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

Just got back from shooting a round of skeet with my little #2 410 with 1/2 oz loads of 8s. I started to panic dropped station 2 both birds then one on 3, so overall 22 doves beware of little guns!!

Stan,
Checked triggers today. They are really good, at far less than the 6+ lbs I have seen talked about here. Question: I am considering using modified in the right barrel and improved modified in the left for doves with 7.5 shot. Haven't patterned it yet but the combination of chokes sounds better to me than IC and Mod or Mod and IC depending upon whether you shoot far outs first or as incomings. Comments? Anyone. I am new to 28 having only used my Red Label 28 on quail with either skeet and skeet or IC and modified from right to left. Suggestions from any and all are appreciated.

Perry,
I love my 28s, dove I/c, Mod, you won't be disappointed. Mod and full fit the bill a little later in the season on doves, early season, i found myself destroying doves with mod and full.
Good shooting
Rich

Thanks!!

My dove guns, especially the .410s and 28s) are always set up with Mod & Full, except for one Beretta that is IM/F. We shoot 'em far out.

What choke to use for doves is determined by the situation, i.e., whether you're in the middle of a sunflower field where they are coming to feed, or whether you're pass shooting them as they pass over a hedgerow on their way back to the roost, etc. No choke combination will fill the bill for all situations. It also is determined by how you take the shot. If you tend to wait, patiently, for close shots you could get by fine with IC or even SK, in one barrel. This will be my 58th season chasing them with a shotgun, and my style of shooting has led me to favor a combination of IM and LM most of the time. I will admit to being overchoked on a few shots each shoot, but almost never so much as to render the bird inedible. I love to try for a double, with my two barrels, which means I will try to take the first incomer as far out as I can make myself hit the trigger on the IM barrel, then take the other bird , still approaching, with the LM barrel. There is nothing in dove shooting more satisfying than that to me.

I use 8s in the earlier part of the season, then 7 1/2s later, but would not argue against 7 1/2s for all season. I bought 5 flats of 7 1/2s for my 28 just recently.

Glad to hear the triggers are good. That's another to add to the list that confirms that AKUS, in Turkey, has their act together. Best of luck with it on the birds!

I should add that many of my guns are fixed choke guns. With such, it is imperative to learn the range limitations of them and use them properly. I think I could get along with most any combination of chokes and not destroy the bird for the table. Not all combinations would be ideal, by any means, but I can't think of any that would be unusable, either.

All my best, SRH

Yep, I have been shooting doves now for about 61 years. And I still cant hit them!!! Actually, I can, but they are still tough birds to shoot, especially the Eurasian Collared doves that have invaded NM and taken over. I have actually knocked them out of the sky and waited a few minutes till they stopped coming in to walk out and get them just to have them fly away as I am about to pick them up. Those are some truly hearty birds. But, they also taste good!!

61 years ..............well done! You'll do well with the M and IM, I feel sure. We've got the ECDs here, too, but they mostly hang around buildings on the farm, venturing into the fields to feed, then returning. They are much less afraid of humans than mourning doves. Do you get whitewings in huntable numbers?

I look forward to dove season more now than I did as a kid and an adolescent. The guns just add so much more dimension to the sport, understanding choke and loads, and how they work together, and matching the gun to the game and circumstances. Knowing some of the history of the old ones gives it all even greater allure. What a treat it is to take a limit with a gun on it's 100th birthday!

It's almost time to resurrect the hunting pic thread that Greg began many years ago.

Hot dog! SRH

Yes it is! My favorite thread on Doublegun...Geo

Oh, and Stan even though I did not take the bet, we'd like to see a picture of your opening day limit with the gun and oh maybe any expended shells you might have saved; all of'em...Geo