Dove Hunting

[JohnB]

Good evening, y'all.

I have decided to try my hand at dove hunting in a few weeks. All I know about it that doves fly fast and I need to be faster.

I have watched many videos and asked questions of the buddy that is taking me out. He says iff'n we don't see any dove, we'll head in to the woods and hunt some squirrel.

Any pointers, advice, tips, etc will be greatly appreciated.

I will post up pics if I get any...

Thanks!

[JerryB]

Take plenty of shells.

[Pitchy]

Ain`t much help but have fun.

[JohnB]

Thanks!

It was an EXCELLENT excuse to pick up a new 11-87 12 gauge....

[RIHMFIRE]

hit the skeet field...and maybe the 5 stand stations...if you have access to a club..
keep your gun moving and follow through...
dont ride the birds tooooo looong...
use the right choke(s)

[86er]

Shoot twice as far in front of them as you think you need to. You'll be surprised! Also, on a crossing shot you can try swinging the gun through the bird and then just as it gets in front of the bird pivot your hips in the same direction, thereby pulling your entire torso forward. Pass bird with barrel, pivot hips and pull trigger. Good luck!

[Marlin32]

86'er has it right. Sometimes hard to swing through just using your arms. I am a pull through shooter anyway, and yep, when swinging, and you turn your hips with it, will drop them everytime.
I never had much luck with sustained lead. I have often pulled through the bird, then exaggereated my swing through and that will drop them too.

Buy a mojo dove. They flock to it like moths to flame.

[North Country Gal]

Yup, follow through is everything. Great advice on using the hips.

[Lastmohecken]

Improved cylinder choke might be the best choice, and pick your shots. If you can get in a flyway between food and water, or roost, you got it made, maybe. I suggest 7-1/2 shot size as a good middle of the road dove load, ounce and an eighth loads. Some people even use nine shot to get a fuller pattern.

Don't sky bust at long range a lot, because all you will end up with is a sore shoulder. Remember to put your plug in your shot gun, 3 shots max. Also, it's good to mark your bird when get one, and go ahead and walk to it, right away, unless you can see it laying there because they are hard to find sometimes. My guess is most dove hunters leave five dead birds in the field that they don't find for every limit they bring home.

The average dove hunter will shoot three boxes of shells to get a limit of 15 birds

[44shooter]

Pony up for good clay loads like Win AA. They have harder shot, better wads, and generally pattern better. I like 8 or 7 1/2 shot with an IC choke. If they are flying good, you can pick your shots and get the closer ones. But, bring tighter tubes in case you can't be picky. Blot out the straightcomers, shoot underneath the straightaways, and lead the crossers. Don't overthink your shots and have fun.

[Blaine]

Take four boxes of shells your first time out

[rock-steady]

A few years ago, I started using a Rem 870 Wingmaster in 20 gauge for doves.


I found out I could miss them with a 20ga just as good as I could with a 12ga.

[FWiedner]

Back then we were kids we didn't know anything about game laws and didn't care a whit about sporting chance.

Used to wait for them to land on something and then shot them with a .22.

As an adult I don't hunt them. Now it just seems like a an awful waste of shotgun shells.


Oh, mis-spent youth...

[stew71]

Stuff them with onion and garlic paste, coat with bacon grease, and let them turn for about 10-15 min on the rotisserie at about 350 deg.

Serve with cold beer.

[rangerider7]

Dove hunting is a party. They are crop eating pest. It just takes quick movent of the shotgun. Just have fun!!!! RR7

[Pisgah]

Take plenty of shells.

And then, take a few more...

[Lastmohecken]

I remember one year, about 30yrs ago, I went dove hunting, not really expecting to get that much action, and hadn't been shooting my shotgun (Rem 1100) all that much in the months preceding and only took 2 boxes of shells. I was shooting and missing a lot. I soon ran out off shells and went around bumming shells, but no one had a lot of shells, but finally come up with 8 more rounds to finish up the morning.

I knew I had been missing and wasting ammo, because if I missed on the first round, I usually missed on the second and third also. Well, with only eight rounds left, I decided to only load one shell at a time, and only take the high percentage shots, my results were 8 birds for 8 shots and finished my limit of 15 for the day.

