Dove hunting - What gun are you taking?

[Harry Collins]

Had a great opening day with my fathers 20 ga trojan. I shot 3/4oz of 8's and had my limit in an hour and a half and only shot about 30 times.
The Sunday hunt was slow and only took three birds with five shots. I let go both barrels on one bird and never cut a feather.
Monday morning I went into a field a 7AM and was finished by 8AM with two doubles under my belt and shot 35 times. This with the VH that Sherman Bell had blown the barrels off of. The replacement Damascus barrels are choked .022 and .042. !oz loads of 8's at 1180 fps.

[charlie cleveland]

looks like a very fine dinner to me...good shooting too...charlie

[Harry Collins]

Brined dove brest seared two minutes a side, baked acorn squash with butter and brown sugar, grits fried in panic bread crumbs.

[Southpaw]

Now that looks like one fine brown heart healthy meal. Have eaten grits about as many ways as there are to cook shrimp but have not had grits like that, mostly because never had leftover grits.

Jeff Foxworthy in connection with a local restaurant made a run trying to make grit chips once. It tasted like a corn chips with no salt. Quoting Justin Wilson "Even one grit without salt tastes like schick, I ger-ontee"

[Dean Romig]

Unfortunately I've never had the pleasure of dining on dove breast.... Someday I hope to.

Are they anywhere near as fabulous as woodcock breast?





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[TxHuntermn]

Originally Posted by Dean Romig

Unfortunately I've never had the pleasure of dining on dove breast.... Someday I hope to.

Are they anywhere near as fabulous as woodcock breast?





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Wow Dean....If you like Woodcock, or Snipe, you will love dove breast.

[Tom Flanigan]

Originally Posted by Dean Romig

Unfortunately I've never had the pleasure of dining on dove breast.... Someday I hope to.

Are they anywhere near as fabulous as woodcock breast?





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I guess you either love eating woodcock or hate it. I fall into the latter catagory. I always ate everyone I shot and picked the birds like I do all my birds, but I really didn't enjoy them. I ate them out of obligation. I must admit that my bird dogs loved the woodcock bits I gave them. But what do they know, they also eat poop.

[Dean Romig]

Tom... somebody prepared it wrong for you.

If I didn’t like eating them I wouldn’t shoot them.





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[Big D]

Our group likes dove breasts so much that we brought back 200 pairs from our Argentina shoot. Pierce the breast, insert a piece of onion or pepper (mild or hot), wrap in bacon, on the grill for about 3-4 minutes. Don't overcook 'em

[Tom Flanigan]

Originally Posted by Dean Romig

Tom... somebody prepared it wrong for you.

If I didn’t like eating them I wouldn’t shoot them.





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I cook all my wild game myself. I don’t let anyone else touch it….never. I don’t use spices, herbs, marinade, bacon or anything else that hides the true flavor of wild game. I carefully age my venison and birds, never eating them fresh. I have refrigerator in my garage that I keep at 38 degrees to properly age game. I’m a fanatic about my game making sure I gut each bird before I put it in my pouch. When grouse hunting, I always pick an apple and cut a piece to put in the body cavity to soak up the blood. I have a regular routine that I follow religiously with all my game. And I love to cook it. It is always a special dinner when game is on the menu.

My grandfather didn’t favor woodcock either, although my grandmother loved it. In his later years he stopped shooting them. Not because he didn’t like to eat them but because he came to the conclusion that hitting them was relatively easy and he saw no need of killing so small a bird.

I’ll continue shooting them because they are a nice bonus in the grouse woods and I’ll continue to eat them although I am not really crazy about the taste. I do admit, however, that the fat on each section of the breast is nice eating.

I believe that it was the late Tap Tapley, of Field and Stream Taps Tips fame and a noted grouse and woodcock hunter, that stated that he thought woodcock tasted awful. He listed a recipe to cook the woodcock in. Then he stated that it was best to eat the sauce and throw away the woodcock.