Who has been thinking of/planning for this for weeks or months?

I have. I like to dove hunt but I look at it as the start of a lot of good things. Other hunting seasons, schools started so less fishing pressure, football and cooler weather.

The last 2 days of cold and rain not looking good for dove. Didn't see any around my place today, and I have sunflowers galore. Thankfully grouse season and early Pacific Flyway goose season also starts Monday.

Went dove scouting three weeks ago- our farm in E. Colorado had tons of doves, feeding in the cut wheat fields and weeds.

Going down again on Sunday to get ready for the big day- hopefully, there will still be lots of birds around.

Going to a local conservation area. There will be nearly as many hunters as there will be doves, and there are going to be a pile of doves. Last time I went when it looked this way we limited out in less than an hour. Wear safety glasses, look down when you hear the pellets hitting grass around you.

I'm going to hit my doves early Monday, then I'm hi-balling it over to my blue grouse spot for that opener, a 2 3/4 hour one-way.

I just bought some 7 1/2s and 5s for the new 20ga I got this week from Mule Deer.

I like it so far, John!

Old saying " doves hate wet feet" . Hunting may be poor in S/E Texas. Good luck everyone. Hasbeen

I'm going on 3 youth hunts with my 10 year old daughter. They will be each Saturday starting Sep.6. I just bought her a Franchi Affinity compact 20 ga and I'll be shooting my Merkel model 8 12ga. We had a blast last year but she had to shoot a single barrel hammer gun that I would cock for her when we saw some doves headed our way. Not quite the ideal set up but we had a good time.

She has been shooting the Affinity and it fits her. Not too good on clays yet but she is having fun which is the main thing.

Hasn't rained for a month, and opening day of dove season it starts off in a downpour and forecast of an inch to two inches. Never fails.

We had a good opener!

Owen is now 11 and hunted doves for the first time with his new shotgun we got from John Barsness, a Weatherby 20ga SA-08 Upland. I like it so well I ordered one for me.

Owen got his NV limit of 10 birds by 10:00 a.m.

He went 10 for a box and a half, about the local average. He went 6 for 9 on the last birds and got the hang of the new shotgun and leading enough.

I scratched out my 10th bird as his 10th was falling to the ground. I was shooting a nice vintage Winchester Mdl 59 Winlite I purchased from John about 5 years ago. It's been an excellent chuckar and grouse gun with its light weight and neutral balance.






We wore poor 14 Y/O Sadie out. She's ready to go again and can't understand why we're not. (She "pooped" out )

Went to the farm early this AM, with my two sons. The early morning flight was crazy, into and out of a burned off wheat field my neighbor has just south of our farm. Oldest son showed up a little late, and is going to hang around for the late afternoon flight to finish his limit. Myself and youngest son limited out in short order!
This has been the best dove opener we have had since I purchased the farm in 2001.

Season doesn't open until coming Saturday. Extended forecast says 40% chance of rain.

What's your nearest town?

Rocky Ford, CO

6 of us limited out Monday morning on my place. I shot my 15 bird limit with 30 shots for one of the best days I have had in a while. Then turned my shotgun over to an exchange student living with us this year. He had never fired a shotgun and managed to kill 12 before we quit for the day. He is a world class tennis player, so I suppose that helped his hand/eye coordination. I expect another limit this evening from my father's place if the storms this morning didn't run all the birds out of the area.

Perry

Went out last evening to a spot that was fantastic last year.

I saw 8 birds and never fired a shot.

Melon capitol of the USA!!

I bought many hundreds of pounds of seeds from Burrell Seed Co. when I was growing melons commercially.

Melon growing country is often good dove country with the mild climates.

This part of SE Colorado has almost always been great dove country. I grew up about 12 miles from my farm, north of LaJunta, and the dove shooting was always good- I didn't realize how good until I grew up and moved away for a few years.

They were flying in Missouri this evening.

Drove the back roads covering about 200 miles Wednesday, saw 14 doves, all singles. Looks like another poor season here.

luv2safari- I wonder if John might have done some "weight reduction" on that mdl 59. I grew up shooting mdl 50s and have handled several mdl 59s. They all seemed butt heavy to me.

By the way, congrats to you and the boy.

NE Oklahoma has a ton of dove this year. Me and 3 other hunters limited out yesterday evening. I managed to shoot my 15 bird limit in 30 minutes then enjoyed watching my wife fill her limit while I worked my lab on blind retrieves. Only down side was it was nearly 100 degrees, but a nearby pond helped the dog stay in the game and cold beer after the hunt help revive the hunters.

Perry

With 2 in the magazine they are absolutely neutral, plus I need butt heavy with this torn rotator cuff. I can't hold up a muzzle heavy gun with my left arm.

...and thanks. We had a great time kidding each other about the missed "easy" shots.

Had a good day in upstate of SC today. Not quite as many flying as first weekend last year but a good day. Took a while to get used to my new Weatherby Orion 20 ga o/u so didn't limit out but still got 11.

But it was H-O-T this afternoon.

Opening day haul with my brother. Nine Mourning and three Ringnecks (2 not pictured). They were flying in pretty good after the downpour we had.

I went Saturday for opening day here in Alabama; not a good day. Miserably hot and still, only sporadic bird movement, then at 5:30 a thunderstorm moved in. Only fired 8 rounds mostly at birds past 40 yards and killed 2 which the fire ants found. It's supposed to be cooler next weekend so I might get to try again.

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The photo was taken Sunday by my brother and shows my stepdad, me, my uncle Mike (a Vienam LRRP veteran) and a Jonathan Tran, a Vietnamese foreign exchange student who is living with us. There is 5 man limit of 75 in that pile. It was Jonathan's 3rd dove hunt and he was shooting my house shotgun since he didn't like the 20 gauge I had provided him on previous hunts. It took him 2 hours but he got his limit with a bit more than 2 boxes of shells. The boy is hooked and wants to go every evening. My uncle said it was the first time he had been around an armed Vietnamese when he wasn't trying to kill them.

Perry