Dove hunting - What gun are you taking?
 

Our season comes in September 1 and we are fortunate to have an invitation waiting for us. Hope everyone else with a dove season has an invitation lined up as well. What gun are you planning to take? I am leaning toward the GH 12 I bought from John Allen a few months back. Have not totally decided. I have said, half jokingly, that maybe I should just get a new one to take.

In any event, what is everyone else doing?

Wish I was going......Michigan doesn't allow dove hunting :cuss: One of those hunts that's still on my bucket list.

Eric, If you have never been and want one good hunt to remember, my suggestion is to go to South America. The gun of choice there, though, is one that can take some serious abuse and heavy shooting

I will use a VHE 28 gauge with 30" barrels and a straight stock. Or a CHE 20 gauge with 28" barrels and a straight stock. Or a DHE 20 with 30" barrels and a straight stock. So I should say I will be taking a straight stock Parker :)

It would be cool to take my early back action, but I need more choke.

Mills,
No what I want and love about dove hunting is the tradition, family and friends getting together and the start of a new season. I've never been a numbers guy (shooting hundreds or thousands is not what I want) I look forward to seeing good friends, good dog work, and the traditions that goes along with a hunt, and shooting a gun that I would never trust shipping on an airline :rolleyes: If I want to shoot numbers I go to the clay course, if I can't shoot my guns with my friends with nice drink in the evening I'm really not interested. That's just me, not saying it wrong for others just doesn't do it for me.

Opening Dove
 

I'm Nervous as a cat as it opens here in Texas Sept 1. I like to keep my buddies guessing so I'll let you know when I pull out a recently acquired EH 10 circa 1893 30" bbls F/F on #3 frame. Also have Guage Mates so will use some WIN AA 12 gauge shells as well as RST 10's. High flying Whitewings can be plenty of action and long shots. Also recently acquired mint 16 ga DHE 1921 gun with 30" bbls and tight chokes on 1 frame. Will shoot modern 7/8 oz # 71/2 shot loads. None of my regular dove shooting friends shoot SXS so it's a hoot to rib them when their autos jamb!!!! My daughter Perry will join me on later hunts with a newly repaired GH 20 with a new stock courtesy of fellow PGCA member. Thanks Jim Dispangio !! Best to all who pursue those little acrobatic birds.

Opening dove
 

FYI My little Brittany Dessa who has been in more Parker Pages articles than me just a week ago had a titanium plate and 4 screws removed from her rear hind leg that she had put in 7 years ago as it recently started to bother her. Bone had more than healed so it was time to fix. She looks pretty silly with a cone on her neck but come the First she will he doing back flips to get in her crate and head south minus the cone!!!

i will be takeing my 10 ga lifter and a 20 ga vh and a 20 ga lefever and my 3 frame p grade 12 ga...and a 5 gallon can of shells..if i get 3 -4 doves a box on average i m doing good so need plenty of shells....charlie

A C grade 20 hammer shooting RSTs and a grade 3 10 gauge 2 5/8" lifter shooting brass shells.

I've been checking the local WMAs that have sunflower fields. We have been in the throes of a 2-year drought, but it looks like between some sunflowers that made and the ragweed that did well without moisture...and the State mowing the fields recently, we may just have a decent first day in Missouri. It's a hard choice as to which gun to take, but I have narrowed it down to two new-to-me Parkers: a PH and CH. The PH is choked a little tighter, but the CH has one very open choke and another very tight (always a nice combo). I'm glad to see that others have been scheming for this opener. Summer lasts far too long! Soon after the dove opener we'll have our early teal season -- yet another chance to break in a new gun!!

DHE & VHE both 16's, 32", F/F. Might play with a VHE 20 some, 32" of course :)

The killer VH 12ga mod and full 26in.. Gh 12ga cyl and full 30in Damascus. Gh 12ga full and full 30in Parker Spec Steel if it arrives on time. I sure hope we don't have another hurricane come through next week and drive the birds out like it did last year. Going to a new place that looks very good with sunflowers and corn. Must be 250 acres.Lots of birds.Hope there are enough shooters to keep the birds flying. I can't wait. At what age does this quit making a fellow excited? Hope everyone has a great season. Gerald

PS Just ate my last 12 Sunday from last year. I cooked them on the grill with some streak o lean.Best streak o lean I ever ate.

I would love to do a hunt with that C 20 hammer! At least I got to handle it a couple of times in Vegas.

