Well, its finally here.
Something to shoot at. Dove season opens here in the North Zone in the morning and we get to kill those fowl pests that make that annoying cooing noise all year long.

This year for the first time, myself, my son, and grandson will be hunting together. We have instilled in my grandson the importance of retrieving doves as soon as they hit the ground. That way, granddad can stay in his chair under an Oak tree without moving all day.
Someone has to stay by the bar-b-q.
We use 20 gauge pumps, me a, 870 and my left handed son uses a bottom eject Ithica pump. The grandson has a Rossi 410 single shot but he has to be the retriever this year. Five years old is too young for him but he'll at least get to shoot it some.
Anyway, good luck to all and above all,,,BE CAREFUL

Headed out in the morning. A respectable score on sporting clays this afternoon - I'm psyched!!!!!

I envy you guys. I miss Colorado most for Dove Hunting. Send me a breast or two. Jim.

I envy you guys. I miss Colorado most for Dove Hunting. Send me a breast or two. Jim.
I put cleaning a dove right up there with cleaning a hog. I think I'd rather clean a hog.

But done right, they do taste pretty good.
Like all game, its not a good idea to let them lay in your game bag all day uncleaned or they can taste rank. I have been taught to do that little chore fairly quickly.
Maybe I won't need to clean them, that's what kids are for.

Oh well.

Season opens here tomorrow as well.

The Eurasian collared dove is beginning to show up in this area and is considered a non-native species, therefore, no limit, no closed season.

We have the Mourning, Whitewinged, Aztec and now the Eurasian dove for hunting.

A dove breast, slit on each side with a slice of jalapeno stuffed in and a strip of bacon skewered onto it - tossed on the grill until toasty on the outside. Yummy! :D

I have been feeding doves all season. The food plot I planted for quail has been wonderful for the doves. I plan on hunting them as soon as the season opens. Q

I have been feeding doves all season. The food plot I planted for quail has been wonderful for the doves. I plan on hunting them as soon as the season opens. Q

Well, we had a great time, and managed to kill a few birds as well. We hunted near Meridian Texas. Here's my grandson/retreiver with a couple.

How many boxes of shells did it take to get those two, Tom? :p

Your retreiver looks like you owe him a treat!

I put cleaning a dove right up there with cleaning a hog. I think I'd rather clean a hog.


:confused:

Are you picking the whole bird?
We just pull the skin off the breast and then pull the breast off the carcass. A pair of electricians cutters, "dikes", does a neat job snipping the breast loose from the wing joints but we mostly always just pulled them off.

:confused:

Are you picking the whole bird?
We just pull the skin off the breast and then pull the breast off the carcass. A pair of electricians cutters, "dikes", does a neat job snipping the breast loose from the wing joints but we mostly always just pulled them off.
We usually just stick our thumb all the up in front of the breast bone to the neck and pull that away from the breast.
After sitting a couple of hours, they just smell more than a hog, or as least just as bad.

Anyway, I'd rather just sit and watch others shoot them. There's always plenty to talk about while sitting under a tree on a dove hunt!

Dove hunting was a bust down here too. My buddy and I got one each and I shot a starling, for lack of anything else better to do. Saw an awful lot of grasshoppers and some of them were big enough to filet... :eek:

There's just too much food and water for the doves right now. Good for birds and bad for hunters.

We had a heck of a storm the night before. That never helps!

Oh well it beat going to work :)

Dove hunting was a bust down here too. My buddy and I got one each and I shot a starling, for lack of anything else better to do. Saw an awful lot of grasshoppers and some of them were big enough to filet... :eek:

There's just too much food and water for the doves right now. Good for birds and bad for hunters.

We had a heck of a storm the night before. That never helps!

Oh well it beat going to work :)
Same here, we finally resorted to throwing our hats up in the air and shooting them. One guy walked up and saw me with a big hole in my hat, I told him it hurt like heck!
We had him going for a little while

Our best dove hunting is the late season, and by then, you know what I'm doing.
It was fun anyway.

Usually opening day sounds like a war zone with all the shotguns going off around here, but I only faintly heard a couple shots today so they were at least a couple miles off.

Usually opening day sounds like a war zone with all the shotguns going off around here, but I only faintly heard a couple shots today so they were at least a couple miles off.
Yea, they were real scattered.
We ended up going to the shooting range and practising for an upcoming New Mexico hunt.
I'm trying to work up the perfect load for a 6.5/284 and my son bought a new featherweight Model 70 270 WSM. After the first three rounds of 150 grain Hornadys, all he could say was, "boy this thing kicks!"
I have learned my lessons with hard kicking guns. I don't like them. So, I load for accuracy and not velocity. Works much better.
Our ranch is not set up for doves. It has no sunflower, some croten, but nothing planted for them. But we should have dove hunted there because there were more birds flying there then the fields we went to the first day. Go figure.
Anyway, good luck to all. It can only get better!