Dove Season

Whether plinking or chasing big game, tell us about your day outdoors!
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mr surveyor
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Dove Season

Post by mr surveyor »

Two more days (actually 3 to get to Saturday) until Dove Season! Couldn't go last year due to extenuating circumstances, and physically shouldn't go this year .... I'm still heading "out West" early Friday morning. Got pork loins smoking on the grill right now, since the rain way up here in the North quit for a while, and made a couple quarts of my hot sauce a couple of nights ago. All I got left to do is throw some stuff together and wait for my buddy in North Louisiana to come by early Friday so we can meet up with the other guys heading out. I don't think I can shoot up at the birds much, but I can sit a stand and lob 265 grainers at pigs with the R92 if it comes to that. Food and beer anyway :)

I love Dove Season!


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Re: Dove Season

Post by GasGuzzler »

How far west?
Plenty of dove in these parts.
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Re: Dove Season

Post by Ranch Dog »

I believe he has been going the Sweetwater annually.

Good luck JD!

Wish we had birds around here but I just couldn't make myself drive 10 miles for a dove.
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Re: Dove Season

Post by mr surveyor »

yes, West Texas ... our bunch has been making the trip for 12 years (I think it's been 12). We've had several trips that individuals could have killed 60 birds per day, and even %@*&$ shooters like me could have gotten at least 40. We've had a couple of years that we were unable to bring back our legal limit (30 per hunter "in possession"). The migration route does seem to have continuously moved East from the Rotan/Roby area we generally hunt. This year, since one of our guys has a deer lease near Robert Lee (about 40 miles SW of Sweetwater) the four of us left to make the trip are heading out there tomorrow. We know the birds may be few, but the hogs are always there, and they need thinning.

So, I'm pulling the plug here and we won't even have cell service where we're staying. That's o.k. .... we're all old enough to know how to actually communicate in person.

Be back next Tuesday or Wednesday.


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Re: Dove Season

Post by GasGuzzler »

Stop by if using US82.
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Re: Dove Season

Post by Ranch Dog »

Well, where's the report?
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Re: Dove Season

Post by mr surveyor »

Ranch Dog wrote:Well, where's the report?

It was a really good trip for the four of us "old guys" that made it. Just as figured, the doves were "homies" and few and far between. I did dove hunt a couple of the five outings for the three days we were actually hunting .... I think I was 6 (or seven?) kills for a whopping 10 shots on the birds. That's fewer shots than I would normally take in 30 minutes at our usual hunting spots. The other outings I chose to sit a couple of different box stands overlooking the corn feeders, thinking the abundant pigs would show up .... none of our group saw pigs. I did have a covey of Quail cross a dirt trail about 30 yards from me and spread out into the pasture. It's always a treat to see Quail making a comeback. Also saw about a dozen turkeys about 300 yards away easing out into the edge of a field. The jack rabbits were rampant in one area about 0700 every morning, so the second morning (after a 1-2" rain overnight), rather than hunting, the four of us decided to take the "Mule" and travel around the 3000 acres and check the stands and feeders of the regular lease members. One of the guys in the back had an AR, the other had a vintage M1 Carbine, and they were going to take out a few jack rabbits along the way. After completely missing the first 5 or 6, I claimed the next one to take out with my R92 44 mag (with Weaver Scout Scope). It was only 30-40 yards so I picked the eyeball for the target. When we drove up to take a look one of the guys said something about a head shot and asked what my point of aim was. My typical personality forced me to just answer "Well, where did I hit him?". Same "outing", the battery on the Mule gave up the ghost after checking a feeder about 2-1/2 miles from the cabin. It was a rough walk across the rocks, mud ruts, cactus, etc, for the more seasoned among us (actually that's all of us) to get back and wait for the ground to suck in the water so we could take a 4x4 truck back to jump off the Mule.

The best thing was having no cell telephone service and poor tv reception with junk channels. Just solitude with a smattering of typical old guy BS. As far as the "dove take-home", I think we only had 25 or so between us (would have been a 120 bird limit under our normal hunting circumstances), but no one complained and we just may all go back next year.

So, not much to report .... or at least that than can be reported :)


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Re: Dove Season

Post by Ranch Dog »

To me, it sounds like a heck of a good time!
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Re: Dove Season

Post by mr surveyor »

I just noticed that the "edit" I'd added at the end didn't seem to record. I remembered to add the fact that all of us saw a good many deer on every outing. One sighting in particular there were three of us bird hunting on the edge of a large open field. We all saw 7 deer enter the field a few hundred yards away from us, browsing their way into the field. After glassing them it was confirmed that all 7 were bucks, traveling together. Smallest rack was a spike, the largest an 8 point. I've never seen that many bucks, in a buck only group, running together. It was interesting to watch.


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Re: Dove Season

Post by Ranch Dog »

Yep, a good time!
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