Countdown to dove blasting

Status
Not open for further replies.
Has anyone tried the Mojo Dove decoys?

I've used them the last two years. If I hadn't seen them work that well with my own eyes, I'd never have believed it.
 
6 more hours!!

The shotgun is oiled and ready. The AA sporting clays shells are in the bag, on the stool next to the door. The snacks are in the fridge. Time to sleep until my new hunting partner shows up. His first time, so we're going to a little pond I know we'll get plenty of birds flying in on.

The Brittany and I will go out later in the day, or Tuesday early, to walk the river and get her into a few.

Fall is here!
 
My 10 year old shot her first dove today. It was super cool. She has already called Grandpa and her uncle to brag. The old H&R .410 did its work today. I have a picture of her with her first bird I'll post later. We took the rest of the day off and are going back out this evening.
 
Hope everyone had a good day of hunting.
Things started off slow for me and dad today. The birds fed early, so they werent flying when shooting time started at noon. Just a couple every now and then. But around 4ish, things started to pick up. I know I had a great time, I love being able to shoot and not just sit there searching the skies like in the years past. My shooting definitely wasnt good today, but what do ya expect from not practicing? Shoot until the shells are gone, get some more and try again next time. LOL Both of us got our limit(15 each here also), so it was a good day. Last year I only bagged 2 birds, so this was a very good day.
 
Pretty decent day here. Just my son and I hunting most of the day, with THR members gyp_c2 and Goose 12 joining us later in the afternoon. We ended up with 33 doves. About half were Eurasian Collareds, which don't count towards your limit.

I started out the day shooting terrible. Seems like very year I have to re-learn that I can't shoot sustained lead. Once I re-trained myself on "bird, belly, beak, bang" I did all right.

My son Jimmy had a great day. His 870 was dropping them like it was a laser.
 
Had a good day on this end!

Woke up bright and early at 6:40 A. M. Grabbed my bag I packed last night, ate some pancakes I made the night before, and hopped on my bike.

Rode right up to the Chemistry building on campus for my 8 A.M. Organic Chemistry lab.

No dove, but I did have some Acetanilide that needed the melting point range identified.
 
Hunted at Cibola Sportsman's Club in AZ with the Corbett family, it was their 10th annual dove hunt and steak dinner the night before. About 60 shooters with many limits early. Lots of whitewings. I manned the camera until about 9am and then knocked a few down. The shooting was small groups that were fairly steady all morning. I saw one big flight of about 25 birds that our group knocked 2 out of. I saw 2 Euros at the cleaning station.

Didn't hear much shooting at all from the Cibola NWR nearby. In fact, the valley seemed kind of quiet compared to past years on the opener. I can say the weather and nice breeze was a change from the usual furnace like 115F that Cibola is famous for. It was 84F when we started shooting and with the cloud cover it was perfect shooting. When I left at noon it had just hit 100F. Lots of white 50 gallon barrels with "NO TRESPASSING" marking fields. ONe group said they scouted all day SUnday only to find 2 fields they could shoot.

I stopped by Yellow Mart in Blythe on the way home and most of the hunter there shot limits early that morning. One dad and son said they had 10 shooters in their group who all got limits. 2 older gentlemen said their long time favorite spot down near the river was a dud, they had one bird each they said. Lots of folks coming in there to check out the sales and pick up more shells and licenses for those just getting down to hunt. YellowMart has a big map of the area posted in their store that shows the good spots to hunt. They also had a Dove Hunter paper that had lots of good info in it. The big "Welcome Dove Hunters" banner hanging over the main drag was kewl to see.

Hit B&B Bait & Tackle in north Blythe and got the same reports, lots of limits locally. The big thunderstorm Sunday night we watched to the west of Cibola was west of Palo Verde they said, it looked like it was hammering Palo Verde to us. Warden was out about checking around Blythe but I never saw any wardens or trucks.

Traffic home on the I-10 was light, lookedl like mostly river rats. Saw a a few pickups with dog crates in the back.

Video of the opener

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uFeYZQonWg
 
Let's see- 40 days to go. Preliminary counts look promising in both central and east Texas. Hope the birds stay put. Those tropical waves may keep 'em from heading south if we're lucky.
 
Doves

Usually 1 or 2 September here in Oregon; quail and grouse on same day.

I havn'nt tapped into the dove flights that I grew up with in central Mexicalif.

Here, I drag-shoot on the elderberry bushes. Some guys in central Oregon have the flight patterns I've missed so much.

Hunting quail is the same as doves on the food sources.

Grouse are shootable here with rim-fire .22s. They just sit on the trails gawking at me so...onto the BBQ grill they go. :D
 
You have ONE dove?
Yeah, ol' Dan keeps coming to the feeder on my deck despite my cat's new found enjoyment at spending time outside the house. Heck, Dan is purt near big as the cat, what with all the prime seed I feed. It might be a pretty close battle were they ever to tangle- I'd pay to see that:evil:
 
Last edited:
Only 1 month left! I almost had to shoot a few the other day while trying out my new A400 at my fathers house, I was able to control myself though. The season here is year round now for Eurasian Collared Doves but I don't want to ruin September 1st. It has become like a holiday anymore with a dove BBQ at the end and everything.

The best part is this year will be my son's first time carrying a shotgun and not bird dogging for me, pending him passing his hunter safety course in a couple of weeks. I can't wait.

Until then we will bust many, many clays in anticipation.
 
If I shoot them high enough maybe they will land in Bastrop and really cook themselves. This heat and drought is really doing a number on our poor state.
 
11 days to go!! Heat? Drought? Lack of birds? Seems like a recurring theme. Yet I still long to be out there opening day. Looks like this year is going to be no different. My wife always asks why I bother going since I hardly bring back much meat. She just doesn't get it.
 
Good looking dog!

My flowers matured early and were bush hogged the other week. I had to go ahead and bush hog to scatter the seed for the dove before the finches ate all of it. Millet is in it's prime. Sorghum is going to hard seed and will be ready to cut soon.

UGA has a publication on winter grazing small grains. Seeding date for most clovers and grain is sept 1st in my area. May have to over-seed some pasture... ;)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top