Doves, grouse: Time to go huntin'!

[Dave Workman]

Let's forget about everything else for a minute and look ahead to Sept. 1. There are dove seasons opening up all over, and some states open up grouse hunting too. Heck, even rabbits open up here in WA on 9-1.

If all goes well, I'll be out there bringing law and order to the birds.

But I'm curious:
Who's going hunting, for what and with what...and where? What part of the country are you in?

For doves, what shotgun do you use and with what load?

Ditto grouse.

I'll be out there with both a .410 and a 20-ga. S/S double using No. 6s. (And I may even bop a grouse in the noggin with a .22 rifle and/or pistol, since I'm not so proud that I won't plug one for the pot with a rimfire. Daddy didn't raise me to go hungry!

 

[colt1911fan]

Well when I finally make it home form the sand box, doves grouse and sage grouse are fair game. Ducks open soon after......if I recall correctly. For dove I use a browning A-500G or my Benelli nova and I just use the cheap 100 round boxes you buy at walmart for grouse dove and just about everything else except for waterfowl. I'm always hoping pheasant will be good but it rarely is.

 

[interlock]

for me 1st september means wildfowling... coastal duck shooting using shotguns and dogs.

I will be on the humber estuary shooting my miroku 12 bore with express steel cartridges. Daisy, the labrador will be with me as will my son Ben with his 20 bore.

can't wait.

 

[Gunnerboy]

I love this time of the year the fun and joys of grouse and dove hunting. I prefer my ol single shot 20ga with no6 lead for the big blues i hunt up in the hills of cowlitz county, and no7 1/2 lead for doves in my back yard.

 

[oneounceload]

FL's dove opener is much later; however, when I lived in NV, September 1 was the time, a 20 SxS with 7.5 target loads has always worked fine.

Here in FL, sitting around a field, a 28 with 8's does the trick

 

[Oathkeeper1775]

NW Oregon

I love "1 September".

Hunting dove, grouse and quail gets me out of the house. I havn't found a flight pattern (like we had in CA) for dove so I work over the elder berry bushes. Quail and grouse are trail hunts, we can shoot grouse with rim-fire.

I do a lot of scouting while bird hunting.

I scout for cascade elk while I hunt for deer; If I don't locate the elk in the cascades, I buy the back-yard tag and hunt around here (Trask) in November.

I do one or two fee pheasant hunts each year north of Corvallis.

I try...try, to have my deer and elk in the freezer before duck season.

I live to hunt; keep the heritage alive. My biggest problem is me, I really don't get upset (enough) anymore if I don't fill a tag.

This year, I plan to do a couple shotgun slug hunts for deer in the valley.

 

[interlock]

I live to hunt;

me too

 

[oneounceload]

My biggest problem is me, I really don't get upset (enough) anymore if I don't fill a tag.

That's NOT a problem - it IS called hunting, not killing. It should be about the experience anyway

 

[Dave Workman]

And the clock keeps ticking and the calendar grows shorter...

And I yearn for the smell of burned gunpowder and the feel of limp feathered bodies in my hands.....

 

[blackDdefense]

September 1 equals mahem in IL. I will be packing the 3.5" early morning looking for geese. After the flight comes out the trusty 20 for doves. After 2 days of that and the teal will be open game too. Limit of teal, limit of geese, limit of dove. Man I can't wait.

 

[Arkel23]

I'll be out there with a Remington 870 and some cheap remington game loads. But the real fun comes when waterfowl season comes in!

 

[Grousefeather]

Dave, other side of the country here, R I. For doves, I use a Franchi 48AL 12ga, #8's, Grouse etc, my French double, 16ga 7 1/2's. Squirrels my 22 with sub sonics.

 

[jimmyraythomason]

Here in Alabama,the first half of the dove split season opens on Sept.3rd for the northern part of the state. The season opens October 1st in the southern zone. Teal season opens Sept.10th-Sept.25th. Canada geese Sept.1st-Sept.15th(these are pests here,every pond has a dozen or so on it year round). My preferred shotgun for all these birds is my dad's Mossberg 500 (I gave it to him for his birthday in the early 1970s and inherited it at his passing).

 

[Dave Workman]

well, good luck to you one and all!
I wish every day were a Saturday...and a season opener...for all of you.

Once things get cranked up, don't forget to come back and share how you did!