Looking forward - let us hear your bird hunting plans

[mc15426378]

Birds (quail) are so far and few between here in MS that I don't hunt, yet, the few coveys I know of. There are some planted bird operations south of me but I never cared for this type of shooting.

The recent MS/Yazoo river flooding really did a number on the duck club camp house I visit. Last I heard the house is a total loss and will have to be bulldozed. Hopefully we will still be able to make day trips but overnight stays are definitely out for this year.

Woodcock pass thru on their migration, usually mid to late December. Never really targeted them but do occasionally kick one up while squirrel/rabbit hunting.

Hopefully the doves will be abundant this year....if we get enough rain for the sunflowers.

Looking forward to the fall, if nothing else for some relief from the heat.

Mike

[AmarilloMike]

Dove are fine sport I think. I am glad to hear there are Bobs left in Mississippi, even if they aren't thriving. Back in the late 80s we had some phenmenon where they all but disappeared here. We quit hunting them for three years. Then they came back with a vengence. You coun't find even a green broke bird dog within 200 miles. There is always hope.

Here is Joe in the Salvation Army hat missing some more birds:

[Stan Hillis]

My plans are to shoot doves at least twenty-five times, ducks a minimum of twenty days and quail at every opportunity. I joined a dove club this year which guarantees three shoots a week for the entire season. That, plus the sunflower field I plant each year, plus harvested corn and harvested peanut fields should keep me in doves pretty steady this coming season.

Here are some pictures I took this morning of our sunflower field, 22 acres, with a homemade "power line" across it for the doves to light on. This field has proven to be a good one, and year before last we shot it five times with a total bag of over 1000 doves.



A view with the early morning sun at my back.



Some of the heads are getting pretty big. Lot of seeds in a head like that.



An-ti-ci-pa-a-tion.



Doves aren't the only thing attracted to a sunflower field down heah', bees get their goody during pollination.

Stan

[fox-admin]

Stan: Looks like a great set up for doves. NY does not consider doves game-birds so no season here, but what do you expect from a state that considers the union of two men a legal marriage!
I have only shot doves in South America and it is great fun and challenging shooting. When I was Hunt Testing my Labs I would always be in PA the first weekend of doves, September 1st I believe. I would sit on my motel balcony with a cold one and watch a big group blast away in a field next door. We do have the September local goose season but the birds can be spotty until about the end of September. Craig

[Researcher]

Oh Stan!! Can I come and visit you? I've really missed my Dove shooting since I moved out to Washington State. Last year on the 1st of September I drove by the place where we use to shoot Doves when I was in highschool and college and while our field was still there it is so built up all around it that touching off a shotgun there probably wouldn't be socially acceptable!! Seems like with The Vintage Cup and other things interferring my Septembers just haven't been the same. My Wife and I stumbled onto a great farm in the Shenendoah Valley of Virginia Labor Day weekend 1977, and I shot there every season through 2002. My farmer seemed to be quite successful and every year or two he added another farm to his holdings, so the choices just got better as the years rolled on.

[AmarilloMike]

Now that is a dove set up. I love dove hunting and have never taken one with a Fox. I will correct that this fall.

Thanks Stan

[Researcher]

There is no such thing as "Dove hunting." There is hunting for a place to shoot Doves!!

[Stan Hillis]

How right you are, Dave. The next best thing to shooting doves is scouting them, that's when I do my "hunting". I take pride in being able to tell my guests before a shoot what time to expect the bulk of the birds to feed. The only way to do that is to spend hours watching the field(s) and timing their feeding. Of course, weather can certainly change the feeding patterns, but if nothing like a cold front or rain storm interferes, they are pretty predictable. One thing that is an interesting phenomenon is when it comes up a rain shower just about the time the birds are ready to feed and keeps them from feeding for awhile. If the rain stops early enough it seems like every dove within 10 miles will pile in at the same time. It makes for some fast and furious gunning. It would be my great pleasure to have you shoot with me sometime, Dave. Opening day is always a big event with a barbecue, sometimes a (whole) pig pickin', and all the trimmings. Usually opening day is hot as blue blazes but every now and then, like the opener last year, it will be overcast and in the low 80's. Now, that's a blessing!! I wish each of you that have never experienced a good Southern dove shoot could do so. It is a gift from Above. You can really determine a lot about a man's character by shooting near him on a dove field.

