Had a great opening day with my fathers 20 ga trojan. I shot 3/4oz of 8's and had my limit in an hour and a half and only shot about 30 times.
The Sunday hunt was slow and only took three birds with five shots. I let go both barrels on one bird and never cut a feather.
Monday morning I went into a field a 7AM and was finished by 8AM with two doubles under my belt and shot 35 times. This with the VH that Sherman Bell had blown the barrels off of. The replacement Damascus barrels are choked .022 and .042. !oz loads of 8's at 1180 fps.

looks like a very fine dinner to me...good shooting too...charlie

Brined dove brest seared two minutes a side, baked acorn squash with butter and brown sugar, grits fried in panic bread crumbs.

Now that looks like one fine brown heart healthy meal. Have eaten grits about as many ways as there are to cook shrimp but have not had grits like that, mostly because never had leftover grits.

Jeff Foxworthy in connection with a local restaurant made a run trying to make grit chips once. It tasted like a corn chips with no salt. Quoting Justin Wilson "Even one grit without salt tastes like schick, I ger-ontee"

Unfortunately I've never had the pleasure of dining on dove breast.... Someday I hope to.

Are they anywhere near as fabulous as woodcock breast?





.

Wow Dean....If you like Woodcock, or Snipe, you will love dove breast.

I guess you either love eating woodcock or hate it. I fall into the latter catagory. I always ate everyone I shot and picked the birds like I do all my birds, but I really didn't enjoy them. I ate them out of obligation. I must admit that my bird dogs loved the woodcock bits I gave them. But what do they know, they also eat poop.

Tom... somebody prepared it wrong for you.

If I didn’t like eating them I wouldn’t shoot them.





.

Our group likes dove breasts so much that we brought back 200 pairs from our Argentina shoot. Pierce the breast, insert a piece of onion or pepper (mild or hot), wrap in bacon, on the grill for about 3-4 minutes. Don't overcook 'em

I cook all my wild game myself. I don’t let anyone else touch it….never. I don’t use spices, herbs, marinade, bacon or anything else that hides the true flavor of wild game. I carefully age my venison and birds, never eating them fresh. I have refrigerator in my garage that I keep at 38 degrees to properly age game. I’m a fanatic about my game making sure I gut each bird before I put it in my pouch. When grouse hunting, I always pick an apple and cut a piece to put in the body cavity to soak up the blood. I have a regular routine that I follow religiously with all my game. And I love to cook it. It is always a special dinner when game is on the menu.

My grandfather didn’t favor woodcock either, although my grandmother loved it. In his later years he stopped shooting them. Not because he didn’t like to eat them but because he came to the conclusion that hitting them was relatively easy and he saw no need of killing so small a bird.

I’ll continue shooting them because they are a nice bonus in the grouse woods and I’ll continue to eat them although I am not really crazy about the taste. I do admit, however, that the fat on each section of the breast is nice eating.

I believe that it was the late Tap Tapley, of Field and Stream Taps Tips fame and a noted grouse and woodcock hunter, that stated that he thought woodcock tasted awful. He listed a recipe to cook the woodcock in. Then he stated that it was best to eat the sauce and throw away the woodcock.

Taste more like a hawk.:)

Woodcock and doves have pretty much the same type of meat since migratory. Some people think doves,woodcock and duck are too gamy. To each his own.

Harry deboned and brined his for about 10 mins which really is helpful taking away a good bit of gamy flavor and is excellent table fare for different recipes for the over. Unfortunately when I get a mess of Doves its breast on the bone wrapped in some half cooked bacon over the grill with a sliver of jalapeno inserted into dove meat. I can't seem to get by this one and believe I could eat half my weight with this recipe sans those pesky daily limits.

Those doves by the bird feeder are stacking up and taunting me right now.

Wild ducks are among my favorite meal. Nothing better than a fat woodduck or mallard, carefully picked and roasted so that the skin browns nicely but the meat is moist.

