Scrapping doves
 

When you pick a cotton crop there is sometimes a significant amount left that opens after harvest. When prices are high it used to be worth picking the crop a second time to get the remainder, which was always such a little bit that it seemed questionable whether it was worth the effort or not. That was called "scrapping". This dove season has been so poor that it occurred to me today that as we go the last few times we are "scrapping" the doves. Whereas a limit of 15 is always the goal we must be satisfied this season with much smaller takes. Nevertheless, i'm grateful for the few I'm blessed with.

This afternoon I sat for three hours and took four, with five shots. Three of them here, taken with the Dickinson 30" barreled .410 and 3/4 oz. handloads. Big, beautiful mature specimens.

https://www.jpgbox.com/jpg/74223_1024x768.jpg

Looks like a good hunt to me, and I’ll bet you got some good “thinking time” in, too.

Based on your very poetic description, I think I’ve been scrapping dove for years

There’s so much more to hunting than taking game. Thanks for this reminder.

Nice gun, I often carry the same one in 28 ga, also 30".

I second guessed myself when I walked into the gun room and grabbed a .410 for a very late season dove shoot. But, the handload I "developed" a few years ago proved itself again. Each of the doves, though big and tough mature birds, fell dishrag dead to the .73 oz of nickel plated 8s at 1150 fps. This load truly is a better killer for me than the WW 3/4 oz. factory load. I always see a difference in the ratio of really dead birds to those that I have to finish off. Maybe it's penetration, I dunno for sure.

I think having faith in your own loads might have something to do with your success.

I have ultimate faith in the flies I tie fir salmon, trout, bass, stripers, blues, etc. I just seem to have more success with them.





.

Dean is right, Stan. I attended two NSSA World Shoots in 1990 and 1992 at Savannah. Against everyone's advice, I shot my reloads in all events including the Champion of Champions event. I shot a 4 gun average of .9800 in both shoots, more than one bird higher than my 4 gun average at home. I won my .410 Championship at the Southern Side by Side with my 2 1/2" reloads against shooters who were probably shooting 3" shells. This is, as Dean suggests, "Faith in your reloaded shells".

For what it's worth I always found 5/8 oz loads of nickel plated 5's stone dead killers in the 28 ga. You may miss a little more but it seems like they penetrate and kill like no kind of lead load. One nice thing on quail and dove is that they seem to shoot completely through and even one hit is generally lethal if through the body or head. Makes the game a lot easier to get to the table. I really like nickel plated shot for hunting.

Same on this side of the river. Heavy winds and target load 28ga made it tough on me.

Attachment 131158

South Georgia watermelon fields bush hogged 3 weeks before opening season.Even.the game wardens were invited.

Some of my most memorable dove shoots have been on truck farms. Small local farms that grow melons, cucumbers and zucchini and after the harvest a lot of rotting produce draws them like moths to a flame. The seeds left over are like a magnet.