My first dove shoot - what to expect?

[charlie cleveland]

...its a day of good fun and sport...a day to remember how bad a shot we really are...what the heck take a shot at that dove thats not in range...forget aboutcounting the number of shells youve shot..just keep up with the numbers of doves youve shot down in case wardin comes by.... a safe and good hunt to all...... charlie

[Andrew Thompson]

We go to great lenths to manage an area of our farm for doves and opening day is a celebrated event. It's the kick-off!! The first season of the year!! Time to take the guns out of the cabinets and brush up on our excuses for missing. I love the 20 for doves. My VH (32" F/M) and I will be posted at my designated spot. My father and I have an arragement that if after one box of shells either of us need another box to kill a 12 bird limit, the price is $50 for that second box. I have never left the field with my $50 bill. If you are shoting birds at distances greater that 25 yards, I recomend using tighter chokes with smaller gauges. Many of the birds you will be shooting are yearlings and they are small. The denser patterns serve well. Enjoy!!

[james van blaricum]

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]

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]

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.

[james van blaricum]

Peter; it sounds like you got your limit by watching your grandson. That is great. I wish my sons were close. Have you ever used the roto dove? it has batteries and the wings go in circles. It is amazing how it attracks doves. Hope the shoulder gets better.

[Tom Holcombe Jr.]

Just remember to follow through and have fun!!!!!!!!!

[charlie cleveland]

sept. 4 is opening day for us here in mississippi...i wiull be shotting a 20 ga parker with 26 inch barrels an cly and cly chokes...for back up i will have the lc smith 16 ga... the wait is killing meall time having nightmares that all the doves have flown farther south....hope to hear some good stories from you fellas..good shooting and be safeeveryone......charlie

[Mike Stahle]

My first opportunity for Dove will be this Sat. afternoon.
I’m very anxious to give this BP loading a try on Dove.
It is a very enjoyable load to shoot from a #1 frame.
Kind of wish MAGTECH would make a 2” brass short shell for my light load.
But the 2.5” gives me much versatility.

[Jeff K.]

Why don't you just cut a box of them down to 2"?