Mike Giles
Three doves suddenly darted by just over my right shoulder flying at sizzling speed right down the middle of the standing corn field, just out of range. As they neared the safety of the tree line shots rang out and two of the three doves dropped from the sky like rocks. Justin Giles had just opened his afternoon dove hunt in style with the help of his new Benelli Vinci shotgun. The young hunter had recently purchased the high tech gun with the help of recently acquired graduation funds. Obviously no finer purchase could have been made for this young outdoorsman.
By 5 p m birds were swarming the field from all directions and volley after volley of shots rang out. On several occasions birds were headed my way, only to be cut down by a couple of young hunters situated in a stand just to the north of my location. Occasionally a group would fly by and I’d get a shot or two off. On a few occasions I doubled up on birds and they quickly fell in the tangled field of standing corn and morning glory’s.
Though much of my view was limited due to the standing corn, I could see the birds flying across the field. In a couple of spots the birds fell like flies as soon as they entered an unseen hunter’s strike zone. And many other times a few doves dive bombed the field and flew from one end to the other with nary a scratch. Sounds of rapid fire gunfire followed them all the way across the field. By the sounds of it a small war had broken out.
It’s been estimated that the national average on dove kills to shots fired is somewhere around one out of eleven shots. On many occasions the doves won, with a lot of powder burned in the process. But what else is opening day for?
Yes, opening day is a time of renewing old acquaintances and making new friends. For the youngsters it’s a time for learning to wing shoot. Some pick it up quickly, while others just burn powder while grappling with a newfound sport. And what a sport wing shooting is! Dove hunting affords perhaps more action than any other type of hunting, when you have doves that is.
If you plant it they will come! And that’s just what happened to us. Our host for the day, Charlie Phillips, really prepared the fields properly and the birds came down like rain during the afternoon hunt. As an added treat Phillips prepared smoked sausages for breakfast and barbecued hog and doves for lunch and my how scrumptious it was!
Many hunters brought their dogs to retrieve the birds and what a pleasure it was to watch them work their magic. Frank Eddins and his companion Diamond had quite a day in the field, as did Scott Davis and his dog Lucy. Labradors dearly love to retrieve doves and these dogs were no exception as they relished the opportunity to retrieve birds and please their masters. And it’s obvious that their owners also had great enjoyment and a common bond with their four legged friends.
Our opening day afternoon hunt was a great success and many limits of birds were shot. Almost everybody had the opportunity to harvest a limit, if they’d just been a little better shot, yours truly included. For recent West Lauderdale High School graduate Justin Giles, this was his best opening day ever as he really burned the birds up and got a limit with the help of his Benelli Vinci. Food, fellowship and plenty of doves make for a great day of hunting. It just doesn’t get any better than that!