We've mandated 20's or 28's for opening day (9/01). I'll be packing my OO frame 30" VHE 28 with insanely tight chokes. The following days will still be with a smallbore 20, not in any particular order, a 30" Fox, 32"DHE, 30" Wm. Ford hammer, and so on and so on. Nothing bigger than a 20 though. Just would'nt be sporting. Good luck to all.

I believe that a 30" dhe 16 with a vent rib will get the first hunt this year over a friends seed corn field. This 16 will get the second hunt.

Hope to be able to hunt all weekend. Since right barrel on my VH20 ruptured last weekend (see WTB section), PHE16, VHE12 and GH10 will be in the truck. Hoping the birds show up.

What!. Your VH20 gun had a rupture.

4lb. Laminated steel belgian hammer .410, and my VH 16 28”ic-im 16 day one...Lindner Diamond Daly 20 and my DeHaan custom .410 day 2

GH 20, with 26 inch barrels, choked IM and Full.

This is one the biggest weekends of the year. Opening of hunting and football. May start with my 16 DHE using the 28 improved and mod barrels. Ordered a flat of RST 12 2 1/2 inch shells for my PH and CHE guns. Am looking forward to trying the CHE since it is choked improved and full.Looking to seeing friends and working my dog and having fun.

As a Hunter Ed instructor, I always get twitchy when I hear about 12's and 20's on the same shoot. Please make sure you don't stuff one of those 20's into your 12, then put a 12 in on top

Good point John.

16 with a couple cases of 7/8 oz handloads. I’ll wait out by the stock tank. Two or three days out.

Mill's if I go I'll take both the EH guns I showed you at Sanford the 28" gun that's choked cyl and light modified and as a back up for long shots the EH that's choked F and FY (FY is fuller yet) . Both are on #2 frames .

Have a 150 rounds of 10 gauge 1 1/8 ounce #8 pushed with 18.8 grains of Red Dot .

A pair of Remington 1100's or Beneli's in 20 gauge . And if you take the 1100's a tackle box full of extra triggers bolts linkage and variouse other small parts .

Mill's if I go I'll take both the EH guns I showed you at Sanford the 28" gun that's choked cyl and light modified and as a back up for long shots the EH that's choked F and FY (FY is fuller yet) ,

Have a 150 rounds of 10 gauge 1 1/8 ounce #8 pushed with 18.8 grains of Red Dot .

Being a New Yorker, I wasn’t a dove hunter. Doves are considered song birds there. But when I moved to Maryland about 25 years ago I decided I wanted to try it. Not having any contacts for private land yet, I went to McKee-Beshers WMA on opening day. I had trepidations. I had never before hunted public land and had heard horror stories from those who did. But I decided to grab a 12 bore DHE with 28” modified and full tubes and give it a try. It was worse than I expected. It was a real carnival atmosphere. Yelling and screaming from one end of the field to the other. Every bird that was hit, elicited loud hurrah’s from the clowns in the carnival. I had my setter with me to retrieve my birds and he seemed confused by all the shooting and hollering. The third bird I shot, a yahoo ran out and grabbed the bird before my dog could get to it. He set up way to close to me. He pocketed the bird. I told him exactly what I thought of him and left the field, vowing never to hunt doves again.

But I later met a guy who had access to great private land in Virginia and I shot doves with him there for a few years. I enjoyed it but never fully got into it. I guess my sub-conscious New England upbringing still considered them song birds. But I can fully understand why folks like it so much.

Thankfully most of the other hunters at our dove fields on North Missouri WMAs are more polite and safe. You still need to show up early to get a good spot on opening day (especially on a Labor Day weekend), but having others around the field helps to keep the dove flying. After the first couple of days I frequently have the place to myself, especially if I go in the morning. We are pretty isolated here in my part of the State, but the hunting tradition is strong. There are actually less people in the top two tiers of counties in Northern Missouri than there were in 1900(!)

I've hunted dove in my home state of Virginia, and have fond memories of those times. The only bad thing about dove hunting around here is that usually a front will come through and move birds on sometime during the first week of September...and then the hunting is poor. But, hey, the teal season opens then! And the squirrel season started back at the end of May, so if you can stand the heat and humidity, it's a pretty darned nice place to live.

The wood on that 16 is gorgeous! Even if the birds aren't flying, you can sit and look at the gun.

Parker repro 20 gauge in picture to the left with pheasant.
Going on Dallas Woods and Waters Club annual hunt near Rule, TX,

Update: I just read some of the previous posts and was reminded of why I do not hunt on public land or with large groups any more. In fact, our DWWC hunt is a subset of the total club and is comprised of older and more experienced shooters. The total allowed is 12 hunters - after that the shoot is closed. If you sit out a year or two you may not get back in for a while. This tends to guarantee compatible attendees, good sportsman ship, mostly good shooters AND good accommodations and chow at the outfitters lodge. Sometimes a taste of the dew and a cigar before bedtime.

