Dove Hunting Lessons

[Istandalone]

Post em up. along with the ever present safety issues what are your dove lessons/tips.

One I learned this year. If someone says, "four of us got our limit there last evening," do not expect to shoot very many the following evenings.

 

[Wormydog1724]

1) Mojo Dove.

2) Sit in the Shade.

3) Mojo Dove.

4) MOJO DOVE!

 

[r00s7a]

I learned to take plenty of ammo if I am in a good spot, cause I am a really bad shot. Late season after they have been dusted and shot at, it can be like shooting at small teal!

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

Here's mine. The lesson I learned during the last few years is, I'm much better off, and my time is far, far better spent in September, in a more enjoyable and productive manner: fishing, managing & improving land for deer & turkey seasons (plots, feeders, stands, burns, etc.), scouting for deer & turkey seasons, otherwise preparing for deer & turkey seasons, earning more money so that I can take off more during deer & turkey seasons (and waterfowl & squirrel & pheasant & quail seasons for that matter), and any number of other activies to placate the other girlfriend so that my 'bank' is built up enough to take a lot of time away during deer & turkey seasons,

than it is:

sitting on a can for hours on end in 95 degree heat, with mosquitoes & ticks all around, covered up in camo, sweatin like a pig, shooting at the occasional dragonfly a couple times an hour (missing of course), and shooting at the very very occasional dove, and possibly getting enough - 3 doves let's say - for one meal, if I'm lucky in a day, and getting a ton of sand burrs and other burrs & stickies on me on the way in and out, when I don't even care for the taste of the birds all that much.

That's what I learned. You asked, now.... YMMV, and my analysis would likely be differerent if there were more than just a scant few where I have access to hunt, or if I were to learn of where to go on public land to get into them thick, and/or if I were a much much better shot. P.S. I've used the mojo - it still doesn't work when there are very very few of them. Granted, the few that are there do come to it at first, until they wise up a bit.

Scouting, scouting, scouting for the fall - THAT pays off in dividends. Wasting time trying to hit flying UFOs that can turn on a dime, in order to try to obtain a pauper's meal does not.

 

[Wormydog1724]

Lol. Sounds like a personal problem to me.

 

[Weatherby]

Shoot some skeet prior to dove season. I found out this year that I am not as good as I once was.

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

Sounds like a personal problem to me.

Ha! No, not anymore - It WAS a personal problem. Now it's a very good thing!.

I found out this year that I am not as good as I once was.

Yeah, but are you as good ONCE as you ever 'was'? (to quote a famous former Sooner football player). I guess if we can hit ONE dove, then we can claim we are as good ONCE as we ever was.

 

[Istandalone]

Another one: You don't notice Chiggers until it is too late, but Benadryl gel works wonders.

 

[minman]

Does the Mojo dove decoy work? I've seen them but haven't tried it.

In response to the lengthy discourse about why NOT to dove hunt: dove hunting and hunting in general is usually not about comfort and getting a lot of shots and game and putting a lot of meat on the table...... at least not for me... you may be a better hunter than I am. Most hunting is done in uncomfortable conditions (either hot or cold) and with other undesirables, such as ticks and mosquitos. The reason dove hunting is so popular with me and most guys that I know is that it is the first opportunity in the late summer/early fall to get out and shoot at something that is alive. Also, when you do get a good spot where there are a lot of birds, it is a LOT of fun..... even if the hit/miss ratio is very low.

 

[1mathom1]

Get 'em coming in because if I don't.... going out they'll be dodging and flying faster than an F16.

IF...IF.... I hit one go to it quick or I'll never find it in the grass/weeds/brush.