Dove opener

[Stan Hillis]

We opened the season here yesterday morning by shooting a sunflower field. This is the first time GA has allowed shooting before 12 noon on opening day in many years. We were greeted with a temp of 55 degrees at first light!! What a contrast to the usual afternoon temps in the high 90s or even triple digits.

It wasn't a barn burner but we enjoyed ourselves much. As per usual I opened the season with a .410, this time with my 30" barreled Dickinson. This gun is a "giant slayer" with W-W 3/4 oz. loads of 8 1/2s. Chokes are .008" and .008" (something I may mess with :duck:)

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Going again tomorrow afternoon to a different field, with a .410 in hand again.

[Dean Romig]

Nice gun and nicely set up picture.

Are you taking the same .410 or will you be shooting a Parker .410?





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[Larry Stauch]

Good shooting Stan! I would wonder how many shells it would take me to get 12 doves with a .410.:eek: So apparently the limit of 10 isn't the same everywhere?

[Greg Baehman]

Why would you want to mess with those chokes, Stan? Unless you're shooting handicap trap, I 'd say they're about perfect for the .410. :whistle::whistle:

[Stan Hillis]

Dean, I think I will be using the same one. I don't have a Parker .410, so have to make do with more modern versions. I have a .410 FAIR Iside Tartaruga Gold with 30" barrels, and a .410 FAIR Verona Gold 30" barreled Verona (O/U). I shot the Iside a lot last year, but really love the little Dickinson.

Larry, the limit here has not been as low as 10 since I began shooting doves 61 years ago. It was 12 in those days, and was raised to 15 about ten years ago, or so.

Greg, I'm an inveterate tinkerer/patterner/reloader. The Dickinson has two triggers ....... it deserves two chokes. I'd like to have the left barrel backbored to increase the choke some. I've had good results with a tighter choke in my other .410s. The bores are very tight, at .399" and .398", so plenty of room there for a little more choke. The final decision will be mine, but I will lean heavily on the recommendations of Dean Harris before having the final say.

BTW, the W-W 3/4 oz. loads pattern so wonderfully (in spite of naysayers' claims of poor patterning because of a too long shot column), and have killed so well for me for the past three or four seasons, I have started designing a Super Duper .410 hunting load. It has almost 3/4 oz. of true nickel plated 8 1/2s in a roll crimped load. Preliminary patterning has been great. Plan to test it on doves later this season.

Thanks to all for the interest.

[Dean Romig]

Dean, I think I will be using the same one. I don't have a Parker .410, so have to make do with more modern versions. I have a .410 FAIR Iside Tartaruga Gold with 30" barrels, and a .410 FAIR Verona Gold 30" barreled Verona (O/U).


Stan, I won a Verona O/U combo 20/28 with 30" barrels. I loved shooting the 28 gauge barrels at Skeet but the 20 gauge set clobbered me even with light loads, especially the top barrel. So, down the road it went.

I don't have a Parker .410 either, though I wouldn't refuse one if someone felt generous.





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[Stan Hillis]

My Verona is a 28/.410 combo. I love it for sub gauge clays competition. Lot of gun for the $$$.

[CraigThompson]

Congrats ! Last time I killed any dove with a 410 it was the K-32 I used to have with Kolar sub gauge tubes in the barrels .

[Stan Hillis]

Looking forward to this afternoon. My pastor invited me to a 10 acre sunflower field he's been scouting for several afternoons. He says there's no reason we shouldn't get a lot of shooting today. Supposed to get to 91 here this afternoon, so we're not going out there until about 3:00. Hope to make short work of a 15 bird limit with the .410 again, and get out of the heat. Maybe the humidity won't be too bad.

I'm anxious to try the nickel plated loads but will wait until the late season when I can test them on big, old tough mature birds. That really tells the tale on effectiveness much more so than on these early, immature doves. Patterning is very promising.

Tom Roster told me 7-8 years ago that he was going to publish some "super" .410 game load recipes, but I've yet to see anything of them. Does anyone know if he has published a book of loads lately that might contain them? It wouldn't be free, but would have to be purchased, according to our conversation.

[Stan Hillis]

Great little Labor Day shoot this afternoon. It was 92 when we arrived but a big cloud bank came in from the west and shaded us the rest of the afternoon. There was a little breeze, and the doves were really wanting to be where we were, in those sunflowers. We went to the field a little after 3 and I was done by 5, at the latest.

