Alright everybody, how did you do?

[Paul Plager]

Enquiring minds want to know.
While I have been at work, how did your opening day go? How many doves did you get and how many did you see?
Go ahead and make me jellous, I have been hearing shotguns all day.:eek::crying::cuss::shock:
:corn::corn::corn:

[David Holes]

17-one pair in the air. Not alot of birds. Dave

[Paul Plager]

i'm still jelous.:crying:

[charlie cleveland]

got 10 birds all day and not many birds seen...but ate a heck of a dinner..heard some good stories and a good time had by all especially me... charlie

[Jeff Kuss]

Very slow this morning. 8 in three hours, then the sky opened up and dumped on us.

[Thomas L. Benson Sr.]

Paul: I got a total of three shots and scored on one.I need more practise on those little guys. Thomas

[Craig Parker]

Well it was hot but seen about 60 birds, which ended up w/ 16. The boys and I had some fun so a great day in all.
Craig

[Paul Plager]

Craig, the kid with the cool green shirt has a funny looking gun.:eek: Wish I could have been there. You need to educate him in the proper hunting weaponry.:rotf:

[Paul Plager]

Thomas, them little suckers are fast. Where I hunt the doves fly over a neighbors property
who leases out to hunters, by the time they get to us they are really moving. It makes for some interesting shooting on our part. The good thing is by the time dove season is over I can shoot pheasants real easy.:)

[Craig Parker]

I'm working on him, maybe before season over I'll have him won over.:cool:
Craig

[Larry Mason]

Only one. Shot with my GH 20 gauge Damascus.
Sad day though. I took my buddy Troy a 15 year old who lost his father two years ago and his grandfather last night. Thought it might take his mind off it for a few hours.

[Samuelbrennan]

Only one. Shot with my GH 20 gauge Damascus.
Sad day though. I took my buddy Troy a 15 year old who lost his father two years ago and his grandfather last night. Thought it might take his mind off it for a few hours.

God Bless you sir. I'm sure young Mr. Troy will often remember your efforts today.

[David Dwyer]

Great opening day in SC!!! Lots of birds this year. 12 of us shot ,went into the field at 2pm and everyone had a limit by 3:30 . Shot my AHE 16 and she behaved well.
David

[Paul Plager]

I've got another day in Hell. I can hear the guns in the fields all around the yard here at work. This is going to drive me nuts. the guy I releaved is on the way to his dove field. That just aint no way to treat a friend.

[Brian Stucker]

We had morning fog and a slowly warming afternoon. Finally they flew for the last hour and we got some excitement. Rattlesnakes are always on the ranch, but this one was right next to us and had to be dispatched. Didn't have any extra shells.

Forgot to bring the parker, so the old Beretta 28 ga. did the trick. One of my workers bought a nice old 870 for a hundred bucks. After he got used to shucking the shells, he was not missing.

After I killed the snake, we didn't spend too much time retrieving birds from the tall stuff. Got limits...found 16.

The snake was delicious.

[Paul Plager]

Brian, they actualy let you shoot snakes in Cali?:shock:
Looks like good times were had by all, except the rattler.:rolleyes:

[Justin Julian]

Wow. That's quite an impressive rattler. And to think that my wife thought that the small brown bat I found in the house this morning was the scariest thing imaginable.

[Brian Stucker]

My wife put the video on You Tube and was concerned about the legality of killing a rattler in Calif. Wondered if I'll get in trouble.

The video is titled:
'Malibu Brian Rattler' and I used a beach slipper as my only weapon. I have a witness attesting to the snake attacking me first. Hopefully a jury will find in my favor, as I showed considerable restraint choosing a shoe instead of a gun.

[Paul Plager]

:whistle: I see nothing,nothing, nothing:whistle:
You're pretty handy with that shoe there Brian.

[Brian Stucker]

Hahahahahaha! Sgt. Shultz....classic.

[Calvin Smith]

I'm not bragging but I'm so proud
Thus was my first hunt with a Parker took it slow with a goal of two.
But with a 20ga VHE and 20 shells I managed to get my 10.
In all my hunting I don't think I was ever so proud of a limit or a gun
Parkers are just special.
Thanks for asking.

[Paul Plager]

Nice job Calvin. Lets see the pictures.:corn::corn:

[Gerald McPherson]

Had a good time saw plenty of birds didn't kill a lot watched grandson shoot the **** out a lot of shells. My best shot for the day was one of those birds that flies all the way across the field and was shot at by about everything you can think of and OLD RELIABLE put him on the ground with one shot. TARNATION!!!!

[Dave Suponski]

Gerald,Did those birds glow at all?.....:rotf:

[Peter Clark]

A limit with 28 ga repro. day one and a limit with A grade Fox 16 day two. See my post called "one year later" in this category for photos.

[Gerald McPherson]

Yes they did. That was early morning. Here's another pic. It was so hot at one time I noticed sweat dripping off my ears.

[Gerald McPherson]

There are several birds in the Plant Bowen pic. Just hard to see. From about 4:30 until about 6:00 we had a lot of bird It is a pay shoot that is getting to popular. Too many people. Even had a lady come in about 3pm and set up a beach chair with an umbrella. You talk about glowing. Good Grief. But after all we had a great time. Happy Hunting.

