Dove Tales

[Mike Franzen]

Dove season is approaching. I am looking for someone to Dove hunt with so I can write an article about it for the Parker Pages. I have never been on a Dove hunt but have wanted to for years. So if you would like to be featured in an article along with your Parker's, dogs etc., please PM me with details. I pay my own expenses, provide my own guns and ammo and transportation. If, you make good biscuits you have an edge. Best,
Mike

[Harry Collins]

Mike,

You are more likely to be invited to meet the Queen of England when she is in town than to be invited to a dove hunt in Central Kentucky. I have a dear friend down the road that has a dove field. I may see him Sunday and I will call in a favor to see if I can't have you as a guest.

Harry

[charlie cleveland]

i can vouch for mike hes a true sportsman and a good of a fellow that you would want in your corner...you can bet he will be on time for the hunt....plus you will get your guns and your selfin the parker pages as can be told...he s got one bad habit he likes biscuits and plenty of them...you can not go wrong inviting mike on a hunt with you...charlie

[Mike Franzen]

Charlie thank you for the kind endorsement. Your biscuits are going to be hard to beat.
Harry, you could tell your royal friends that your station in life has elevated to the level where you now have a gun bearer with you. Dean might have to expand the issue if we're going to tell your story lol

[Harry Collins]

Mike,

You're on the list. Our host normally shoots Sunday's. So I'm guessing the 6th of September. His sunflowers are way ahead of schedule due to the wet weather. We will know more as September approaches.

Harry

[charlie cleveland]

better go buy a bunch of shells mike them doves are harder to hit flying than them orange piegons....i usally average 5 birds to the box...its the best game in town.....charlie

[Mark Ray]

Mike, should you want to try your hand at hot weather doves, give me a holler, plenty of opportunities. We Texans live for dove shooting!

[Mike Franzen]

Harry, thank you for the invite. I know you had to call in a pretty big market to make that happen. I will be available whenever you give the word. Give my gratitude to your friend for me. I'm really excited about this!

Mark, thank you for the invite. Let me see how things work out before I commit. I will come and hunt with you at some point. Thanks again!

[Harry Collins]

We normally go into the field about 1:30 and close the field at 5:00. Most everyone is out way before then. The birds will start flooding into the fields a little after five. We do our best not to disturb them so the field can often be shot twice a week. Our host will have thousands of dollars into the field and hopes it will draw birds through the end of the season. If you can keep the poachers and the "across the fencers" out you stand a good chance of having a good field.

[Destry L. Hoffard]

This opening day might be my last on our friends farm. He's handed control of the place over to his son and my guess is things will change drastically. No ducking this year I know for sure, and he's mentioned to Dad that he thinks his boy won't want to fool with the dove field either. All good things come to an end I suppose, it hurts me that Dad won't always have a place to go though.

Destry

[Mark Ray]

Hey Mike,

Although this will not be the game we play, when and if you make it down to South Texas, but the Avatar photo above, is on my back porch....Hobbs has tough duty retrieving doves from the back yard, and returning to hand on the picnic table! I shoot about 3 evenings a week after work, during the season, in the back yard (days I don't go afield on a real hunt), and average 3 - 10 birds an evening. Keeps the dog sharp, the grill hot, and the shooter happy!! Oh and Mama loves grilled bacon wrapped Dove breast and Dove pie! So keeps her happy too!

[Mills Morrison]

That is cool. Dad has shot deer off his front porch.

Mike, your next hunt should be a quail hunt in South Georgia. We have a group of Parker shooters going in January.

[Eric Eis]

This opening day might be my last on our friends farm. He's handed control of the place over to his son and my guess is things will change drastically. No ducking this year I know for sure, and he's mentioned to Dad that he thinks his boy won't want to fool with the dove field either. All good things come to an end I suppose, it hurts me that Dad won't always have a place to go though.

Destry

Enjoy this opening day Destry and I am really sorry for your loss, mainly just because of your father and this tradition is going to end. Just once I would like to know the tradition and be part of it, you are a lucky man to have all those memories with your Dad dove shooting. Eric

[CraigThompson]

I've for the most part given up dove shooting here in central Virginia . Some of the farmers are kind and let most anybody shoot while others are less giving shall we say and that is truly their right .