Harumph! Harumph! Wood ducks are very mild. A mallard or gadwall hard to beat. I have had ducks lots of ways but the simplest and best recipe I have found is to cut the breast meat into slivers about a half inch wide. Make a marinade from a package of McCormicks meat marinade mixed with Zesty Italian and don't marinate more than 30 mins or it will overpower the duck. Slap it on the grill with some cherry wood smoking but don't overcook it. Served it to people who hate taste of wild game, (mostly non hunters) but afterwards are ready to slap on the waders head to the marsh.

BTW in the odd chance you have some leftovers, it makes an an incredible duck gumbo. I was skeptical at first but could not make one argument against it.

Ya know reading all this makes me hungry. Is there a recipe section on this forum?

hunted with my son shot a couple of doves. Dove hunting in PA. is no where near like it was in the 70's but still had a great time with my boy and my 16 ga. trojan

Mills, that picture of your son smiling so wide with your dog on the tailgate is worth 3 limits!! Our dove opener was 'hexed'; 2-300 acres of freshly cut corn (first in the county) and great strips to hide in left for the hunters, but the birds may not be here in numbers yet. Very few flying; Sept. 1 opener here in MD featured very high heat and humidity, almost no breeze, and I doubt we saw a dozen birds all afternoon (2-6PM). Second (Labor Day) hunt I was unable to make. Today (Sat. 8 AUG) it rained off and on all day so no joy.

My moments of glory on opening day consisted of two very awkward over-the-wrong shoulder shots at 2 passers that had been shot at 3-4 times already; swung my butt around on my dove stool like a sinkbox shooter and killed both dead in the air. The new-this-year 32" AE Fox 20 ga.swung itself and the "harmonic motion" of the long barrels kept me from falling off my dove bucket onto my keister (follow THROUGH!!). Two birds with 2 shots put me into the high guns for the afternoon.

Thinking about some dove breast h'ord'eurves on the way home, had to stop for a bottle of red Zinfandel to offset the tangy taste. My current favorite is "1000 Stories", its a bourbon-barrel aged Zin with the image of an American Bison on the label.. I take the meats off each breast, toothpick a tiny sliver of jalapeno pepper between them, and saute in hot oil for only a few seconds each (till the meat goes grey), then drain and serve. This leaves the insides of the breast still pink but cooked and yet not overdone.

Years ago served 2 limits (24) that way taken as appetizers for an outdoor end-of-summer party; most people thought they were chicken livers but couldn't place the mild flavor. They gobbled them in about 12 minutes; guests ate everything except the metal cookie sheet I served them up on.

Dove season
 

Mills I guess us Texicans can’t claim Dove poppers anymore. Seems everyone have discovered Japelenos toothpicks and cream cheese. Well I’m back out near Austin and the Circuit of the Americas racetrack where a buddy has 143 Ac with gravel and Dove waterhole. Out with a rookie friend and my Model 21 20 ga Skt 1 and 2, plus new DHE 16 30” bbls should be a late evening waterhole shoot already thinking about poppers!! Speaking of food I have had fried Whitewings at Garcia’s Grill in Pearsall last Sat nite after our hunt. We take our Dove breasts into the grill where they have put on the menu the DAVID Boyles Plate: doves, boracho beans guacamole, grilled onions tortillas japelenos and lots of Cuba’s. Plus a good cigar by the campfire afterwards. Si Si Ados Amigo Good luck to all.

Poppers are everywhere now. Dove, duck, whatever. Still good though

Sounds like you have some good guns for doves

Couldn’t stand it any more! Have lots of “Mom” issues keeping me close to the house, so this evening I grabbed the 1 frame VH 16 I bought a while back, and have never shot, a box of Herters 1oz, 1165 fps 8’s and my vizsla Hobbs, and headed all the way to my back yard. Shot the little gun well, 11 birds (2 white-wings, 2 mourning doves and 7 Eurasian ring necks, burned up 17 rounds of the Herters ammo. FWIW, the Herters shells felt as though the recoil was pretty soft, and the killed the poo out of the birds, a couple at 45 yds or so with barrel #2!!

