Virginia is always stuck in the past. While most states now allow hunting at daybreak for doves, we still must wait until 12 on the first day only. Must have been 100 in the sun so I left poor Mosby at home, who was begging to go. Got my limit with a Beretta o/u 20 shooting 7/8 oz of 9s after a bad sunburn of four hours. After my limit I brought my cousin's grandson to my spot to coach him, using the 12 Trojan I had given him. He couldn't hit a bull in the butt with a base fiddle as the saying goes, and after three boxes had only thirteen. I went Labor day morning at daybreak and got 10 with a 20 Parker VH shooting the same 9s. Birds after being shot Saturday were much farther away so I was undergunned.
Keeping with my rule of using a different gun each time I took my semi-custom Winchester 24 12 ga. Heavy as a log, stiff to open as if it just left the factory, but choked perfectly with IC and Full. Made the same year I was born. Shot 15/30 but changing guns, gauges, and shot sizes each time takes some getting used to. To show how people don't know much about dove hunting, my favorite pole which is usually covered with pokeberries which one can hide in, had all been cut down by the previous idiot hunters. Perfect camo was gone and I'll bet every dove saw the two guys that were setting there (one shooting a 20 and one a 12 by their hulls I had to clean up). So I used the cut down plants for a makeshift blind. Anyway, Mosby had fun and so did I.
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