What a fabulous dove hunt today! - 09/03/06 04:35 AM
I didn't fire a single shot. Actually I didn't even take a firearm as it was the Junior dove hunt conducted by Arizona Dept of Game and Fish at the Robbins Butte wildlife area. There were about 150 junior hunters accompanied by non hunting parents/grandparents. Many tiny little guys and girls, some as young as 8 years old,toting just about every varity of shotgun. There were many kids in full camo, more wearing some hunter orange and even some teenage girls, more concerned with fashion than mosquitos,in makeup,tank tops and shorts. They weren't giving anything away to the boys in birds taken either.
After a safety/procedure briefing they were all transported to marked stands by haywagon and waited for the dawn to arrive. The birds arrived on cue, mostly White Wings this year, and the guns chattered steadily. I limited my grandson to 50 shells for the day in an effort to limit the punishment so he would want to shoot again another day. His shooting is just developing and his bag was about average - one bird per box of shells. Having shot preserve pheasants pretty well he was more than amazed when the doves ignored his best efforts. It was priceless to watch his jaw drop when a Mourning Dove gave him the old dippsy doodle, dropping about 10 feet and swapping directions about 90 degrees, almost taking his hat off.
Chandler gun club fed the entire hunt breakfast about 7:00am - which is their established voluntary custom. That was followed by a retriever club demonstration and other hunt related activities. I think everyone had a great time. Since this needs to be double gun related, my grandson was carrying his Mirouku Daly 20ga SxS. We had a great gun cleaning and post mortem session over a soda on the back patio at home.
After a safety/procedure briefing they were all transported to marked stands by haywagon and waited for the dawn to arrive. The birds arrived on cue, mostly White Wings this year, and the guns chattered steadily. I limited my grandson to 50 shells for the day in an effort to limit the punishment so he would want to shoot again another day. His shooting is just developing and his bag was about average - one bird per box of shells. Having shot preserve pheasants pretty well he was more than amazed when the doves ignored his best efforts. It was priceless to watch his jaw drop when a Mourning Dove gave him the old dippsy doodle, dropping about 10 feet and swapping directions about 90 degrees, almost taking his hat off.
Chandler gun club fed the entire hunt breakfast about 7:00am - which is their established voluntary custom. That was followed by a retriever club demonstration and other hunt related activities. I think everyone had a great time. Since this needs to be double gun related, my grandson was carrying his Mirouku Daly 20ga SxS. We had a great gun cleaning and post mortem session over a soda on the back patio at home.