It was memorable, because that was the first and the last time I ever ran out of shells on a dove hunt. I never leave home with less then 5 boxes of shells, who know someone else might need to borrow some.

[JohnB]

Well, yesterday was the first day of the season. Drove an hour to get to our field, only to discover that everybody and their brother were hunting at the same field. There must have been 15-20 truck in one spot!

We drove to a second field, not as many trucks, but it was a two mile hike (at 5:00am, with a shotgun and a bucket full of gear) through several fields in the heat and humidity that only late summer in Ohio can bring.

Staked out my spot, and waited,

Literally had two fellas come up and sit 15'-20' feet to my right....ugh.

First three birds I bagged (or should I say shot) the jackwagon on my right jumped and ran out to claim my birds as his. Once he didn't even fire! My buddies were jawing at him telling him they were my birds, but it didn't matter. I did not stress about it as it was my first time, and if he really needed the meat, so be it. Just irritating...

All told, I shot 3 boxes of Rio low brass 7.5 shot at 1350 fps, and hit 7 birds. 1:11 ratio, not bad for my first time out, I would think...

We are grilling out tonight...marinated in teriyaki and wrapped in bacon. My girls can't wait...Mom and the boy don't show much interest....

I almost forgot...my new 11-87 was flawless. Only issue I had was the choke shot loose...

[Nath]

You need a muzzeloader shotgun and give the modern do-hicky thing up or you'll never do any good lol.

N

[mark08]

I don't dove hunt but the neighbors on each side had wms managed hunts today for the youth. man it sounded like a war was going on in both directions. Didn't go over to either to see how they were doing. I had seven trees down across fences so that came first. Notice all say " bacon, casserole, par-boil and/or rub with????" dark strong meat. But fun to shoot them.

[InTheWoods]

My first morning out was a dissappointment, but we made up for it tonight. My buddy and I hunted a claypit and we both limited out in less than half an hour (I even took a 7 or 8 minute break toward the end of the half hour - didn't want to get to my limit before my buddy did). No other hunters around and LOTS of birds. We each fired about a box of shells.

[44shooter]

Yes, the meat is very dark and strong. Somewhere between venison and liver. If another shooter picks up my birds, I sure don't sweat it. I'm sure the foxes, coons, and cats get to feast the night after most dove shoots.

[FWiedner]

I don't dove hunt but the neighbors on each side had wms managed hunts today for the youth. man it sounded like a war was going on in both directions. Didn't go over to either to see how they were doing. I had seven trees down across fences so that came first. Notice all say " bacon, casserole, par-boil and/or rub with????" dark strong meat. But fun to shoot them.

Personally I don't like to cover up the flavor.

I prefer to slice 'em thin and mix with stir fried vegetables.

[mark08]

That is why i quail hunt. Just good eating. Duck and liver both go a long ways.

[GoatGuy]

Dove hunting - fast, furious and burning lots of powder! What's not to love! Sure miss it living here in these Arkansas mtns. A good dove hunt in my neck of the woods would be even seeing maybe a few dove in a week. Makes me really miss those decades of living in Texas.

Eating them after a hunt? For me, nothing beats fresh whitewing dove breasts deep fried (no batter) in a cast iron pot, bubbling over a fiery bed of mesquite coals in Northern Mexico. Of course, with fresh tortillas and jalapenos, and washed down with a cold Carta Blanca or Bohemia pulled out of a cooler brim full of ice. Great fun and greater memories. Hundreds of acres of milo maize with a fat whitewing on each stalk. What a sight! And watching "bird boys", hired local village kids, scramble through the brush to retrieve a downed bird with us reminding them, "CUIDADO, vivoras de cascabel!" (Loosely translated “CAREFUL of rattlers!”). Fifteen to twenty hunters and several of cases of shells when we arrived, and few full boxes of shells when we left.

Those days in Mexico, late 1960's, are long gone for a variety of reasons, none good. And the good times along with them. Dadgum world just keeps a turning and a turning, don't it.