Openning Day Of Dove Season
Opening day of dove season has come and gone, and let me tell you that I have never had such good time shooting these little sky rockets called the mourning dove.
We decided to go camping close to where we were going to hunt for dove on openning day so we could get there early and scout the areas to hunt. It proved to be worth the trip.
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After sitting in my handy chair for about 20 minutes , the morning started out with a little flurry of dove flying in and out of range testing our ability to shake off the cobwebs of the summer break from hunting. We went to one of the public
hunting areas called Green River SWA, which so far is our favorite spot in September to take aim at these grey darters. My son and I and one of my hunting pals got to our field a little early the day before opening day to scout out the populations of the elusive dove and were not disappointed at the numbers. There must have several hundreds of dove flying about and resting on the power lines just there for us to test our skills the next day.
| We were preparing for our 1 day hunt by getting close to the action, checking our shotguns and making sure that we had enough shells to last all day if needed. And needed it was. My son and I went through at least 75 shells each by the days’ end which was about what we figured on with each of us getting our limit of dove. My friend used up a bit more, as this was his first time hunting these, fast flying, dipping and diving tasty little birds.
My friend and I used 12 gauge shotguns and my son was more comfortable with a 20, but we all used shells with steel shot, which is a requirement at this public hunting area. Steel shot is much more environmentally friendly as lead shot is slowly being phased out. Steel shot is a little more costly but accuracy improves with its use.
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After that first flurry we had a break in the action and tallied our total to keep track of our bag limit of dove, so not to forget that it was only 15 dove for each of us. The other hunters in the field were also having as good a time as we were shooting these birds also called mourning dove.
By the middle of the afternoon, we had a total of about 20 birds, then, the action slowed to only a few dove flying overhead occasionally. This was typical for these winged wonders of flight. Dove generally decrease their flights in the mid afternoon heat and start their search for food and water again in the late afternoon, which was exactly what happened that day. At around 4:00 the dove appeared, coming from every direction, and in big numbers of small flocks, some having 10 to 20 dove in each.
When all was said and done we each had our limit of dove and it was time to call it quits. We will look forward again to the opening day next year and try to improve our dove to shell ratio, although shooting and missing is just as much fun for our little competition.
Thanks for your interest, and you can read more outdoor stories at my website
www.turkeyfinder.info. T. Smola
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