September 1st Doves

[Paul Ehlers]

Hi all!

I'm just heading out the door to drive to dove camp. This will be a big year for my group being as we will be spending our 20th year meeting at the same place & hunting on the same landowners. We have seen a lot of changes over the years. Our group started out as all adults, then some of the guys kids joined us as they got old enough. Now those kids are young adults & are either going to college or working.

On the farm side we've watched entire sections of ground enrolled & planted into the CRP program. Now we are seeing the last of those contracts expire & farmed again.

I'm taking two Parkers and a Winchester model 1912 with me this year. All the guns are 20ga. The Parkers are Remington era guns a VHE single trigger beavertail w/vent rib 26", the other a VHE double trigger pistol grip splinter 28" The 1912 is a 25" barreled solid rib gun with knock out wood.

Got to hit the road now, I'll report back when I get home.

Good luck to all of My PGCA brothers who will be starting their seasons tomorrow also.

Yee Haa it's hunting season again :)

[John Allen]

The hurricane has delayed our opener.The rains and remnants of Harvey have pushed our birds out.We hope to be able to shoot by the 3rd or 4th.Still a very small thing compared to what our Texas friends have gone through.Keep them in your thoughts.

[Rick Losey]

the doves were dumping into the fresh cut wheat field on the corner when i went out this afternoon-

of course - we have no season starting tomorrow

but there they are

:whistle:

[charlie cleveland]

rain has pushed our birds out too rain and high winds a dove does not like...we to have been hunting the same ground for50 years our young hunters are grown up and have kids of their own....i am now the oldest hunter in my group at 70 in sept....weve had some good hunts over the years and some terrible ones also but i have enjoyed every single one of them...we have had some great breakfasts and dinners over the years hope to have a good one saturday...hope all of us get to warm up our gun barrels....charlie

[Jerry Harlow]

Things change greatly and I don't think there are nearly the doves that were around in the '70s. We all hunted a 1000 acre farm where the owner invited anyone from the county that wanted to come. He had his farm hands go around the field for the first two swipes cutting silage with the chute not in the wagon but throwing it on the ground. He loved to hunt and to see people hunt. Fifty hunters shooting over fifty rounds each, some shooting over 100 on opening day.

Now owned by NJ refugees who won't let you step a foot on the property without being arrested.

[John Allen]

There are still plenty of birds.Dove hunting is just not the big event it used to be.We used to have country churches or ruritan clubs put on big shoots.$10 a gun and the ladies of the church would provide sandwiches,iced tea, and baked goods.It was a community event.I guess land owners are worried about liability now.

[Jerry Harlow]

[QUOTE=...I guess land owners are worried about liability now.[/QUOTE]

Not down here. All are so anti-hunting and anti-gun that they hate hunters.

The doves used to come to that same farm every year, and all of those around it. All dairy farms are now gone, no silage, only beef cattle grazing on grass and all soybeans in the fields where there used to be corn.

[Robert Brooks]

It is getting worse every year it seems. Bobby

[charlie cleveland]

as long as their is a hunter who likes hunting things will be ok...we still invite every one to our hunt the troble now with hunting is the high cost of fixing food plots and fields for birds and animals around our parts of the country...any way we still are hunting and enjoying it..i sure would have liked going to a church social dove hunting... charlie

[Gary Laudermilch]

I am not so fortunate to live in a dove rich area. It is predominantly big woods with scattered farms in the valleys. Add to that the fact that our game commission does not permit us to manipulate a field for doves and it makes it hard to find good shooting. We start driving about mid-August looking for a field(s) that the birds are working which is usually a cut grain field. Sometimes, like this year, it is particularly difficult. And then, we have to secure permission to hunt the field. It was last Wednesday before it all finally came together. Not the best field we have ever had but still looks good and the neighboring barn roof had 150 pigeons on it to boot. We'll find out later today. Have fun everyone!

[Tim Thomas]

The hurricane has delayed our opener.The rains and remnants of Harvey have pushed our birds out.We hope to be able to shoot by the 3rd or 4th.Still a very small thing compared to what our Texas friends have gone through.Keep them in your thoughts.


John,
I was thinking like you but had an unexpected great opening day in Unionville. Drizzle all day and actually chilly (don't remember that ever in over 45 years). Hope all my Parker friends overlook the fact that I used a 16ga 30" Sterlingworth.

Best
Tim Thomas

[John Allen]

We had drizzle and a few birds all day.They started early.15 guns killed around 30.We are going to try again tomorrow after the rain quits.

[Phillip Carr]

Set the alarm for 5:00 AM woke up at 5:45 realizing i set my Iphone to PM. Needless to say a late start. The areas I had scoped out had hunters so I cruzed around for the first 1.5 hours. Actually a great way to scout for next week when I can get out when many will be at work.
Around 8:15 i found a small tank that looked promising and tucuked under a mesquite tree. I had promised my wife I would be home by 10:00 so I had 45 minutes to shoot. In my younger days i would have kept shooting and made up an excuse, truck wouldnt start etc. but I have used up all my excuses and my wife has become to wise. Ended up pulling the plug and headed home.

Luck was on my side and I managed to take 11 birds and did make it home in time. Pretty happy considering how the day started.
I took the 1 st Parker I ever bought. A DH with original Vulcan steel barrels made in 1896. I could not have shot any gun better.
http://parkerguns.org/forums/images/beige_noir/attach/jpg.gif

[Phillip Carr]

http://parkerguns.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=56597&stc=1&d=1504317572

[Dean Romig]

Beautiful stock, who did that?





.

[Phillip Carr]

Wood is original it was so black I could not see the figure when I bought it.. It was refinished by a local guy Frank Wells many years ago.

[Phillip Carr]

http://parkerguns.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=56598&stc=1&d=1504319356

http://parkerguns.org/forums/images/beige_noir/attach/jpg.gif

[Gary Laudermilch]

We had a pretty good first day, all things considered. Geese moved in to our field and chased the doves away for a while. But we did ok with 6 guns taking 79 doves and probably 20 pigeons.

First time I used my 12 ga Parker P 1 frame with 26" twist barrels on doves. I did well with it shooting 7/8 oz loads.

Going again today but remnants of Harvey moving in so we are not expecting a repeat of yesterday.

[Jacob Duke]

I hunted doves for the first time yesterday in southeastern Colorado. The day started with a beautiful sunrise over the prairie, and ended with five birds (I only took a picture of the first). We won't mention the fact that it took three boxes of shells to get those five birds. My little Trojan 20 was fantastic, and I look forward to chasing other winged creatures with it this fall.

[Rich Anderson]

Paul I'd like to hear more about your vent rib gun. Is it an original rib?

We have doves but no dove season so it's just wait until the 15th for Grouse opener.

[Paul Ehlers]

Just got back from the dove hunt. Over all it was a great time as usual.

We had the biggest group ever this year which made it rather hard to place everyone into productive shooting spots. Things have changed over the years & we've lost some of our really good stuff for different reasons. The birds were there but we had a hard time figuring out where they were going to be. There are the most crops we've ever seen coming ripe in the area. Large fields of sorghum & millet all over the place for miles. The birds didn't need to concentrate into the more predictable places due to the over abundance of food & water.

We still managed to bag one heck of a lot of birds & everyone was able to shoot a limit the first day, it just took longer than usual. I shot each of the three guns I took & had a great time. Unfortunately I forgot to take any pictures.