Dove Hunting Trip: A Let Down
On September 4, 2018, I went on my first dove hunting venture of the season. The dove hunting opener happens every year on September 1st, but not only did I have to work, but I also don’t like fighting the crowds. With that said, I waited a few days for the traffic to slow.
I left the house at 0430, gun packed, shells ready, and camera charged. I was hoping to at least get a few birds in the bag, but a limit of dove would have been fantastic. I would be hunting with not only my Pa, but with also my Uncle – hopefully the 3 of us would put some birds on the ground.
We got to location, setup our 3-man line, and began the wait. We arrived just at shooting light, so any seen bird was fair game.
Suddenly, a cloud rose from the horizon. A deep, dark cloud began to approach us. This wasn’t a rain cloud, or a cloud of mist or fog.
It was a cloud of insects.
These insects locked onto our position and engulfed us, trying to climb into our mouths and ears. We figured that as the sun rose, the insects would disappear…
Such was not true. As the sun rose, they continued to swarm, and we were miserable. Finally, a brave soul made the hike back to the truck to retrieve some bug spray, of which completely saved the day.
While this was happening, a few birds flew by. Not a bunch, not a bushel, not a case, nor a ton. A few.
I managed to take advantage of 2 birds with my Remington 870 Express 20 gauge. Both shots were difficult, long and sweeping shots, but I connected. I did miss one very simple shot, but hey, I like to make things complicated.
The day ended just about as it began – I had the only 2 birds out of our 3 man party. This particular spot that we went to is generally pretty good during the late dove season, but can be quite variable during the early season, and it was just one of those poor hunting days.
I did end up plucking both birds, which I highly recommend compared to just breasting the bird out. We will speak about this in detail within a later post.
Stay tuned, as I will be posting a dove recipe or two within the coming weeks…