PS I do not take my grandson on the above hunt, but to Hidden Lakes or other preserve or property controlled by friends.

Try outs
 

Had my son pull the dove tower for me. One of the more fun clay presentations, once you get used to it.

The shooting of Mr Dove is not as important to me anymore as is the EATING of Mr Dove 😉

I have hunted (shot) the preserve described by Tom Flanigan for many years, including the 1960's when wild quail were a closely guarded secret. To be honest, Tom and I gunned "wild" quail there not too long ago. A couple of years ago, a friend and I situated ourselves in a shady area on the fringe of the main field. Our compatriots in the sun baked center of the field were phenomenal shots and killed dozens of birds while we killed one. I have killed hundreds of birds over the years and did not begrudge the young guns in the middle of the field shooting their autoloaders? No way. It was very entertaining to see that today's young shooters know which end of the gun the shot comes out. I may be on a walker, but I will probably be in that field September 1, unless I get a better invitation. My first hunting license was my Pennsylvania resident license #434, issued at the State Capital office in Harrisburg in 1958. I should have showed up earlier to get a lower number.

The worst hunt I have been on was so bad, it was almost comical. Shooting over the limit, shooting birds that weren't doves, lots of beer consumed during the hunt and cans just left on the ground. Won't go back to that. Beyond that, some hunts attract people who don't hunt, but want to be seen hunting. They show up with brand new hunting clothes, probably Orvis, brand new gun, and have no clue about things.

A friend has invited us opening day for years now and it is always a good hunt.

Bill, I sure hope you get to go. It's nice to read of a hunter with a year or two on his resume that understands and appreciates the hunt like you obviously do (as you describe here). Good hunting, Sir!

Thanks for the compliment. My friend and I were equally impressed that a bunch of auto shooting very young wild men could actually shoot. We have never had an experience like Mills did, but a few decades back, we hunted a dove field with a few non English speaking fellows that had a campfire going on their stand and had barbecued doves on a stick all day and didn't have a dove in the bag when they quit shooting at dinner time. Mercifully, they weren't drinking any alcohol during the shoot. This was only a mile or so from the field that Tom Flanigan described. My gun of choice this year may be my Davenport 8 gauge with a 10 gauge chamber insert, 1 5/8 ounces of #8 or 7 1/2, easy to carry, easy to load, and good for a 95 yard shot. I killed one dove on my last hunt, earlier described, and that is a good day in my opinion, especially if it is a 95 yard shot and someone else in the field claims the bird. Years ago, on a goose shoot on the Eastern Shore, I snagged an injured goose on the opposite side of a pond with my second ten gauge barrel at roughly 110 yards after one of my companions put some shot into him. I was congratulated for the great shot, and started walking toward the victim, cane in hand. One of the other hunters, seeing my disability, said, "Sit down. I will retrieve your goose." It may have been the red letter day of my waterfowling career on the Eastern Shore. I wish I knew that fellow's name. He was a true sportsman.

Maybe I was too hard on the folks in that field Bill. But the guy who set up next to me and stole my bird was a real jerk and I told him so. That day was my first experience on public land. And the hordes of people in that field and the shouting back and forth unnerved me. I always speak in hushed tones when I hunt. Hunting alone for much of my life and on private land didn't prepare me for my first public experience. But that WMA is a jewel for quail. I have hunted wild quail there often and always got birds. I rarely saw anyone else while quail hunting. You and I had great fun there Bill. Plus, they hold field trials there and Jeff and I used to go in after the field trials and clean up on the chucker's.


I might just go there on opening day of dove for the heck of it. Especially if you are there. I'll change my attitude about the crowd and sit there and observe and have fun. I probably won't shoot since my retriever is up in Pawling at the moment. I hate to hunt without a dog.

Bill,
Take the good when you get it...and have the courage to forget the bad. Post a picture of your opening day if you can. Storms are predicted here. My young friend can’t make opening morning, but my wife says she will go to keep me out of trouble. I am blessed— good wife, good life, good gun (poor, but happy, shot).
Best of luck on your opener!

bill you make me want to take my 8 ga davenport to the field now...but i would have to use a 12 ga ga mate in mine. phil carr gave me this one...these old guns shoot good with those gage mates....were did you find your gage mate in 10 ga for the 8 ga...watch out and do not get to hot going after them 95 yard shots....charlie