Bacon Wrapped grilled doves tomorrow night!! Would have had them this eveining, but the Speckled Trout Meuniere was already tee’d up for tonight!!

Hobbs did great on his first work of Fall 2018!,

People, please. The secret is, don't over cook dove. Sauteed in butter and garlic works, just don't overcook. Whatever recipe you use, rare is better. Enjoy the shoot, eat well.
That's all.

I completely agree - do not overcook.

I’ve never had dove but it sounds like it has a slightly more delicate flavor than woodcock and I braise woodcock breasts in sizzling hot butter for 1 minute on one side and 45 seconds on the other and take them out of the pan quickly!






.

Great pictures Mark. All game should always be cooked so that the meat is moist. I wish I could say I tasted dove, but I always gave them away to the gentleman who I hunted with. He loved them.

Dean, I hope you are picking your woodcock and not breasting them. The fat little legs have white meat and are delicious. That and the skin and fat under the skin is the only part of the woodcock that I really like. The woodcock is a very strange bird. Ears before the eyes and dark meat with white meat on the legs. I love the little fellows and I can foresee the day when I stop shooting them like my grandfather. Off season I've observed them walking around and they are a really pretty bird that struts with pride with their little tails spread.

The Herter's 16 ga. loads are great; I shoot a lot of them. Also love the "What's In Your Wallet?" look on Hobb's face in the picture!

I don't know how many of you guys remember the original Herters in Waseca Minnisota. They had a wonderful big catalog filled with hyperbole and witty commentary written by Jacques L. Herter himself. I still have some of them and read them from time to time. I ordered a lot of stuff from Herters back in the day. Some of it was very good and some was not so good. Their fly tying materials were crap but I liked their crow and duck calls. Herters was a grand old company. I even made a pilgramage to the Waseca store when I was in Chicago for a month on an auditing assignment.

Oh my gosh! I misspelled Minneasota. My apologies to the folks that live there. I haven't had my morning coffed yet. Thats my excuse.

I am sure there will be plenty of argument to this statement and I love variety as well in gauges of shotguns and enjoy shooting them all. However, read this statement the other day and it made perfect sense. "If we were starting from scratch to design the shotgun and its cartridges, it would be the 16 gauge with a 1 ounce load." Add to that I think a Parker 16 gauge on a 1 Frame is the ultimate in firearm congress.

I have not used the Herters brand shells yet but read they were made by Sellier and Bellot out of Czech Republic, but even S&B is a subsidiary of a Brazil company CBC. Its a world economy. I guess Bass Pro/Cabelas owns the Herters name and slapped that brand on them. Good idea since people still remember the brand. I remember as kid getting the Herters catalog and reading the stories. Still have a few Herter's Duck calls. Also have my first weapon. A Herter's fiberglass recurve bow with a 15 lb draw and leather quiver.

Here is neat article.

https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/07/b...Collins-t.html

Todd, if your statement was about grouse guns, I would totally agree. The 16 bore with an ounce of 9's was my standard grouse load for years. Now I just use 20 and 28 bores. But my best shooting at grouse was probably done with the 16 bore ounce loads.

Sorry, but I believe the 16 bore falls short as an all around gun. My patterning tests with the 16 bore showed, at least with my guns, that the 16 doesn't handle shot larger than 6's that well. You can get away with 5's, but anything larger falls short of even and consistent patterns. Likewise, I've never got decent patterns from my 12 bore guns with shot sizes larger than the old St. Louis 3's. I wish I could get size 3 again. It was my favorite size for geese. I used to get it from Herters of old. I still have a partial bag that Destry gave me that I will be loading in a 10 bore. Leave it to Destry to find St. Louis 3's.

Let's change my statement above from grouse guns to upland guns. No finer upland gun, in my opinion, than the 16 bore, unless you stuff 1 1/8 ounces in the shell. One ounce of shot and the 16 bore were made for each other. The ultimate upland load in ,my opinion.

Yup. The shot column on ounce load with 16 bore at .662 is 2/3 of an inch and 1 ounce of lead shot almost measures out to same height. Recoil is very manageable and shot stringing is minimal, which is perfect for fast moving game like a dove.

