It is that dove hunting time of year, again!

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MCgunner

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I've got plenty of 20 gauge 7.5 loads and a new shotgun my dear wife got me for Christmas, a CZ Redhead Delux .20 gauge. :D That gun fits me like a well fitted H&H without the trip to London's fitting room. :D I've been shooting a decent shooting little Spartan 20 gauge SxS I picked up about 2008 I think, but I drooled over this CZ at an ag supply after church in a nearby town and my wife saw that I had this urge I guess. :D

Anyway, every year I head up to my old Aggie buddy's place north of Waco to open the central zone, opens Sept 1 this season. South zone where I live opens the 22, IIRC, but my main focus is the Sept 1 weekend since I get to visit and the hunting is usually great. Wasn't so great last year, but my buddy says the birds are in big time and a friend has bought some land with an old gravel pit he calls the "lake". He owns the local Arctic Cat dealership and bought this place to build a new shop location outside the Waco city limits. His plan is to have a test ride track for his customers. Anyway, he was shredding it and says it's FULL of doves right now. It's been REAL dry down here and I expect, if we can miss most of that rain coming with a tropical system in the gulf (supposed to affect the Houston area, Waco not so much) it will be dry and the birds will be looking for water. :D The tanks are always the place to be in dry years.

ANYWAY, I love this time of year!!!!!!

Here's a pic of my new CZ. I cannot wait to try it out. I ain't seeing real well with my cataract problem, but seem to do okay with the shotguns. I'll be getting my eyes fixed first of October as I've already gotten my medicare card and it goes into effect Oct. one. I can't wait for THAT, either. :D

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Best of luck MC.
You had better stock up on bacon to wrap those dove breasts in....I hear the doves north of Waco are as big as pigeons this year. I heard they fly slow too.
 
My Land 118.44 Acres 002.JPG

Nice looking shotgun .

I just bought 120 acres of cutover land ( closed today ) . There are big cornfields near my land . I hope I get a few that flyover my land . I jumped up 2 walking on the property yesterday , I just hope I see more than that when they cut . I mainly bought the land to build a house on and rabbit hunt .
 
Patocazador said:
That is a bad omen. It reminds me of the, "Should've been here last week" infamous one-liner.



That's a nice-looking O/U.
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Well, if they ain't there, we'll find 'em. :D We have other places to check for 'em. We always seem to wind up at Larry's dad's place, though. We've had some epic shoots there. :D We started hunting there together when we were freshmen in college, 1971. The place never seems to get old. :D
 
I just moved- our season (Fl) starts in Oct. Hope to find a place to put the smack down on some of those gray rockets!
 
I love dove hunting, but I never really got to do any until about four years ago when I lucked into some private land access in California's Central Valley. And then *poof* I had to pack up and move to SC. Haven't had a chance to do any here yet, partly due to not having a suitable scattergun and partly to not having anyone to go with. I've been looking into SCDNR's public fields and hope to get to check one out soon. They limit hunters to 50 rounds per visit -- which means I might get five birds if they're flying.
 
Going to my first big southern dove hunt (first dove hunt overall actually) next weekend and I am real excited. Will be using a Mossberg 500 20 gauge and I bought a case of 7.5 1 oz Winchester AA heavy target loads.

A coworker of mine owns a (fair chase) hunting operation with big ag fields. They serve burgers and dogs before the noon opener, and at the end of the day a prime rib and BBQ dinner!
 
Doc7 said:
Going to my first big southern dove hunt (first dove hunt overall actually) next weekend and I am real excited. Will be using a Mossberg 500 20 gauge and I bought a case of 7.5 1 oz Winchester AA heavy target loads.
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I shoot doves (and ducks) with a 20 ga. and I think you made a wise choice with your shell selection. I think 7/8 oz. is fine for opening day doves but later in the season a denser shot string will bring down those fat Yankee birds. I reload my own and use 1 oz. loads with 7 1/2 shot most of the time.

PS: Save those AA hulls and sell them to me on the Classified section when you get 100 or more.
 
I shoot Kent Fasteel 3" #4 shot in my 20 ga. at ducks. It might take 2 shots to kill them though. If they're dropping but still alive, I give them another one if possible. My dog's getting old and she doesn't dive as good as she used to.

That is over decoys. I don't do much pass shooting.
 
We'll be hunting (shooting actually) on Friday morning. Should have 15 or 20 shooters. Our record was two years ago, 235 birds. Lots of Asian Collareds, no limit. H&Hhunter and Art Eatman should be here, God willing. Our most favorite day of the year!
 
I think my ole model 12, 20 gauge will handle doves if I do my part. Never have had a problem with the gun. :)
My wife would batter and fry the breasts just like chicken, then when they start to brown drop some sliced onion on top and cover the skillet. Take them up when the onion is clear. You can thank me later.
 
Patocazador said:
They count collared doves in our 15 bird limit here.
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We are overrun with the collareds here, they're pushing the mourning doves out. The DOW originally said no limit, but hunt them only during dove season, then they changed the rules. No season, no limit, you just have to have a hunting license.

