doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Local Dove population concerns.

Stan, I didn't pay that much attention...busy trying to not spill my coffee...

Must be a farmer thing. I leave the house everyday with my second mug of hot, black coffee. I must not be as "seaworthy" as I used to be. I spilt some of it on my clean jeans this morning as soon as I cranked up and headed down the driveway. I used to be able to drive a four speed, shifting with my left hand as I held the coffee mug and the steering wheel with my right, and never spill a drop.

Other things seem to be slipping away, too.

SRH

Reminds me of a Willie Nelson story that's not fit for posting here...Geo

being able to function with a cup of coffee in hand, sans lid, without spilling much, is a test of wether one is loosing it, so to speak...recently i have switched to a half full, long travel mug..it helps...

Unfortunally my spots have not been cut. Hopeing the farmer will get to at least one next week. Otherwise I may be readying your reviews of your hunts.

Will be shooting some fields in the Red River Valley not too far from Sheppard AFB for the opener & weekend. Numbers are very good, at present. Many Eurasian/collared dove in that area as well & they do not count toward daily bags. Had over four limits of white-wings duking it out w/the fox squirrels, cardinals, jays and assorted smaller birds for milo & rape seeds & black oil sunflower in the backyard yesterday, all in-town 'feeder birds'. Hawks will get one now & again, but that's all they have to worry about. Not seeing near as many mourning dove in the backyard as years past, but plenty on the power lines most everywhere else. Some are in the back as I type, but not as many as yesterday, its been raining some, it always does about this time of year w/or w/o hurricanes, but it usually waits until the last day of August;-)

Hope all here have a good opener for those out after the sporty morsels. Stay safe; SHOOT NO LOW BIRDS! And pay attention to all muzzles, not just your own.

You mean the part that he outlived?

Seeing fewer doves around St. Louis than in prior years. Have scouted several locations, and may not hunt doves this year.

Just some observation/opinion, but it seems to me that when we have lots of water everywhere and playas full as we've had the past couple of years that it tends to scatter the birds, dove and teal in particular, but it also can make duck & goose hunting more iffy because they are moving around more.

Changes in crops and timing of harvest both affect dove during season as do cold fronts and rains. Same water that has filled all the playas has been, IMHO, the single most important factor in the rebounding of 'bird' populations in W. TX.

I gave up a couple of leases a number of years back due to zero dove and not many more quail where they were once very plentiful on both places, both being close to two sections. Leases were SW of Chalk Mountain, w/one not far from Hico. Crops in that area went from grains to costal Bermuda and haymaker w/many fields turned/disked and left to go fallow. Dove had no interest in any of it. Crop dusting/spraying at the end time of grain crops in that area and not much water killed the bugs the quail ate and some of them were likely poisonous themselves w/insecticides before dying and killed the birds that ate them [it happened on the llano Estacada w/turkeys at one time & they had to be re-established] and moisture was very hard for the survivors to come by because most of the ground succulents the birds could have watered off of during times of drought in that particular area were killed off by whatever was being sprayed for weed control.

No question there are dynamics afoot still not all that well understood that affect mourning dove populations, in some areas, but where there are good populations of birds in times of plentiful water it gets down to scouting and access at the correct time(s)as much as anything.

Recall being outside Throckmorton several years ago mid season. Dove were plentiful & landowner called for a couple of us to come out and enjoy some good sport, so we headed that way immediately. Shootable dove population had gone from plentiful to skinny in hours(!), weather had not changed, no fronts, nothing. We both took a couple of limits, but it was a lot of work over two days doing. On the way back to the city, twenty miles removed from where we had been they were cutting some milo w/a sickle bar, not harvesting it just cutting it down & there must have been near every dove within two counties out there feasting on the grain being spilt! No shooters were evident. Birds talk to one another & the word gets out like the proverbial secretarial grapevine.

It seems that they can also read, because they know where the "No Hunting" signs are posted.