planning the hunt with the parker

[charlie cleveland]

well the time to oil the old parker and let her rest for a few days has come..it s time to start planning for the fall season..the first thing i m fixing for is the doves for the last coupla years we have not had the birds we usally have..weather was a problem 2 years ago and this is something we have no controel over.thank goodness...last year the weather turned dry andmy grain i planted drew no doves in...so i started this week planting sunflower seeds hopefully will have a good year and draw a few birds in..my next attempt will be soy beans for the deer and turkey if a person wants game in my area you have to prepare for them looks like..how bout you other fellows what are ya ll doing for your game...charlie

[J. A. EARLY]

Charlie,

The dairy farm we killed doves over is no longer a dairy farm, the last one to shut down in the county. Now no corn and all soybeans. But I got the guy who plants to agree to drill in sunflowers but no body wants to spend an extra $100 apiece for them.

But he is going to put in an acre for me right across from my house and under a power line. I hope to have a private dove paradise.

I'll bet they will be asking me to hunt then. I'm hoping the deer will go for the soybeans next to them and leave the sunflowers alone. They have always eaten them up as fast as they came in. How do you keep them out? As soon as they come up and flower they eat them.

[Mills]

Friends down here have elaborate fence systems to keep deer out. That seems to be the only way to keep them out around here.

[Gary Cripps]

We don't seem to get concentrations of doves no mater what we sow for them. Tried it all--sun flowers, sorgum, millet, corn and soybeans. Maybe it is just a Wisconsin thing. This year I'm putting in corn, grain sorgum and later winter wheat. Last year the farms on either side of had winter wheat and the deer really took to it. There is none near by going in this year so it should be a big attractant for us this year. Always trying and hoping.

[charlie cleveland]

yes a fellow has to try anyway to have a edge of somekind on the game..jerry if i lived close enough i would have been glad to pitch in a hundred on them sunflowers..them boys will come around on opening day..this has happened to me for years i never see no one when theres work to do but i can bet on them being there to help shoot the doves.i just tell them when they ask me am i shooting doves i tell them the more the merrier...i do like to see the young kids get to shoot if i did not fix a place they would never get to shoot doves... charlie

[charlie cleveland]

the sun flowers have popped thru and are just a shineing at the moment..they have just had a nice evening shower on them..looks like a coupla deer tracks crossed the muddy field but seen no evedence of being eaten yet.. i m gonna get the soybeans in the ground soon in mississippi you can beans as late as mid june if you have some bottom land..i looked at my bottom today and it would need at least a week to dry up...anyway if the sunflowers can make and draw a few doves in i will get to take the parkers out of thereresting places and give them some exersize..walked out the back door awhile ago and 2 quail flew up a bobwhite and a hen..been many years since i have seen this happen..hopefully they raise some more... charlie

[Gerald McPherson]

Quail!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG!!!!!!!!!!

[charlie cleveland]

plowed them sunflowers today they are looking good so far..a pair of doves were setting on the power line the deer have left them alone so far.. charlie

[J. A. EARLY]

Charlie,

Killed two of the dreaded DPCs with this GH today. Never shot it at doves since I "finished" it (as much as it's going to get finished). Thirty long steps, right barrel .014 (skeet 2) and left .040 (X-full). Shooting low pressure one ounce of the 8.5s you had not heard of. Like them in light loads early in the season. One dead DPC and the other cannot be eaten.

[Bob Hardison]

Jerry: You are spot on about the left "bird". It's torn all to heck. What a concentration at 30yds! Bob