Ranch Dog wrote:I mowed a large field of weeds yesterday, 20 to 25 acres, not one dove flew out of it. A week ago it was full. Our doves have a habit of disappearing right about now.
could it be they all pass the word around to alert the entire flock of opening day of dove season. You know the fish all get together to set the exact date to start the spawn (obviously the fish in every lake in the state are involved in the conspiracy) every year..... I'm sure this is true since I've heard guys from the Dallas area discuss the date of the spawn. I know they must be right about that since they had $50k boats and custom made fishing clothes, and they always devoted several weekends every "fishing season" to the quest for the wall hanger
But, on a more serious note, it is pretty obvious that "local wildlife" (including migratory birds that become "homies") do seem to develop localized habits. During the 70's and 80's, wife and I used to spend a lot of time tent camping all over the state, and the hill country was one of our favorite areas. Since I was still in my infantile stage of wanting to play golf, we really enjoyed Inks Lake State Park because we could camp right by the water, and I could take my clubs around the corner to the golf course. During the Summer, there were always deer roaming around the park and on the golf course, but opening week of archery season the deer population doubled and you had to wait for the deer to get off the greens. By the time gun season opened, the park was over run with deer ... herds. The park rangers said the local deer population actually starts migrating towards the park areas before the shooting starts as if it's become an ingrained trait. I've always believed that to be possible.
Observing animal habits is just downright interesting.
JD