Of the 235 doves we got two years ago, probably 90% were collareds, with a few mourning a small handful of white wings.
 
I was in the field Friday and Saturday, I hadn't put shells in my shotgun for more than 3 years, I forgot how much fun it was. I was a little rusty and started slow. It it all came back. I limited out Friday by dark and Saturday I limited out 2 hours early. My baby (Browning Citori) can still knock those birds down. I have one days limit on the BBQ pit but now wrapped in bacon and jalapeños.
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TIMC said:
I was in the field Friday and Saturday, I hadn't put shells in my shotgun for more than 3 years, I forgot how much fun it was. I was a little rusty and started slow. It it all came back. I limited out Friday by dark and Saturday I limited out 2 hours early. My baby (Browning Citori) can still knock those birds down. I have one days limit on the BBQ pit but now wrapped in bacon and jalapeños.
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SO jealous! Of your harvest AND of the Citori. I've never really had any desire to own or even really shoot an O/U until today. I've been looking at them and have instantly fallen in love! If only I had $2500 to spare.....Hopefully the birds will be moving through S. Oklahoma soon! Only seeing 1-2 bird groups at any given time. I took 2 birds home yesterday morning and hit one and lost it in the tall grass on Friday. Not bad, in my opinion, for my first time ever taking shots at moving birds lol. I hit probably 60% of the birds I took shots on. I'm just unsure of what my range is with what I'm using.
 
Thank you, I really love the Citori. For shot loads 7 1/2 shot is my go to for doves. They are flying pretty high for so early, we usually don't see this until later in the season. To combat I am running improved modified and light full chokes. This combo is working well for me right now.
Dove are very fast and very acrobatic, they can be frustrating to most shooters. This however is where the fun lies, making that impossible shot gives you an awesome feeling!

The doves post pit....sorry a few are already missing. ;-)
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Boy that looks good , I am going to a big dove hunt this coming up Saturday . It is a hunt that I have always wanted to go too and my 76 year old friend that gets invited every year , invited me to go with him . He doesn't even shoot anymore , but he likes going to that hunt , there is a big cookout after the hunt and socializing . He also likes going rabbit hunting just to hear the dogs . His wife made some brownies the first time I went rabbit hunting with him and I told him how good they were and to thank her . Now she makes enough brownies for me to take back home after every rabbit hunt we go on . I am so thankful to have friends like that .

He can't drive right now , so I was running him around so he could get out of the house last week and as we were getting into my truck after leaving Hardee's , I usually help him in , but I had a drink in my hand and was putting it inside my truck . He opened his door before I could get over there to help him and he banged my door into the car next to me . The lady was stilling in her car . I looked at her car and told her that I was sorry and that it didn't do any damage to her car . She asked me if he was my grandfather and thanked me for taking care of him . I told her that I was paying him back and that he use to take me hunting when I was a kid and still does .
 
I miss the days hunting with my dad and the stories he used to tell us about his time in the service. Enjoy
Your time with your friend while you can.
 
I told him he should write down the stories that he tells me . I am going to remind him again .
 
red rick said:
Boy that looks good , I am going to a big dove hunt this coming up Saturday . It is a hunt that I have always wanted to go too and my 76 year old friend that gets invited every year , invited me to go with him . He doesn't even shoot anymore , but he likes going to that hunt , there is a big cookout after the hunt and socializing . He also likes going rabbit hunting just to hear the dogs . His wife made some brownies the first time I went rabbit hunting with him and I told him how good they were and to thank her . Now she makes enough brownies for me to take back home after every rabbit hunt we go on . I am so thankful to have friends like that .

He can't drive right now , so I was running him around so he could get out of the house last week and as we were getting into my truck after leaving Hardee's , I usually help him in , but I had a drink in my hand and was putting it inside my truck . He opened his door before I could get over there to help him and he banged my door into the car next to me . The lady was stilling in her car . I looked at her car and told her that I was sorry and that it didn't do any damage to her car . She asked me if he was my grandfather and thanked me for taking care of him . I told her that I was paying him back and that he use to take me hunting when I was a kid and still does .
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What a great way of saying thanks...I wish I was able to take my grandfather hunting with me. He's the sole reason I enjoy hunting actually. He used to take me "shooting at the bridge" when I was a kid. He would grab the .22 and a box of 550 rounds and all the bottles he had saved over the course of a month or so and we would go park on the bridge and he would throw the bottles in and I would shoot them as they floated down slowly. Thinking back, it's not a very good idea to be shooting bottles in a creek, but I was a kid and didn't really think about it then. He also taught me how to hunt rabbits and showed me how to clean them. I was his favorite grandchild (probably not fair to the rest of the grandkids) and he showed it. Spoiled me rotten for sure. Sadly, he had a stroke about 20 years ago and was paralyzed on his left side and never was able to get around like he did before the stroke. BUT, he taught me a lot about how to be a man and left me with a lot of knowledge of hunting. Might try and get his Stevens .410 magazine fixed and take it out to try and take a shot at a dove or two with it.
 
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