"You see that?" said Edgar, jutting a scruffy chin to the pallet of Number 7 shot 12-gauge shells that the clerk at our local big box store was arranging. "Know what that means?"
I nod and can't fight the spreading grin moving across my face, "Dove."
Yes indeed, growing up in Mississippi, one of the rights of passage is dove season. And here comes another one.
Why the commotion
As a kid, right after you went back to school two things signaled the start of fall: football season and dove hunting. While at least you get to hold on to football until December, the doves were just around and in season for just a few weeks at a time. Moreover, they knew it. Everywhere you walked in September, you saw the little grey-brown birds gathered in groups. Their round, smooth heads turning this way and that, mocking you through their tiny black eyes. They were counting down.
Just as Captain Ahab had his white whale, Steve Zissou had the jaguar shark, and Charlie Brown had his football, men and boys across the Magnolia state have those taunting flights of mourning doves. Yes, there are plenty to go around, with figures as high as 400-million mentioned in reports from MDWFP, but still, like a comet they seem to streak into the sky and then race away as fast as they came. Gone until next time.
First hunters
With so many of these flying seed stealers flittering around the state in the fall months, dove season can be the perfect introduction to hunting. Unlike deer, waterfowl and turkey, camouflage, scent, and sound discipline are not as ironclad important to these small brained creatures. This means that a young hunter making a little noise, or wearing a bright t-shirt coming right from school rather than full realtree can still have hopes of bagging a few nice birds. Don't get me wrong, they can see well and they do spook very easily, but with 400-million of them out there, odds are there are some that are not that bright.
Quantities of these birds are so thick that the current daily bag limits are 15 birds per hunter with the possession limit being three times the daily. This is among the highest limits for migratory birds in the state. Dove are challenging little targets, with modern skeet shooting based in large part on their movements. These wily acrobats are known to zig and zag in flight, dropping and flittering at sharp angles. It's almost as if they knew that you were taking aim on them. Have no fear; this is why they sell dove shot by the case rather than the box. I tend to average 5-6 dove per box, when doing honest math.
Still, there is nothing like taking a kid out to the dove field with a couple shotguns and a case of shells. It's almost like going to the fair, only with better rides.
Best choices
Remember that dove needs a few things to be happy. These things include a water source, a dirt source, and a food source. In their daily cycle of life, they move from one to the other and then the third in stages, eating, drinking, and graveling. Therefore, if you find a nice pond next to a sheaf of tall grass by a stretch of gritty rock/gravel, you have just found dove paradise. Should you have problems finding the perfect place, just watch for a group of passing dove. Odds are they are heading to it. Follow them and be on the lookout for the three happy things. If you do this before they finish their countdown and migrate again, you will have a better chance of using up a good supply of that No 7 that you just bought.
When aiming, be smooth and deliberate. Focus on the bird, focus on the bird, focus on the bird. Give it a little lead space, squeeze the trigger, rather than jerk, and be sure to have a good cheek weld on the stock. Oh yeah, and focus on the bird. After each set, be sure to immediately reload and keep your finger off the trigger until the next group comes along. There is nothing more embarrassing that having twenty dove wing their way just a few feet above you while you fumble with a handful of shell hulls.
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