I'll post pictures from time to time as the sunflowers mature, and on opening day. Wish you ALL could join me for some real Southern hospitality, and you are all welcome to do so. Just don't all show up on the same day!!

SRH

[mc15426378]

When I return from hunting my wife has always asked me what I caught.

After 34 years of marriage I have not been able to make my sweetheart (today is her birthday) understand that you catch fish and shoot critters.

Mike

[AmarilloMike]

Mike mine too!

She used to sing a song to our son when he was a toddler about Daddy being out catching pheasants. One of my fondest memories.

Best,

Mike

[Sam Ogle]

A grandson and I will venture to the Nebraska Sandhills on September 1st to greet the doves with an opening salvo.
I have four grandsons, and the second one likes to shoot. The youngest will be a shooter as well, if his daddy and he have their way. The one I will take with me appreciates the extra flat or two of 20 gauge shells in the back of the 4Runner, and "helps me out," by burning them, as I don't have a 20 gauge.
The Sandhills is not home to hordes of Doves, but still, if one finds a Windmill with a pond, weeds mixed with some "ditch weed," and is patient, and can shoot a side by side just passably, (hrumph) a limit is possible. It is kind of a luck of the draw thing, but we have a lot of available acres to try, and last year, it was just great for this old man and the boy. Most Cattle Ranchers in the area think if you are crazy enough to waste ammunition on those little rockets, they are crazy enough to let you try.

Sam Ogle, Lincoln,NE

[MARSHFELLOW]

Stan,

Love your pics....you give a nice perspective. I have been fortunate to be invited to Southern dove season opening days on several occasions and they truly are quite enjoyable social affairs from start to finish.....great shooting and great eats. Even been known to get into some real good homemade "peach 'shine" when the doubles have been put up.

As Craig mentioned, us New Yorkers arent allowed to take doves which stinks....don't get me started about our NY lawmakers...especially recent history. Unfortunately, us folks in Upstate NY (way upstate) dont seem to carry the political weight to outvote the wakkos and their wakko social policy agendas. Oh well.

tjw

[Stan Hillis]

Sam,

I guess those ranchers WOULD think I'm crazy, then, burning $3.50/gal. diesel in my tractors to plant a 22 acre field just for doves. But, I resemble that. Total costs prolly run upwards of $4K to plant the field this year, and some people think paying $1000 a year to join a dove club that lets you shoot three times a week for the whole season is crazy. Heck, that's a deal compared to planting your own.

Marshfellow,

Keep the faith and keep voting conservative. Sooner or later the worm will turn, I just hope it's sooner and not later.

OBTW, there was an estimated 400-500 doves in that field day before yesterday afternoon about 4 p.m.

Stan

[marshboy]

Stan,
Great pictures. I've never dove hunted before...this fall Iowa will have its first dove season. I plan on "testing the waters" on September 1st.
After that, I have a busy fall of duck hunting here in Iowa, pheasant hunting in Iowa and South Dakota, and prairie grouse hunting in South Dakota. Also, if I draw a non-resident license, I'll duck hunt in South Dakota, too. I'll be busy from mid-September through early January.
You know, IMO, we should really tip our caps to our gamebirds. Without them, what is the point of Fox shotguns and everything else? The birds have given my the best days of my life.
Greg

[Stan Hillis]

Well said, Greg. In fact, I do indeed tip my hat on occasion at a dove that puts the moves on me and gets past two loads of my blue whistlers unscathed. I stop, holler as loud as I can "Well done!", and tip my hat as he speeds away. One of my quirks that fellow guns seem to find amusing.

Stan