The thread on here earlier about the Eurasian dove in NM , AZ and TX has me quite interested in heading to that region for a week to ten days in say February or March !

[Mills Morrison]

There are a few places around here that have good dove hunts and a whole lot more that have terrible to no-bird hunts. I am fortunate to be on the invite list to one of the good ones.

[Mark Ray]

This is what I'm waiting for......ready to pop some caps!,,


http://www.jpgbox.com/jpg/49847_600x400.jpg (http://www.jpgbox.com/page/49847_600x400/)

[Mike Franzen]

I'm not one to want to see time fly but these pics and stories have me ready to go. Boy Destry that really sucks about you losing your dove field. I really enjoyed your telling about the hunt and shooting pigeons the day before the opener. Maybe it will all work out and you and your dad will have a place to go. Where there's a will …. If I had a place I would invite you to bring him but I don't.
Mark I'm thinking south Texas is looking better all the time. Porch birds sounds like fun.

Mills I think that would be great. If you get a chance pm me or direct me to a link ok

[Mark Ray]

Same deal (and gun), different day!

http://www.jpgbox.com/jpg/49848_600x400.jpg (http://www.jpgbox.com/page/49848_600x400/)

[Mills Morrison]

Field getting ready

[Mark Ray]

Field getting ready


That field looks about perfect! Are those giant sunflowers, or black oil?

Opening weekend of the regular season, we travel to SW Texas and hunt ripe sesame seed fields.......Greatest .410 game on the planet!

Gonna really get a jumpstart this year though...we are heading to Cordoba Argentina late August - early September and really give the little gray birds hell!!

[Mills Morrison]

Sunflowers

[Mike Franzen]

Love those pics. Keep them coming

[Stephen Hodges]

Being raised in Northern New England and having thousands of acres of open land to hunt in three states, I am amazed at how difficult is seems to be to gain access to hunting elsewhere.

[Mark Ray]

Being raised in Northern New England and having thousands of acres of open land to hunt in three states, I am amazed at how difficult is seems to be to gain access to hunting elsewhere.

I agree, although there is a fair amount of State land for hunting in Texas, All of the good stuff is private, and generally you need to own it, or pay to lease it, in order to access the better opportunities.

[Gary Laudermilch]

I'm envious of you guys that are able to prepare a field for doves. While we have an ample supply of doves here in PA, finding a place where they are congregated enough for good shooting is difficult. Our beloved Game Commission does not permit us to manipulate a field for the purpose of attracting doves, considering it baiting. They site Federal law as the reason. We have tried planting sunflowers but cannot seem to get them past the deer in the seedling stage. They eat them like candy.

[Mark Ray]

http://menruby.jpg - Shortcut

[Bob Hayes]

Went out and checked the fields today.They are growing like weeds.Good rain last week(2") and things took off.Lots of doves around now.We start last week of Sept. down so still got some waiting.That growth is in the last week if you look at previous pictures on Hunting in July post.
Mike you can come down anytime and do a dove hunt.

[Bob Hayes]

Oh yeah lots of quail seems like they are coming from all over the county.
This little guy was in one field with his siblings

[Mark Ray]

Here is a low-res photo (having difficulty posting large files), of me and Ruby (RIP 2009), on one of her last hunts. This is a typical south Texas waterhole dove hunt.

http://www.jpgbox.com/jpg/49875_600x400.jpg (http://www.jpgbox.com/page/49875_600x400/)

[charlie cleveland]

nothing better than the first day of dove hunting.....charlie

[Dave Tatman]

Boy, you got that right, Charlie. First day of dove season for us in southern Kentucky is just as important as opening day of trout season in the great state of Michigan, my other home state!

Itching for September to come, but I've got a week of trout fishing in August in northern Michigan that will serve nicely to tide me over....!

All the best,
Dave

[John Dallas]

Dave-Where do you fish in MI? I've got a place on the Au Sable

[Dave Tatman]

John - Sent you a PM. No need to bore our other Parker friends with our Michigan connections! LOL!

Dave

[Dave Tatman]

Just as a side note, my avatar pic was taken last October while fly fishing for Kings near the mouth of the Platte, near Benzonia.

Dave