I agree with you about shot size but I have never shot much of anything in small game on the wing that required bigger than 6 shot with a 16 gauge. I do prefer a 12 gauge when it comes to ducks though. They are just tough birds and want more shot in the pattern.

If Bill Hanus was alive he would still be pumping out info on 16 gauge merits.

I posted this before here is a link to a great article.
https://dailycaller.com/2013/08/20/w...gauge-shotgun/

Year over year, I average taking, and cooking, 150 to 200 doves. Cook them lots of different ways, but the advice not to overcook is paramount.

Growing up, my Dad insisted that each bird be plucked “neck to toes”, carefully gutted, retaining liver gizzards and hearts, snipping only the feet and head from the carcass. All the gizzards were split and skinned, then fried in bacon fat with the rest of the giblets, with flour tossed in to make a roo for giblet cream gravy. The birds were dredged in buttermilk, seasoned cracker crumbs, and pan fried. Served with “grandad’s bisquits”, turnip or collard greens, that meal was my absolute favorite growing up!

I will never forget the first time , after college, that I took my Dad dove hunting at “my” lease, and proceeded to breast out my birds in his presence!! I thought he was going to disown me!!

A couple of times each season, I’ll get the urge to do the birds “my Dad’s way”. I never could shoot them his way though. His butt never left the overturned, extra tall galvanized, bucket that he used for a seat, and transport device. Dad was a lefty, but shot a right handed A5- 16, until he bought a brand spanking new right handed 1100 12 in Gibsons discount store when I was 8, trading in his old Browning for it. He did not care what ammo he used for doves, as long as they were AA 9’s. I truly do not think I can remember a time that he opened a second box of shells on a shoot in order to get a limit, nor do I ever remember him keeping count of how many birds he shot!! He would shoot a box, and it might mean 12 birds in the bucket, or 20. How he shot that well, sitting on that damn bucket i’ll never know!

When I was a boy and had a bunch of grouse to pick, I asked my grandfather if I could skin some of them. He replied, “anyone who skins a bird doesn’t deserve to eat it”. I took that to heart and never skinned a bird in my life. Not even ducks or geese which take time to pick properly. I’ve never popped the breasts out of a bird either but I can understand why it is done with doves. But woodcock…..never.

Great story Mark. Yea we talk about Churchill method of instinctual shooting, gun mount, gun fitting, footwork, etc. etc. The old timers just did it and could probably out shoot most standing on their heads if they had to. Those old heavy gas operated 1100's were some soft shooting guns. What was the old saying, a 1100 is a 12 gauge that kicks like a 20. Did your dad happen to wear glasses? Even if he didn't it sounds like he was not shooting a whole lot of followup shots in succession, which is easy to do with an 1100.

Since a lefty myself and not optically challenged yet I never shot with glasses when I had an 1100. I don't think they ever made a lefty version of that gun until maybe in the last 10 years. Since nowhere as good a shot as your dad I shot a lot more chasing them doves. After an afternoon hunt I would look like I came out of a Kentucky coal mine. Ya know your suppose to shoot with your eyes open but after more than a few of those spent cartridges with slow burning powder flies across your face with some still smoldering residue blowing into your eyes, you can't help but close your eyes and almost develop a flinch.

Still remember the first time I shot my dad's Parker VH 16 in a dove field. It was heaven not having powder burns, been hooked since.

Tom do you hand pluck every single bird you harvest or do have one of those power pluckers?

Later in life, I gave my Dad a lefty 1187 Premier 12. He shot it just as well as any other gun he handled. I shot it a few times, and just cannot imagine shooting like that all the time!

