Any avid hunter welcomes with delight the opening day of their preferred season, and for me up until just a few years ago it was always dove .
The only years I was not present and accounted for were those six years I was abroad serving my country in support of our troops.
That magical day of dove season opening is typically on the first Saturday of September (on occasion Labor Day Monday), and this year that’s today, a magical day for sure to all wing shooters.
The target? The darting and dodging mourning dove, a most elusive and hard-to-hit prey.
I know, because I have wasted more shotgun shells than scored at these flying feathery missiles.
The challenge of your wing shooting skills versus the darting, diving skills of the dove always brings a thrill.
Some years ago, an introduction of an exotic breed of dove only made the hunts more exciting. So now you have the mixed bag of the mourning dove as well as the exotic dove.
The Eurasian collared dove is somewhat larger with a distinct black ring on their neck and the lavender color, and when you score on one it is a delight.
My hunts go far back to when I was a teenager and young adult. Here in south Mississippi and especially Walthall County, when all the dairy farms were prominent, it was nothing to see the many hay fields converted into dove shoots with an abundant population of doves.
Many were the early mornings I would find my spot in a hay field under the cover of a bordering tree or brush and hear some fellow hunter holler out, "Coming in!” or “Coming over!"
It was always a tradition to meet up early enough to plan out where you and the others would be standing. After the morning hunt we’d reconvene at one’s home to clean the doves harvested, place them on a grill or batter them and fry them for a late breakfast or lunch.
Did I mention your feathery target is a tasty treat for the table?
Nowadays, there are the paid hunts, like the one I saw advertised on Facebook where for $225 you could enjoy a morning hunt, lunch, a clay target shoot and of course the afternoon hunt, not bad at all.
Years ago, some wealthy in-laws of mine went to Uruguay in South America to shoot doves. Imagine if you will a paradise that combines the best elements of exciting wing shooting and the luxurious refinements of a guide loading your gun for you and retrieving your doves, plus dining and living in a Tuscan-like vineyard nestled among the scenic rolling hills of Uruguay.
Where your days are filled with fast-paced almost chaotic shooting looking up at the clouds of doves flying over in endless strings.
More than 50 million doves are estimated to roost on or fly over on any given day. There is nowhere else in the world that one can experience this caliber of dove hunting.
There are no kill limits like we have here in Mississippi, and the locals there get the doves to eat, so nothing is wasted.
My rich in-laws shot and killed doves until the ground wasn’t level, as the old saying goes. That is what Uruguay hunting is all about.
But those hunts are extremely expensive and is why I was not along. Chances are most of us can only dream of such hunting and will settle for the more down-to-earth excursions here at home.
Regardless if you go to some kinfolk or friend’s dove shoot or join in the public paid shoots now available, it is still an exciting way to welcome the fall hunting season.
Remember, this is not Uruguay, and on the opening day of the season, 15 doves is the possession limit. After opening day, the possession limit is two daily limits and no more than 30 doves.
Good times are here, it’s the magical day of dove season!
God bless you and God bless America.
