Today should really be a national holiday. It's the start of dove season in pretty much every state that allows dove hunting, which now includes Iowa, thank you very much.
So, do you wanna know what I'm doing right now?
Just click on over to this month's "Butt, Belly, Beak, Bang" column in Shotgun Life and I'll tell you.
You'll also get to read the story I've never told on this blog: The story of my first dove hunt ever, which went even worse than most of my first hunts have gone. It's a memory I'll cherish forever. You'll see why.
© Holly A. Heyser 2011
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17 comments:
Nice read. Good luck this year! Our opener is tomorrow!
Happy hunting Holly! The season starts here in KY today as well though traditionally most people open their fields up on the first Saturday in September (not to be confused with the first Saturday in May which is when we drink bourbon and watch horse races).
I'll be breaking in my new (used) Ithaca in about 51 hours.
Thanks, guys. I don't know the origin of the Sept. 1 start date in so many states, but it drives me bonkers that it's almost always on a work day :-(.
Amen, sister. Amen.
Okay, I'll bite and go over to your column. Also, it is AWESOME that you have a column!
Okay, I'm back: Great article!
As the provider of the second year's hunt, I must point out that, ahem, you had quite the fun time "grocery shopping" for jackrabbits in a pear orchard, if I'm not mistaken.
Thank you for biting! Shotgun Life has been very kind to me; directing readers back that way is the least I can do.
And thanks!
But do you remember that I actually killed NOTHING that day? I wasn't the one who killed the jacks. I just took them home and ... well you remember the rest of that sad story.
Good luck Holly dove hunting! An excellent article at Shotgun Life...I'm so proud of you and your hunting success! :)
So many of my September 1st's have been very similar! I don't think I've ever had a successful dove opener. So now I do what is inevitable. I don't go hunting. I sit wherever I am, and I don't have any birds to pluck and clean, which is probably what I'd be doing if I did go dove hunting on the opener. Maybe someday my bad September 1st streak will end, but for now I'll just wait until the first Saturday of the month to go out. Cheers!
I'm working today too Holly :( No dove opener for me this weekend - maybe no dove at all. I'm currently directing all hunting funds to paying for a wedding. (besides, I have a funny bad karma feeling about shooting a dove before a wedding...I dunno, think I'll save my strength up for fall turkey season).
I had to work also on the dove opener....arrrghhh! Worse, I had to leave for work, head out my front door to the non-stop sounds of shotgun shooting from the surrounding farmland.
I'd like to see California move the dove opener to the first Saturday in September -- as many other states, particularly in the South, do. This would also allow more kids and junior hunters to participate each year. Dove hunting may be the most kid-friendly hunting there is. Moving it to the first Saturday also preserves the social aspect of dove hunting -- family reunions, bbqs, etc. -- which adds to the enjoyment.
The outdoors writer from the San Diego Union Tribune proposed such an idea last year, but got a lot of negative feedback from older hunters and the like who preferred the midweek starts because they kept more people out of the fields, particularly the casual and yahoo hunters.
But I can't think of any other hunting season opener that begins during the middle of the week.
I understand it's tradition, but being a Westerner through and through, I don't put much stock in tradition.
I think moving it to Saturday would probably improve worker productivity on Sept. 1...
Hey Holly! Have a great hunt! You know the great thing about hunting with a ML shotgun, even if it is a double-barrel! I have great excuses for all the misses.
I read your story. Never hunted them in an almond orchard. Apple orchard, yes, with instructions to ONLY shoot over my head. But that was years ago. Best dove hunting I ever had was about 15 years ago in Florida. When you have a great place to hunt it is truly great. Again, have a good hunt.
Best,
Galen
One shot double on way home from work that makes it 4 for 6. (snicker)
My first bird in the bag was a Eurasian collared - have you gotten any of them yet? They are HUGE!
And weirdly enough, all four birds I've bagged have been males. Yep, I said four. Been a little slow here too :-)
Still haven't gotten a collard they are all around my place but not out along the creek beds where I hunt.
Now that I've gotten one, I can tell when it's a collared flying by - they're almost pigeon sized.
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