My first dove shoot - what to expect?

james van blaricum · 09-01-2010, 11:55 PM

We have been driving the roads of south central kansas looking at the dove populatin

Up until last weeks cold fronts and rain it looked pretty good then all of a sudden we didn't seem to have the doves in fact it was looking pretty bleak. We went out this evening to our usual pond and set up our decoys and the roto dove and got settled in. Had my 20 bore repro and plenty of shells. At approximately 6;30 all hell broke loose. The doves were coming in by droves. In fact, I was just standing out in the pasture and shooting as fast as I could load my 20 Parker. Finally at about 7;30 we called it quits and loaded up three limits and headed for the house and a glass of
whiskey. What a time.

Duckman · 09-02-2010, 10:44 AM

I still can't shoot

due to recent shoulder surgery but took my 11 year old son Wyatt out last night to a favorite spot on our farm for the dove opener. (he has been featured on this site before with ducks and his first turkey) He had his M12 16 ga with the Cutts compensator and his spreader tube installed. Our limit is 15 and he did his best ever bagging 14 using a whopping 3 boxes of shells. When we got back to the house he kept saying "if I only had one more shell" he could have had his limit. Being that he is only 11 numbers in the bag are important to him. Of course when he emptied his pockets he found he did indeed have one more shell!
I had fun working our dog, helping Wyatt and moaning about the many shots I could have had. A good time was had by all.

Feathersjr · 09-03-2010, 08:53 AM

Peter:

Our opening day in Georgia is tomorrow, September 4, at high noon. The excitement always builds since this is not just a dove shoot but a social event as well. However this year it will be really something for us since I will have 3 of my 4 grandsons shooting with me in the same dove field and I can imagine the conversation when the day is done. Memories for a lifetime..

Glad you got to watch your son shoot and you know he will remember that shoot for a lifetime. By the way, three boxes, 75 shells for 14 dove is not bad at all for your first hunt. Hope the shoulder gets better soon. I warmed up yesterday, just for grins on a 20 gauge Beretta 391 semi-auto, with virtually no recoil. You might consider it. Opening day I will be shooting my Parker 20 gauge, DHE Reproduction which I dearly love shooting.