[Charles Moore]

My first picture post as a proud member.
Ring neck doves and a 1927 VH 16 ga. couldn't be better!!!
17606

[charlie cleveland]

are them rattlers as good to eat as a possum...looks like yall had a good shoot our birds were way down in numbers for the 2 nd year... we have more cotton mouths and copper heads in mississippi but we do have some big rattlers... charlie

[Brian Stucker]

Charlie, we too saw less birds this year. Last year was a bit better, but it wasn't a barn burner. After giving it a rest for one day and benefiting from a warming spell, we were disappointed to see only a few last evening. Four of us shot only 7.

The rattler was air dried and will be ground up and sprinkled on food. One of my worker's dad belongs to the old Mexico belief that it will cure cancer and aids. He has neither and intends to play it safe with periodic ingestion of dried snake.

[Mike.Smith]

Managed to bag 13 on opening day, but only 3 on Monday (thanks to the weather). Took out my new 16ga 28" Sterlingworth Deluxe both days. Sure was great to be out in the field again.

Mike

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8301/7926780710_d9663dc8f1_c.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/smithshady/7926780710/)

[Paul Plager]

I got 6 of the little buggers on Monday, the one below the VH 12, 1927 vintage was my first with a Parker!:clap:






I also figured out how they can fly so fast.

[Craig Parker]

Paul, man your lucky we can't use bait over in Okla:rotf: I didn't know good ole mountain dew worked. Congat's good job on hunt.

Craig

[Paul Plager]

:shock: Bait? Mo he crawled up to the bottle, tried to get a drink and died.:whistle:

[Dennis V. Nix]

Brian, great story and pictures of the snake and hunt. Presently I live in the Santa Barbara area of CA but also have property in CO. A couple of years ago while staying at the CO property in late summer I was working outside and needed to avail myself of the facilities. While relieving myself about 3 feet from a wood pile next to the garage I happened to look down and there on the wood pile was a rattlesnake. I really dislike them and normally they scare the living bejeepers out of me. This time I finished and zipped up, pulled out my Colt .45 ACP and relieved him of his head. I have never eaten snake and I am good with that. My belief is if they don't try to eat me I won't eat them.

[Peter Clark]

I better move my reply. Two of us got our possession limits of 30 each. I shot the 28 reproduction on day one and my 16 Fox "A" thereafter. My pup was the star of the show at 14 months. She was rock steady to shot. The picture was early in the hunt before we had many birds.
We had a good time although doves are often more abundant than this year.

Notice the praying mantis trying to break in to the single malt!

[Craig Parker]

Peter,
Maybe should have a little SM in a MD bottle, might bring them doves in too.:eek:

Craig

[Brian Stucker]

Dennis, that would be too much for me. Just seeing a rattler with, well....exposed. Yeah, that would be scary.

Reminds me of an old joke where one buddy suffers a rattler bite on his member while peeing. The other buddy, expected to suck out the venom announces....'man, you gonna die!'

Any clay shooting over your neck of the woods? Maybe we could hit the range sometime. I spend time down your way 1/2 the year. Brian

[Kenny Graft]

Brian...nice pictures. Im from Ohio....I did not know you could still have guns in California...Im sure assalt slippers will be baned when they see what you have done! We will take up a collection to throw your bail when Pelosi finds out you killed one of her own....SXS ohio,,,,,,,,,,,,,,(-:

[Dennis V. Nix]

With apologies to other PGCA members;
Brian, I tried to PM you but couldn't find your information and/or I can't figure out how to do that. I do belong to the Winchester Canyon Gun Club and it does offer Sporting Clays but I have never shot sporting clays. You would be welcome to come say hello or I would be willing to drive to where you are to visit. I will leave in a week to hunt until near the end of November in Colorado and Wyoming so it will be after I get back. It would be a pleasure to meet you.
Dennis

[Brian Stucker]

Dennis, I sent a PM.

Mr. SxS. We were wondering if killing a rattler in Calif. might get us in trouble. Crazy when something like that crosses your mind isn't it.

My farmer neighbors tell me how nice it was back in the 50's and 60's in California. The farmers with good land had money AND great hunting.

The pheasant opener was a hugh local event in many rural communities. The whole family would come out and cars parked a mile in each direction of the Grange or Veterans hall where the pancake breakfasts were served.

Kids, hunting, guns, opening day? None of those words go together any longer in Calif.

[Richard Dow]

I just noticed the thread. In hot, hot Yuma limited again on opening day and 6 on 2nd day. I didn't take a Parker because I just bought a sweet 410 Huglu SXS. Great fun. (Can't afford a Parker 410.)

[Richard Flanders]

Great dove shots. I am indeed envious. As for guns in California, I have a good friend who runs a sniper school on 5000 leased acres along the west side of the Central Valley. He puts Navy guys through the course on government contract. Boy, would I love to go through his course! He is a true patriot and has been seriously questioning his continuing to live in California the past few years. And Brian, I bet your friend got a choice hat band out of that rattler too. What a hawg.

[Brian Stucker]

Richard, it is curing on a piece of wood right now.

[Paul Plager]

I got 5 more today .he dove above the gun is the 1st with this gun.
Grade 1 1882 hammer 10 ga. Doves with a 10 ga. almost don't need cleaning.:shock:
the two below are my first double with a parker.
Thanks Thomas , this was your gun:bigbye: