Scrapping doves

[Stan Hillis]

When you pick a cotton crop there is sometimes a significant amount left that opens after harvest. When prices are high it used to be worth picking the crop a second time to get the remainder, which was always such a little bit that it seemed questionable whether it was worth the effort or not. That was called "scrapping". This dove season has been so poor that it occurred to me today that as we go the last few times we are "scrapping" the doves. Whereas a limit of 15 is always the goal we must be satisfied this season with much smaller takes. Nevertheless, i'm grateful for the few I'm blessed with.

This afternoon I sat for three hours and took four, with five shots. Three of them here, taken with the Dickinson 30" barreled .410 and 3/4 oz. handloads. Big, beautiful mature specimens.

https://www.jpgbox.com/jpg/74223_1024x768.jpg (https://www.jpgbox.com/page/74223_1024x768/)

[Garry L Gordon]

Looks like a good hunt to me, and I’ll bet you got some good “thinking time” in, too.

Based on your very poetic description, I think I’ve been scrapping dove for years

There’s so much more to hunting than taking game. Thanks for this reminder.

[Harold Lee Pickens]

Nice gun, I often carry the same one in 28 ga, also 30".

[Stan Hillis]

I second guessed myself when I walked into the gun room and grabbed a .410 for a very late season dove shoot. But, the handload I "developed" a few years ago proved itself again. Each of the doves, though big and tough mature birds, fell dishrag dead to the .73 oz of nickel plated 8s at 1150 fps. This load truly is a better killer for me than the WW 3/4 oz. factory load. I always see a difference in the ratio of really dead birds to those that I have to finish off. Maybe it's penetration, I dunno for sure.

[Dean Romig]

I think having faith in your own loads might have something to do with your success.

I have ultimate faith in the flies I tie fir salmon, trout, bass, stripers, blues, etc. I just seem to have more success with them.





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[Bill Murphy]

Dean is right, Stan. I attended two NSSA World Shoots in 1990 and 1992 at Savannah. Against everyone's advice, I shot my reloads in all events including the Champion of Champions event. I shot a 4 gun average of .9800 in both shoots, more than one bird higher than my 4 gun average at home. I won my .410 Championship at the Southern Side by Side with my 2 1/2" reloads against shooters who were probably shooting 3" shells. This is, as Dean suggests, "Faith in your reloaded shells".

[Arthur Shaffer]

For what it's worth I always found 5/8 oz loads of nickel plated 5's stone dead killers in the 28 ga. You may miss a little more but it seems like they penetrate and kill like no kind of lead load. One nice thing on quail and dove is that they seem to shoot completely through and even one hit is generally lethal if through the body or head. Makes the game a lot easier to get to the table. I really like nickel plated shot for hunting.

[John Marscher]

Same on this side of the river. Heavy winds and target load 28ga made it tough on me.

131158

[Grayson Williams]

South Georgia watermelon fields bush hogged 3 weeks before opening season.Even.the game wardens were invited.

[Daryl Corona]

Some of my most memorable dove shoots have been on truck farms. Small local farms that grow melons, cucumbers and zucchini and after the harvest a lot of rotting produce draws them like moths to a flame. The seeds left over are like a magnet.

[Larry Stauch]

When you pick a cotton crop there is sometimes a significant amount left that opens after harvest. When prices are high it used to be worth picking the crop a second time to get the remainder, which was always such a little bit that it seemed questionable whether it was worth the effort or not. That was called "scrapping". This dove season has been so poor that it occurred to me today that as we go the last few times we are "scrapping" the doves. Whereas a limit of 15 is always the goal we must be satisfied this season with much smaller takes. Nevertheless, i'm grateful for the few I'm blessed with.

This afternoon I sat for three hours and took four, with five shots. Three of them here, taken with the Dickinson 30" barreled .410 and 3/4 oz. handholds. Big, beautiful mature specimens.

https://www.jpgbox.com/jpg/74223_1024x768.jpg (https://www.jpgbox.com/page/74223_1024x768/)

Forgive me, but I would think it's a testament to your fine shooting and your ability to put the pattern on the target. Same with Murphy. And the challenges the wind produces when aiding the rockets.:)

[Stan Hillis]

Thank you, Larry, but I firmly believe most of the ability to shoot a .410 well on game birds is forcing one's self to limit the range to what the little payload is capable of doing well. For me, that's 35 yards on the outside, hopefully less.

There is absolutely NO DIFFERENCE in the killing power of a no. 8 pellet coming out of a .410 bore compared to one out of a .729 bore, at the same velocity. The difference is being able to put enough of those pellets into the vitals of a bird. When you start out with much fewer pellets your pattern density suffers, hence the need for more choke, and shorter ranges, which can bring the density right back up to needed levels.

The thing I have to constantly remind myself when using the little bores is to let longer shots pass. If that frustrates you, you probably should stick with larger bores and payloads. If, however, you can accept that you won't take as many shots as the other guys on the field using bigger bore guns, by limiting your range, you can have great fun with them. You may even find your percentage goes up a bit because of the shorter ranges at which you shoot.

This is the little gun that got me back into shooting doves and quail with a .410, some 12-14 years ago. I prepared some food plots for a friend with my farm equipment, gratis. He was in Academy Sports and saw these for sale and bought two, one for me and one for himself. We did trigger jobs on them both to get them down to about 4 lbs. I fell in love all over again.

The Yildiz Elegante A4, at the time they were on sale for $349, now they're $499. I prefer double triggers but this single selective has never malfunctioned once. Amazing, for the price.

https://www.yildizusa.com/side-by-side.html

https://www.jpgbox.com/jpg/74242_1024x768.jpg (https://www.jpgbox.com/page/74242_1024x768/)