Doves

[james]

There seems to be a normal crop of the little gray darters in NE Arkansas.  I'm getting a twitchy trigger finger already.   I checked the shell supply and put new batteries in the robo dove.  Anyone else getting ready for the first hunting season of the year?

[Graybeard]

I used to enjoy dove season more than any other but haven't been on a dove shoot in a lot of years. It got to the point around here where the cost kept climbing to where now even $50 most likely won't buy you a spot on a field and if it did there most likely would be none at that field to shoot. Then they started letting folks in at first light to pick their stand site and since on opening day legal shooting hour is noon and seldom do they fly much until 4:00 PM I just can't stay out in the heat or sun that long so it pretty much has price me out and their policies have run me off as well.

I still feed them at our feeders but haven't shot one in perhaps 15 years.

[james]

I understand the problem of finding a place to dove hunt.  I paid $25 one year and killed two doves.  I was so disgusted I didn't hunt for a few years.   My hunting buddy found a 100' x 800' strip of land that had too much slope for rice and beans and the farmer let us put a cover crop on it.  We planted wheat a year ago and shot a few doves. It was covered with standing wheat this year and the farmer bush hogged it last week to keep the weeds from germinating.     If we don't get a cool front to move the birds out, we should have a good shoot.

[Oldshooter]

I'm trying to get a dove hunt up for my sons and sons inlaw! I really miss fly shooting doves! This aint Arkansas but I do love the dove hunts! the Rio grand valley is real good, there used to be so many that we would only shoot the ones that would fall next to the bucket we were sitting on when shot !

[james]

Had a good shoot this morning.  We were through by 8:00 am.  I had the only dog and my pile got big in a hurry.  It kept me busy returning doves to their rightful owners so I wouldn't have over my limit.   The dog had a good time too because he didn't want to get out of the truck when I got home.    He wanted to go back for more.   He stayed in the truck while I cleaned the doves and read the newspaper.  I had never hunted with a double (O/U)  before but the option of an open or tight choke more than makes up for the two shot limitation.   I was skeptical of the extractors instead of ejectors but found they worked well today since it was muddy and my empties never hit the ground.  A hunting buddy who had ejectors on his gun cut his finger badly while trying to dig a stuck hull out with a multi tool.

[jpshaw]

My Daddy always told me that a dove was really a hybrid developed by Remington-Peter so they could sale more shotgun shells.