Dad did wear glasses, but very rarely shot twice, he would just call a miss a miss. Also, although he always had one of our Setters trained to retrieve, they were never good enough to be reliable on doubles, as they were primarily “sight” retrieves, and Dad was serious about not getting up from that bucket. Funny, shooting quail, he would walk all day! But I think he considered Dove “hunting” a combination of target shooting and beer drinking! Those auto’s he used only for dove hunting, quail hunting was a German Empire grade Daly 12 O/U with the ejectors disabled, he also shot skeet with that gun. He had a rabid opinion about spent hulls, and it was an anathema to him to leave a spent hull on the ground. It was a rule for my brother and I to bring back at least as many empties as shots we took, and the old man would count them every time, and if they didnt add up, we were sent to find either the shells we didnt pick up, or some someone else has discarded.

Those trigger safeties on right handed autos most of the time are set and you can't switch them since built into the to trigger guards, at least we never tried to. Had to learn to carry or hold that gun cross chest and push safety over thumb and then mount the gun. Lots of barrel movement, but hey you adapt and overcome.

My dad still has a bunch of humpbacks and we will bang with them some and its like riding a bicycle. As matter of fact I don't think I have ever shot a true left handed auto loader with a safety in the trigger guard. That would be weird for me since have never thought to use my trigger finger in shooting sequence. I guess it would be easy enough though since putting safety on used trigger finger.

BTw I know it is frowned upon but some of finest people I knew and true sportsmen could sit on a cooler of beer in a dove field and wear them out. Personally I have only been to Mexico hunting a few times in early 90's on a hunts where there was no limit. They gave me a cooler of beer and flat of shells and pump 12 gauge shotgun. I went off to corner by myself down a road covered with mesquite. It was so hot I lost count but sitting there knocking back cold 10 oz carta blancas and nailing anything flying by was almost Zen like, until a you touched the barrel. Had to tear the bottom of the T-shirt I was wearing wrap it around my hand so not to touch barrels when working action. All I had to do was make the effort to pick out the dove and then the gun would seemingly mount it self to shoulder and fire and work that pump. That was a lot of fun then, but going there now, I don't know.

I hand pick them Todd. Always have, always will. You have to be very careful with grouse since the skin rips easily. Woodcock are easy and you don't have to worry about the skin ripping. Ducks and geese take some time because of the down and all but when you see them roasting in the oven with skin and legs intact, its worth the time spent. The skin helps to hold in the moisture of birds and is wonderful eating.

Picking is easier when the birds are warm but I always age my birds in my aging refrigerator with feathers intact. So they are a bit harder to pick. One thing I always do is gut my birds before they go in my pouch. This lets them cool down quicker. Quick cooling is important for any bird or big game animal. I am very particular about how I handle and cook my game. Turkeys take about a week to age properly, grouse I leave in the aging refrigerator for about three or four days. Then I freeze the ones that I can't eat within a week. I hate to freeze them but when you get a lot of birds there is no other choice. Aging comes before freezing because meat will not age in a freezer. I have found 38 degrees to be best for aging birds and venison.

Light 20 A5's Turn
 

Took Mosby for his second hunt today. Took with me a Sweet 16 and a mint condition Light 20. Decided on the 20 when I got there at daybreak, with an extra Poly-Choke barrel I picked up at a gun show last year. Mosby got to retrieve all fifteen birds, with my help on about three of them. He sure saved me a lot of wasted time since they are hard to find in a cornfield.

A little over a box for the fifteen birds.

Holy smokes you actually put a barrel with a poly choke on that gun. Awesome. Good job. Close to 60% shooting on a dove field is a good day, even better when a bit handicapped working with a young dog. That handicap clearly moves you into the 75 percentile and maybe 80% since you put that poly choke on there.

BTW I have a 16 gauge A5 in the quiver with a polychoke that was wife's grandfather's gun and holding for my kids. It ugly but the dang thing shoots well.

You have inspired my choice for Saturday morning (if we aren't drowning down here) I'm going to pull out my old 11-48 28 ga, no rib, that proudly sports a factory cutts compensator!!

The gun is 99% and I found the Belgian barrel with a new poly choke at a gun show. It had a little rust and a few pits so I reblued it. I keep the original VR 27" modified barrel off it when hunting so it does not get the two rub marks from the forend.

I am glad we got opening day in before the hurricane this year. Last year, it all but ruined our season.