doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com The Glorious Twelth

I wish I could say "guilty as charged", but our past season was one of the poorest I recall, for numbers taken. Ducks, too. All the sunflower fields around here look great and are on time. They are matured, with very little green still showing. Doves have taken to them in earnest already. Corn harvest has begun, which pulls some of the birds from sunflowers, but not that many. As much as doves love sunflower for feed, we were told by a game biologist once that when it turns seriously cold doves can't get enough energy out of sunflower alone to survive. That's when they really turn to the harvested peanut fields.

23 days and a wake-up ........

SRH

Miss one for me, if you would Stan. Unless this Covid crapfest has changed things in our flyway, we'll have the 30 day early day goose season on Tuesday 1 Sept. 5 day limit, to cut down the excess populations of geese that crap all over the yuppie lawns and gold courses. Tons of them on the river that borders our acreage--A Model 12 with a 3 shot plug and a box of steel No. 2's and a Tee shirt and camo trousers should be "just right"-- How many will be in your "opener" party?? RWTF

Go East! Old man... two letters.


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Golf (stupida fahking game)

Run with the Foxes, do you ever go south into Ohio for Doves? I know MI lacks dove seasons. Wondered if you or many other MI natives travel so they can enjoy a bit of the opening day Dove season Happiness.

1st of September is one of the best days of the year. Flowers are looking good this year and I'm seeing quite a few birds. But last season will be hard to beat. In 56 years, best IL dove season I've ever had. Our club got flowers in the ground and up and lots of people around us didn't because it started raining and didn't stop. As a result, the birds were concentrated on our field and they were thick. If this season is half that good, I'll be happy.

I have traveled to Indiana and Ohio to shoot doves many times.

It�s fun, but it doesn�t have the same social following as it does further south.

At the managed dove areas, after the opening day, interest wanes.

Maybe the only gamebirds in the USA that offer as many different presentations as doves is ducks, IMO. Both can, and do, come from any and all directions. Crows will, too, but they're not gamebirds. While the social aspect is enjoyable, usually, it's not what keeps me chasing them. It's the sporty shooting that draws me again and again. Heck, I shoot alone often ...... just me and the birds.

I have read that more shells are expended at doves than any other gamebird, again, in the USA. Have also read that the average is about 1 dove bagged for 7 shells fired. I have no way of knowing if that is accurate.

SRH

1:7, I can believe that ratio. I have watched countless people shoot, shoot, shoot then yell bird for the next shooter as if a three gun salute did not tell him a Dove is flying across the field. The only way I found to increase the number of birds per shell shot for most hunters was to have them shoot a few clay pigeons thrown by a hand trap before entering the field and then restricting them to two boxes of shells. After those two boxes they are allowed to walk back to their truck and bring just one more box of shells back into the field. That walk has become known as the walk of shame in our group.

To be fair I know almost all my guest�s shooting ability and try to place the less capable shooters where the birds tend to enter the field all fat, dumb, slow and happy. The more skilled shooters get the pegs which present more high birds or long crossers. Works well for both groups. Stan would be in the very high or quartering, dropping crossing group and loving every minute. When you shoot well at challenging birds you wish the limit was 50. Shoot well my friends. Dove season will be here soon. Enjoy it, your family and friends because I see stormy days ahead.

I once took a guy dove shooting at our club. There were tons of birds presenting lots of good shots. He shot 6 boxes, ran out of shells and still didn't have his limit. I had long since finished so I gave him the rest of my shells and he shot those up too. I think he did finally get his birds but it took him 7+ boxes. I'd guess he averaged about 12 shells per bird. First and last time I took him.

Goillini, can you imagine what his Argentina shell bill would be?

The reason I set shell limits was one �guest� of a guest burned through 8 boxes of shells. He was shooting at birds 50 yards away from him. The �guest� of a guest was never allowed to return and the guest has not been back as well.

I explain the rules very clearly before we start. Two boxes. Then the walk of shame, for one more box. No low birds, period. Two and you will be escorted to your truck. No beer while hunting. Make a real effort to recover every bird. If I see you kill a bird and you don�t even try to recover it because it will require extra effort you will be told to pack up. Shoot from your peg, not from where you want. If you don�t get a lot of shooting I will find a better spot. We do not enter the field until 2:30 at the earliest. I�d rather just put that back to 4:00 but many complain we don�t start at noon. Simple rule that work well for me. Safety first is not just a saying.