DOVES BETWEEN BLIZZARDS
 

I mistakenly thought this would be a great third season. Took a lazy attitude as I assumed I had plenty of days to hunt. Then a foot of snow. And another storm coming Sunday. In the teens until this morning and still below freezing, but only a few days left.

I love the A5 for late doves as they come in bunches. And if I empty the gun the speed loading whereby a shell put into the magazine automatically feeds into the action helps. The expense of this design was part of the undoing of the A5. Did not get my limit but came close and it was not the gun or Mosby's fault as he found all of them in the corn stubble without losing one.

Cool pic! I think the undoing of the A5 was the Remington 1100 more than its design. I suppose you could say the design of the 1100 was the undoing of the A5. I still love an A5 myself.

We love shooting doves. My buddy had to have his colon removed last fall due to a cancer. He is back on his tractor now and is talking about planting sunflowers. Yesterday we agreed that we would just keep shooting them until we died

Our dove season effectively ends a few weeks after the start in September due to them just disappearing. I sure miss the hunts in November and early January we used to have.

That's exactly the attitude I have adopted about grouse and woodcock!!
I always thought Gracie and I would wind down about the same time. With luck neither of us will have to wait long for the other to join up in the fabulous covers in the sky.





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Reggie,

Thanks. From a 1959 Browning magazine ad for the A5: "We could make it for less...but we won't."

The Model 11, Model 11-48, Model 58, Model 1100 all were cheaper. I guess it was like buying the Parker of Autos instead of buying a Crescent (did not want to offend any of the other big names). I myself was hooked on Beretta autos for their light weight while bird hunting when walking, but was late to the A5 club when weight was not a factor. Now they are my auto of choice and all of mine are from the 60s when the Belgians were the absolute finest for finish in my opinion. The complicated action and associated costs was one of the reasons for cheaper Japanese manufacture. They should not be allowed to call what they make today an A5.

They were $130 in 1959, which equals $1242 today. And that was a plain A5 with no vent rib and not the Light 12. Not cheap.

Mosby is looking good there Jerry. Any dove shoot is a good dove shoot.

Jerry, I hope your next post does not include "Doves Between Ice Storms," as I saw where one might be headed your way.

Unfortunately, Missouri does not have a split season, and here in the northern part of the state our season effectively ends after about the first several days, even though we get the full federal-allotted time period. We find dove in December in fair numbers while quail hunting, and I sure wish we could add a dove or two to the bag, but alas, our season ends in November. I guess the good news is that I'd then be looking for a tight-choked, long-barreled Parker to use to shoot them.

Enjoy your hunts...and that fine gun!

My father traded a newly purchased A-5 for a Remington 878, even. Dad said every time he threw that Browning up he was looking at the back of that hump. He didn't like the weight of the Browning either. He was an all-day quail hunter. I never saw him miss a bird with that 878. I have it in my gun safe where it will rest until I am gone. It was last fired in 1991 on his last hunt. I have that last quail mounted and sitting on the top of the gun cabinet.

The weight is the reason I quail hunted with a Beretta AL2 with a 26" I.C. barrel for my adult life. Quail hunting ended about 1984 when they disappeared. Later production A5s had a 14 1/4" pull with a 2 1/2" drop. For doves, that fits me well. But I would never have carried one for quail. The "Light 20" weighed as much or more than the 12 Beretta.