# Excited for Opener



## njsimonson

I know I really only hunt doves for about two weeks a year now (Sept 1-Grouse Opener) but I am looking forward to it immensly. Strange coming from a "fishing" guy, but I got a hankering for some hunting this fall.

Who doesn't like fast moving birds, spent shot, the smell of gunpowder...mmm mmm! Not to mention those tasty little hors d'ouvres, giddy up.

Anyone else getting excited for dove opener? Got any good tactics or tips you want to share? How about recipes? Let's hear it!


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## Turner

I also am getting excited for dove season. It seams like it starts the fall hunting season off for me and the dog. Nothing like shooting 4 boxes of shells and coming home with 15 birds

I like to find a water hole that has mud banks and some trees by it. With this year being as dry as it is, it will be a sure thing. They like to get a drink before they roost at night so I use the watering hole to slow the little "tennis balls with wings" down. Or find some pine trees that line a harvested small grain field and sit within them for camouflage, they like the security of the pine trees for the evening roost. I haven't tried any decoys yet, maybe this year.

As far as eating them, I like to brown them in a skillet and then put them in a casserole dish with home made scallop potatoes and garden fresh green beans on the side.


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## Turner

Like I said in my earlier post. that water hole with mud banks you can find by any cut crops will be a magnet for the doves this year. I bought some dove decoys this weekend, it will be my first time using decoys to hunt doves.


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## nodakoutdoors.com

My spots are LOADED with doves already, it's going to be a great opener. I'm going to start the day with geese....go fishing for smallies....and end the day hunting doves. Sept. 1st will be a heck of a cast and blast!


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## Burly1

Wow Tony! 15% is right up there with my average. Seriously though, dove hunting is just a whole lot of fun. I really like to decoy with silo's and a robo dove. Having the dogs retrieve from a stinking little stock dam last year was a real outdoorsy experience. Hopefully I'll have more time to get out before the weather blows all the birds out. Good hunting, Burl


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## njsimonson

Went out and shot clays last night and saw a good number of doves in singles, pairs and triples. Didn't shoot so hot, but that's to be expected.


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## njsimonson

Single digits gang! 9 days to go! Sept. 1 can't get here fast enough.


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## Turner

one week away. got the decoys lined up and the shells in the bucket...... :jammin:


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## UNDkid

I have never got into dove hunting much, asside from a few days a year to scratch the hunting itch, but for some reason this year I am really looking forward to it, not to mention they make some good appetizers.

I have never tried using decoys, and i realize this is probably off subject, and should possibly be its own topic, but the last comment got me thinking of trying them out. If you don't mind sharing, what sort of tactics or stratigies do you use for decoying doves.


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## Turner

This will be my first year using dove decoys. What I plan on doing is setting up close to a natural roosting area, on the edge of a harvested small grain field that is lined with trees, or a small water hole that has mud banks. Doves don't like water holes with grassy banks. I will place my decoys on some home made rods hoping to entice more birds to join them. Will keep you posted on how things go, I will be out friday evening.
If any others have decoying tactics they would like to share, that would be great, need all the help I can get to get those little "tennise balls with wings" close.


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## MossyMO

A friend of mine pointed out this product to me - http://www.lynchworldwide.com/dovemaster.asp and as I looked at it I wondered if I could save a few bucks and make my own. So after a little thinking, I picked up two 2X2's and a couple landscaping poles at Menards and put this together.  That is it set up in our garden, my wife did not like it there. She said it looked like some sort of shrine or something. I left it there a week and did have dove's on highline wires eyeballing it, but never saw one sit on it..... I'm thinking it will work for doves and if doesn't, I am only out $8.00. It is 13 ½ feet tall, hinges in the center and will fit in a 6 ½ foot pickup bed with the tonneau cover down.  Has anyone else used anything like this with success?


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## njsimonson

Yup. We put dove decoys on tree branches when we station at a water hole. It seems to convince them that everything's kosher.


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## WingedShooter7

cant wait for dove season....its going to be my first time it will be awesome


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## UNDkid

So how did everybody do.


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## MossyMO

Well, this dove season started out slow for me, I was only able to get 2 doves. I was out about 2 1/2 hours, then the rain started and it is still raining this morning. The place I had picked out as to be a hotspot 3 weeks ago, there were no birds there yesterday. On a positive note, I only fired 2 shots !!!


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## Turner

Dang rain :******:


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## UNDkid

Turned out pretty decent on this weekend, got out to the field that looked promising a few weeks before and were pleasantly surprised that we picked the right day, and the birds had multiplied 10 fold. There must have been over a thousand doves feeding in the one field. After a few failed attempts to get close enough for some shots, we came up with a great plan. We noticed they preferred flying in on one corner of the field, so we got out the lawn chairs and had some pretty good shooting with the occasional walk through the field to keep them flying. Between the two of us we had about 25 birds in a little over two hours. 
With Saturday came the rain, but went back out for a bit on Sunday to find that either we had spooked them out the evening before, they had moved on, or we were way too early. There were only a couple dozen in the field. We stuck around for a little while but only got two birds. We decided a little exercise never hurt anyone, so opted to walk some tree rows, which was the ticket, and ended up picking up a few dozen more birds in the next couple hours between the four of us although we could have tripled that had we been able to shoot a little straighter. 
We did get a lot of shooting in and some good exercise plus it was just nice to be out in the field so it was defiantly worth it. Now I just need to find some new recipes to try out. Any recommendations?


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