking these figures against the book later needs a stable line or a range download. All three segments are transcribed from the seasons table: 'Mourning Doves | September 5, 2026 - October 3, 2026 | November 13, 2026 - November 28, 2026 | December 18, 2026 - January 31, 2027'. Shooting hours sit in a table of their own and are species-specific: 'Mourning Dove — 1/2 Hour before Sunrise until Sunset', while Early Teal on the same table gets 'Sunrise until Sunset' — so the dove does NOT take the same rule as the early teal window. Daily limit 'Mourning Doves — 15 Total'. The possession rule is a blanket sentence further down: 'The possession limit is three times the daily bag for each group or individual species as listed above except there is no possession limit for snow geese' — 45 for dove. Deliberately not modelled: the Special Youth Dove Hunts and the WMA Public Dove Fields, each with their own rules and their own SCDNR pages, and the baiting rules, which fill a page of their own ('Dove Hunting and Baiting'). South Carolina sits in the Eastern Management Unit, which is where the 15-bird daily limit comes from.