Dove Season

[lightman]

Just curious if there are any Dove hunters here. Living in farming country, it's a very popular sport around here. Kind of the official kickoff to hunting season. I've been hosting a hunt for 5 years or so now. We do it in the old Southern tradition where you surround a field with hunters, shoot until the Doves quit flying and then have a cookout afterward. We usually start on Friday afternoon with an informal skeet shoot and come back to my house to cook burgers on the grill. We'll have breakfast on opening morning before we hunt and then back to my house again for a fish fry. This year we had 16 hunters, 3 Wives/Girlfriends and 4 young Children, one of which was my Grandson. All are Family or Friends that are like Family. All in all, 16 shooters scored on over 200 birds, hunted on 10 acres of Sunflowers. The weather was great! A few of us went back out today and scored on a few more. Now everyone is on the road home, the house is back in order and the Wife and I are sitting here with our feet up! Lets hear about your hunt!

[Hogtamer]

see shotgun forum...you have many fellow shooters. great post!

[lightman]

Well Duh, I forgot about the shotgun forum!

[marlin39a]

Sounds like a great time. Got them here along with quail. My favorite time of year!

[Taylor]

My hunt sucked,talked with a warden,and he's confused as well about their where-a-bouts.I saw 4,10 minutes till 12,after that,nothing.At least I didn't get any chiggers.

[crowbuster]

Good on ya lightman. Sounds like a great time. and love that the gals and kids are involved as well. I have yet to get out myself.

[Handloader109]

I've a few dozen that live down here with me. I don't have a big enough place to really hunt them, guess they can just keep hiding out. My dad had hunts every year when I was growing up. Fun but I'm a poor Shotgun marksman. Dad kept fussing at Me to shoot right handed, now I know why I did better left, I'm left eye dominant....

[Plate plinker]

Hunt them sometimes with my uncle. Right now the weather is so nice the doves are just staying put.

[Blackwater]

There's nothing quite like a good dove shoot! I'm usually terrible at it. Mostly, I'm like a kid at Christmas on a dove field, and I'm having so much fun, I forget basic marksmanship and just poke holes in the air somewhere in the general direction of the birds. On a "good" day, I'll get 3 birds for 8 shells on avg. On a bad day .... well, I won't talk about the averages there.

My biggest problem tends to be when I have to watch a bird coming in my direction for half a mile or more. By the time it gets to me, I'm so keyed up, I couldn't think my way out of a wet paper sack! And I miss. Almost 100% of the time on those shots. Let them come in over the trees at me, where I have to react rather than think about the shot, and I do pretty well. But I wouldn't change for the world. It's just too darn much fun missing! I know that's crazy, but .... that's just me, I guess.

A friend a few years back asked me which I'd choose. He was considering a plains game hunt in Africa, or a dove shoot in S. America. I thought about it, and knowing he and I both were brought up "bird hunters" (quail), I told him I thought I'd go with the dove shoot. He did, and he's been back now two more times, and absolutely had a ball! He and I both like to shoot a lot, and I knew that, and there's no way he'd ever have gotten to shoot 1% of the shots in Africa he did in S. America.

I repeat: "Ain't nothin' like a good dove shoot!"

[wildwilly]

I used to hunt doves, pheasant, and quail with two longtime friends for many years. We were fortunate to live in a farming community where birds were plentiful all season. Since their passing I haven't any interest in going out anymore.The kids and grandkids are more attracted to other activities.

[runfiverun]

I have a spot out by some wheat fields and our season opened the first.
I ended up getting out at about 9am.
and promptly kicked up about 50 doves in all directions from where I parked the truck.
I ended up knocking down 5 with 6 shots and losing 3 of them in holes down in the lava rocks.
I was doing pretty well, then the sciatica nerve in my back started causing me all kinds of pain and I could barely drive home.
it's cold and raining right now [never got over 60 today before the temps dropped] so our hunt is pretty much over.
maybe there are some grouse this year, the last few have been real bad.
[shrug] I have a target thrower and 40-50 cases of targets so something is always flying.

[Houndog]

I took my Grandson dove hunting yesterday and had a ball! There were very few birds flying but he managed to outdo Grandpa by killing 3 to my 2 and we only used 9 shells between us! Getting to spend time with him meant the world to me!

[Freightman]

They were 12 sitting on the hi-line this morning they raise in my pecan trees every year three kinds Morning, White Wing and ring neck ( not considered a game bird but larger than the others ) from France.

[TXGunNut]

Had an invite that fell thru, had plenty of yard work to keep me busy. Not getting any good reports so maybe just as well. Broke 21 on the trap field at the club yesterday so at least I had a little fun.

[DLCTEX]

I had not been dove hunting in a number of years so I went with a brother Sunday after attending a family reunion. We were in Fisher county Texas, my home county, and the birds weren't abundant where we hunted, but we did ok. I had never shot white wing, and in the past they were confined to southern Texas, but 70% of our birds were white wings this time. I saw some in a park in Abilene in June, but had no idea they were that established.

[lightman]

My hunt sucked,talked with a warden,and he's confused as well about their where-a-bouts.I saw 4,10 minutes till 12,after that,nothing.At least I didn't get any chiggers.

I can get invited to several hunts but my family and group of friends grew so that it was hard to ask if I can come hunt and bring 12 friends, so I started doing my own hunt. We've had a few good ones but last year was a bust. I spread wheat around the 1st of August and had birds until everyone began to harvest corn. My birds left for parts unknown and we only killed a few. We still cooked out and had fun, but not like you do when the birds come fogging in in.

[mold maker]

In my late teens, a farmer used to furnish shells for a couple of us as long as we delivered the doves. He had grain conveyors and huge silos that were over-run. With that target rich environment, our average was 16+ per box. There was often a 2 for 1 shot.
Nothing like being furnished ammo and targets. The farmer said he saved money, and got fed.

[lightman]

mold maker, the guy that owns the dryer here in town used to let his kids hunt on the parking lot. It was on the city limits line, just on the out of town side. Yup, a real target rich environment!

[1988-4551]

Haven't since I moved to the midwest but may try and make a trip this year.

[Pumpkinheaver]

Dove hunting is one of my favorite things to do. I only got 11 on the second day of the season. Hopefully I'll get back at them this weekend.

[lightman]

Good Luck, I hope you get into them again.