doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Dove forecast?

We are having a really good summer monsoon season, stock ponds are full and it sure looks like a lot of dove and the dumbass Eurasians too.
My grandsons reminded me to get the Mojo's new batteries. 11 year old Calvin will shoot the single 410 for his first hunt, I'll spot and bird dog for him. Our ranch cattle pens had super shooting last year and we hope it's good this early shoot.

I'm beginning to see a lot of doves here, a little less than two weeks until opening day.

When Hurricane Helene blew through here almost two years ago it took our doves with it. It's taken them two years to rebuild the numbers, but I'm cautiously optimistic that we'll have good numbers this season.

I'll always wonder if the 120+ mph winds killed them or if they just migrated out of here just ahead of it. I couldn't blame them if they left. It was a rough blow.

I have been out a couple of days a week south of Tucson dog training and have seen more dove than normal. Should be good shooting this season.

You ever hunt Rail X, north of Tucson? I hunted quail there once.

Starting corn harvest today. Good bird numbers in General area so hopeful. Know more by end of week.

Cousin lives in Yuma. Scouting the last few weeks says fewer birds than normal, but getting better. Lots of fallowed fields, crops mostly alfalfa and lots of cotton, minimal melons; crops of milo, sudan grass, citrus are getting scarce. Many fields converted to fenced organic. Not like it used to be, but we'll be out there.

We started our corn harvest last week. I do the hauling. I made six 1000 bu. loads yesterday to the elevator, 22 miles away.

Planted dove fields in Ky and Oh this year. 200 mile plus total spread, four total spots. I'll even get to shoot dove from MI which has no dove season. It has been so wet many of my best effort have been for naught. Still I have doves. Unless I get blindsided by weather it should be a good early season. I have doves in good numbers in all four fields. I have cleaned my late uncles Crescent .410 for the opener as is my tradition. Then the Model 42's get a couple of days to shine. I am blessed to have one son able to shoot with me for the opener and another to shoot with me for the second day. I am going to take my youngest grandson with me on the third day. Not as a shooter but as my future. Those with grandsons and granddaughters will understand. God bless and good hunting to all.

Stan it has been awhile since I have hunted there. Beautiful area.

So.....tomorrow morning I will step out into my yard between two fields and try to open my 70th season on Mourning doves. Morning coffee on the porch confirms that the historic (or at least the 38 years I have been on this ranch) flyway is still viable.
I wish everyone starting another gunning season a very successful opening.

Good luck this morning, Paul. Post some pics occasionally.

Stan

Safe hunt to all.
My opener will be Saturday. Central California. Delano

Not looking good in IL. Just not seeing many birds. Sat on a partially shucked cornfield the other afternoon and didn’t see a single bird. My dove club shut down after last season, following several years of very disappointing numbers. That club had been in operation more than 50 years and I’ve had some really great hunts there. Second IL dove club I’ve belonged to that shut down due to low bird numbers.

I’ll get out tomorrow at one of the state managed places. Those are typically really hit or miss and the “yahoo” factor (guys shooting at birds 80 yds away, running out and claiming birds you clearly shot, shooting at whippoorwills and kestrels, etc.) is very high.

I used to dove hunt every September 1st but the opportunity to do it sucessfilly became harder and harder to find (crowded and/or unproductive places became the norm).

I even called some places.that were suggested by my AI here (mostly east of the Front Range) but $250/gun per day has become the going rate on private grounds....& that seems a bit steep to me for a few doves (everything seems to anymore).

I'm guessing with a bit of effort I could likely find something passible but...I'm usually distracted by my preparations for my trip north and this year is no exception.

Good luck to all you folks that are doing it.

Dove shooting here in East central Mississippi is pretty much a thing of the past nowadays. The population in this area has been in a steady decline for 10+ years and just gets worse. I know doves have a high mortality rate, but by allowing what is essentially baiting on any open plot of ground by a quick disking and top-sowing wheat seed has let most anyone that wants to, fix up a spot. You can hardly swing a dead cat and not hit a "dove field" right now. This and allowing morning shooting on opening weekend has hurt the resource badly. I don't look for it to get better. Fwiw, the Feds do not recognize top-sowing wheat in August as a legit farming practice (which it absolutely is not) and will write you up for shooting over it, but the Mississippi Dept. of Wildlife wardens do not, they actually have state managed shoots using that practice. Never understood how that works...
JR

Yesterday the area we hunt was deluged with rain. We received 2 1/2 inches of rain in 9 hours rather unusual for this desert area. We were concerned that this morning would be a bust.
We arrived at 5:30 and waited until legal light. Myself, two friends, and a young boy the son of one of our friends were done by 7:30 AM.
The desert area due to the slick mud, limited us to moving only 100 yards from the truck but the shooting could not have been better. I Eurasian, one white wing, and the rest were mourning dove. They flew great and offered some challenging shooting, surprisingly almost every mourning dove was extremely young and small. A reflection on the improved conditions the desert has undergone this summer after the tough drought conditions we have experienced the last few years.
Definitely not the best picture, just a pile of doves before cleaning.

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Interesting thoughts and takes about dove hunting in Colorado.

I pioneered a hunt comprising several landowners with tree groves in the Yuma area in 1997. Throughout the years our group kept growing with everyone wanting to invite someone but not put it the time & effort to find new spots or landowners, all they wanted to do was show up with their guns and ask where they get to shoot & then complain about that our standing rule to throw fifty bucks into a hat to cover the expenses & efforts of the farmer who owned & mowed the area where we set-up camp every year. Then over the course of 29yrs and the long ongoing drought, microburst winds & some of the farmers tearing out tree groves we kept losing spots to set-up to the point that we had to scale things down & tell most of the long-standing members that we wouldn't be able to have the large group traditional opener get togethers anymore.

There is still a small group getting together, but I haven't been able to attend it for the past three years because of being the sole caretaker for a 96yr old with advanced Alzheimer's. This would have been the 29th year of this shoot and it cuts deep knowing that I wasn't there.

We had good shooting, didn't shoot in the am but a buddy shot 10 little mornings, 10 eurasians and a couple white wings at the cattle pens. We took the lads out on our pasture in the later evening, it actually has a fairly large creek/river running through it from rainfall (White Water Draw). Pat and Archer shot 18 while I spotted Calvin on birds and we agreed that he scared the crap out of at least 10! We quit before dark to feed.

My sympathies, dogon. I understand completely your sentiments. Your reward will be great for what you are doing.
JR