12 hours and counting

[charlie cleveland]

till the sun rises and most of us are off to the start of a new hunting season.tommorrow its doves for us boys and gals in mississippi ..several other states will be opening also i hope every one a fine hunting day be safe all..hope we all have something to post tommorrow nite maybe a few pictures... charlie

[Steve McCarty]

Good hunting, Charlie! I wish I could join you. I'd rather hunt dove/quail than eat when I'm hungry.

I don't own a light, upland game Parker. I'd have to use my I grade Lefever which is as light as a feather and fast as lightening! http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa23/GermVMA211/Gun%20Stuff/Lefevershotgun009.jpg

[George M. Purtill]

Charlie- my best wishes for a bountiful and safe hunt. Soon i will be shooting the crows who are eating the perimeter of our grain corn fields.

[charlie cleveland]

see you guys tommorrow and them lefevers are good guns i have a 20 ga ds grade i may break out tommorrow evening...you fellas would be welcome to come hunt if your ever passing thru...charlie

[Jerry Harlow]

Geese at 6 a.m. and then doves at 12 p.m. But scouted today and saw three doves, no geese. Little corn has been cut. But you can't kill them if you are not out there. Planned to stay all day but the queen mother of the house and son (who did not inherit the gene that makes one stay out from sun up to sun down) said it's finishing tearing up the kitchen tomorrow (they call it remodeling). I may put in four hours in the middle of the day, which will be hard to do.

Don't they always want to mess up what you have been waiting all year for? Intentional? Project started in February.

[Paul Plager]

Good luck and good hunting everybody, please be safe out there. I will be joining you on Tuesday as I have to work all weekend.:crying::crying::crying:

[charlie cleveland]

well we had a good hunt today not many birds lilled but one heck oif a dinner and some really good watermelons...i killed 8 doves this morning and 2 doves this evening..used the old lc smith all day it was shooting so good that i left the remy 94 in its case...some of the fellas wanted to know what kinda shells i was a using for i made several 50 steps shots or better..guess what fellas i was shooting them 3/4 ounce winchester lite loaded shells easy one the shoulder and tuff on them birds...killed birds way out there... these were 12 ga shells...we had a lot of young hunters from 8 year old to 16 teen all went home with smiles on their faces..we gonna try them again monday lord a willin.hope to see yall there... charlie

[Thomas L. Benson Sr.]

Charlie: You got me interested in doves so I got out the regs and low and behold our season started today also.I decided to give it a try.I went about a mile out of town and drove down this old fram road and found where some birds were flying out of a grove of trees. I got out my camo chair and sit down.I stayed about three hours and had three shots and scored on one.Man those little buggers really haul.I think i need some more practise so will give it a try again. Thanks Thomas

[George M. Purtill]

In Connecticut we are not allowed to shoot doves. I doubt the "blue sneakered bird watchers" as my Dad called them will EVER let us do it again.
So... we have to head south for that fun.

[tom tutwiler]

Opening day in Virginia found me hunting over a waterhole. Planned on taking my 16 gauge CH, but the farmer had placed cows in the field and padlocked it. :( Given the shooting can be fast and furious I put the Parker away and dug out a Fox SW 16 gauge ejector gun with 30" barrels choked full/full, two boxes of RST's and we walked in the half mile. Found out quickly I was old, but my dog was older. With the heat and humidity it was all we could do to lug all the stuff to the waterhole. Shooting started out very slow, but picked up towards the evening (typical for the waterhole shoots I've been on). With a bit of luck I managed to take some home. Too late to take a photo last night, so I put them on ice and cleaned them this morning. My 12.5 year old Golden did well. Found at least 6 birds we would have lost in brush/tall grass. Anyway, a few photos:

http://pic100.picturetrail.com/VOL599/2614949/23828662/403820772.jpg

http://pic100.picturetrail.com/VOL599/2614949/23828662/403820771.jpg

And of course the young dog had to grab one up and she's damn pretty so I snapped a picture of her as well:

http://pic100.picturetrail.com/VOL599/2614949/23828662/403820769.jpg

[Robert Rambler]

Great pics! Looks like the old veteran is teaching the pup some new tricks.:)

[Gary Carmichael Sr]

Tom, what is the old dogs name?, I am sure she took advantage of the waterhole in the heat, good show! gary

[tom tutwiler]

Tom, what is the old dogs name?, I am sure she took advantage of the waterhole in the heat, good show! gary

That would be Abby. Old sucker has hunted from Montana to Maine. You name the upland species and she has hunted it as well as ducks and geese.

Wish I could take her brain and soft mouth and transplant it into the new dog. Gracie (the 3 year old) has all the natural talent in the world, but has a hard mouth that I can't break her from and is a very slow learner. She is however getting better, but probably won't be half the dog Abby was.

[George M. Purtill]

Tom
What a great day and what memorable photos.
I doesnt get much better in our short lives.

[Steve McCarty]

Charlie: You got me interested in doves so I got out the regs and low and behold our season started today also.I decided to give it a try.I went about a mile out of town and drove down this old fram road and found where some birds were flying out of a grove of trees. I got out my camo chair and sit down.I stayed about three hours and had three shots and scored on one.Man those little buggers really haul.I think i need some more practise so will give it a try again. Thanks Thomas

A coupla years ago I went to Mexico with a few old buddies. We were dove hunting and they were thick. I was using a rented Benelli semi-auto; we couldn't take our own guns. I hadn't shot dove for a while and I kept missing, wondering how I could be so off.

I wasn't leading them enough and when I finally started leading passing birds about five feet did I start hitting any. Then I did all right. Dove hunting is a kick. I just wish I could have used on of my old doubles.

BTW: I wouldn't go to Mexico today for love nor money!

[Steve McCarty]

Holly Smokes! What wonderful pics!!! Makes an old man's heart go pitter pat.