Used the same Dickinson .410 as Saturday, with the same 3/4 oz. loads of 8 1/2s to get a 15 bird limit. Was in a narrow neck of the field with tall, thick weeds on one side and a hedgerow on the other filled with wait-a-minute (smilax) vines. I had to pick my shots carefully to keep them from falling in that jungle of stuff. Everyone was told to be out of the field by 6:30 so the remaining doves could feed, but I think everyone was out before 6:00. I had to wade into those smilax vines to get one dove and I came out looking like I spent the night zipped up in a sleeping bag with a blind bobcat. Killed two sets of doubles. Two doves would come by and I'd get one with the right and one with the left. On one set both birds were dead in the air at the same time and fell about 15' apart.

I used a few of the nickel plated loads towards the end of the afternoon just to see how they would do, and they hammered the birds hard. But, as I said earlier, these early season birds aren't the best on which to make a judgement call on how good the load is.

https://www.jpgbox.com/jpg/64976_1024x768.jpg (https://www.jpgbox.com/page/64976_1024x768/)

[Daryl Corona]

Nice setup Stan. I see you use a blind which is pretty slick. I've got a really comfortable dove stool but I absolutely cannot shoot sitting down so I can see where the blind would allow some movement. I generally sit against a tree line in the shade if possible with the sun at my back so that way the birds are flying into the sun. Old fighter pilot trick.:)

[Stan Hillis]

Yeah, Daryl, in some situations I do use a blind. I bought some 1/2" aluminum rod from which to make my stakes. I made seven of them for use with one of the commercially purchased 12' long sheets of camo burlap. Each rod is long enough to be pushed about 10" into the ground. The bottom ends are ground to a point on a big belt sander, then a foot peg is welded to the upright about 10" from the pointed end. The burlap is held to the rods, which are painted flat black, with numerous cable ties cinched up tight. It erects very quickly, and comes down easily, and when I'm sitting on the stool it's high enough to hide everything but my head and neck. In the later seasons I wear a full head/face mask. The later birds are much more wary.

It works great in a harvested peanut field, where there is no cover at all over 3" high. But, you have to match the camo pattern to the surroundings to get the most effectiveness.

[Daryl Corona]

Stan,

I use the same setup to hunt deer where I can't hang a stand. I use 1/2" EMT, pound down and shape one end into an arrow head shape then paint it primer brown. 4'x14' nylon camo becomes my portable blind. I've also started using those MoJo dove decoys which work very well if you are not in a hot spot.

[Stan Hillis]

I've used Mojo Doves since they were introduced. There are days when they are a dove magnet, and there are days when the birds totally ignore them. Over the years I've found that elevating the Mojo increases it's odds of being an effective decoy. Tied to the pipeline on a center pivot irrigation system with rubber straps is the absolute best place I've found, but sitting atop a 10'-12' tall section of 1" conduit is very good at times, too. There's an insulated power cable that runs along the top of the pivot pipeline that works perfectly to snap the plastic decoys onto.

Here's how I do it on a center pivot. Mojo with some stationary decoys beside it .........

https://www.jpgbox.com/jpg/64978_800x600.jpg (https://www.jpgbox.com/page/64978_800x600/)

[Garry L Gordon]

That is some serious dove hunting! I can see why you're so successful, Stan. Attention to detail, knowledge of the quarry...and Oh, yea, you obviously know how to handle that .410.:bowdown:

[charlie cleveland]

Saturday I hunted at my uncles place the shooting was slow I only killed 3 doves that morning...but Monday was a different storey...it was a nice 80 degrees with a good breeze blowing..i used my old Remington 1894 b grade 12 ga used federal no 7 1/2 s...had my limit by 9.00 then we cut out to aspring were we fixed the doves for dinner the boys wrapped them in bacon and a strip of cheese very good eating...we also had barbeque chicken baked beans and good oldcountry gravey polish hot sasage....to much to eat....had a great time seeing old friends and new friends.... used my old stevens 32 inch 12 ga that evening kicked so hard I could not hit very good so much for that dove gun it want see no action on doves again...I was shooting the same load as the Remington gun and I bet the stevens out weighed the remy by 2 lbs...these were 3 drams 1 1/8 ounce...now the stevens has been rechambered to 3 1/2 inch would this have caused the kicking problem...I think maybe it was the way its stocked I don't no....any way had a good time glad hunting season and cooler days ahead....keep your powder dry...charlie

[Stan Hillis]

Charlie, you need to quit shooting those blasters in the early season :nono: and go to a .410 like I did about 9 years ago. Three-quarters ounce of shot is a magnum load in it, and there's no recoil to mention. I very seldom use 1 1/8 oz., even in the last season when the big, tough migratory doves come down. I've found that, from here to Argentina, one ounce of shot is a gracious plenty to kill any dove in any condition, and 3/4 to 7/8 ounce is plenty in 95% of the situations. Not trying to push my methods on anybody else, just offering it as information.

Best to you, and hope you get lots of good shooting this season ...... :bigbye: