The Most Fun You Can Have With a Shotgun

By Rod Davis

I jerked the trigger on my little Browning A-5 20 gauge for the third time in rapid succession and I could not believe it….the bird was not falling in a crumpled heap nor were there any feathers in the sky! “What the heck?. No way I missed that dove!”

Many years ago, when I was well into my early thirties, I picked up a strange addiction: dove hunting.

When I married my wife, who was raised in South Carolina, I also got the immense privilege of getting a great father-in-law, Marshall Pickens White. In the Deep South, as a sign of respect, anyone older than you must be called “Mister”. For example: Mr. Bob, Mr. Bubba, etc.

My father-in-law went by a shortened version of his middle name, Pickens and therefore is called “ Mr. Pick”. (Hey,…. it’s a southern thing.)

At this time, I was an avid deer hunter, rabbit hunter, grouse hunter and above all, I loved to hunt squirrels! (That too, is a southern thing) But I was raised in West Virginia, the northern end of Dixie, or the southern tip of Yankeeland, depending on whom you were talking too.

My darling new bride was from the DEEP south, you know, grits, chitterlings etc. Her hometown is Edgefield, SC, where the National Wild Turkey Federation and Quail Unlimited are headquartered, so this can’t be too bad! It turns out that my new daddy-in-law is a big time crappie fisherman in Lake Strom Thurmond, right down the road, but he does not deer hunt! Go figure.

I had to ask, so when I asked what he liked to hunt, he replied “doves”. Now I had heard of people hunting doves, but never really saw it or participated in such a venture in my area of the country. In West Virginia, it was simply, just, not done.

But, since I was an adventurous sort in my youth, and willing to shoot at anything as long as it involved firearms, I weaseled an invitation to the next dove opener on the Labor Day weekend.

Labor Day found me in camos, at Mr. Pick’s direction, heading for a true Southern hunting tradition. I had my trusty Auto-5 and two boxes of #6 shot shells. I was taken to a “dove field” right on the outskirts of Augusta, Georgia. Now I found out that afternoon that hunting doves was not what I expected.

First of all, in the South, one does not “hunt” doves.

One “shoots” doves.

For example, a true southerner might invite you to a “dove shoot” at his field this weekend. Or, a true southerner might ask you, “How was your dove shoot”? These are subtle nuances one must learn in order to not be immediately pegged as a “Yankee” the first two minutes in the dove field. That would be embarrassing. I found there was plenty of time and opportunities ahead that day to show myself as a true novice, nimrod, and complete goober.

The number one thing to know about dove shooting is that they are bullet-proof. You cannot hit them, shoot them, intimidate or otherwise kill them in any way, shape or form.

It’s impossible!

Nothing on this planet with feathers can fly as fast, turn as quickly as a Mourning Dove. No other creature can humble you quite as fast or as thoroughly as this small game bird. I was instructed that the legal shooting time started at noon on opening day with dawn being the start time after that day. We showed up at the dove field about 1:30 PM and scattered around the field sitting on small camo stools or camo painted 5-gallon buckets in the edge of bushes or the tree line. A dove field is usually several acres, but no more than 8-10. Over the summer, it has been planted in Millet or sunflowers to attract and hold migratory birds. About 3-4 weeks prior to the opener, a tractor is brought in to mow some Millet down then to plow long strips in the field, maybe 40 yards wide, by 100 yards long. This gives the appearance of agricultural enterprise, which seems to attract doves. Bare dirt is great place for these sharp-eyed birds to spot seeds on the ground.

At that time, it was legal in South Carolina to place wheat on the field, providing you were “planting wheat” The owner of the field or members of his hunting club would spread… Sorry,… “Plant” wheat weekly on the field to attract and hold doves in the area.

Mr. Pick informed me that the local game wardens could drive out to your field and toss a three-foot by three-foot square wooden frame on the ground. They would count the kernels of wheat within the perimeter of the frame. If the total was under a certain number, it was “ag-ri-cul-ture” .

If the total kernels were over that number, you were “bait-ing!” This could involve severe fines, so a good dove field host made sure to only “plant” wheat on his field. This is a fine line and indiscernible to all but only the most astute sportsmen/ farmers.

I found a hedgerow that ended in the middle of the field, near the baited ground and sat there on my stool wondering what was next. My impulse was to go find some doves, and jump-shoot them like quail. No one else there that day seemed interested in doing this so I just waited quietly. You know, the key to hunting was being quiet.

“BIRD” someone screamed at the top of their lungs, “BIRD OVER THE FIELD!” I looked around frantically and saw a lone dove coming out of the trees 150 yards away, coming toward the baited field. Then…it started. Every hunter within 50 yards of that birds projected flight plan opened up. He never had a chance.

“ BIRDS!!!. ROD, COMIN’ OVER YOU!!!, BIRDS!!!. I looked into the afternoon sun, was blinded temporarily and then I saw them, 10-12 doves coming right at me at 12:00 O’clock.

“BOOM, BOOM, BOOM” the little Browning barked. All 10-12 birds went right over my head, and I could hear the whirring of their wings. What just happened here? I rarely missed. Quickly I reloaded, just in time to see the afternoon dove feeding frenzy start. It seemed every minute or so, groups of doves came flying over the field. The excitement, the yelling, the shooting and the smell of burnt propellant was exhilarating! Unfortunately, in all the excitement I shot both boxes of my shells inside of 10 minutes and had not one bird to show for it.

I sat back and watched the other dozen or so hunters in the field as they continued shooting. (They all had brought at least a case of shells… Hey, I didn’t know). Six doves came from the right and passed near Mr. Pick. His Remington 1100 fired three times in a blur of sound and I watched three dead birds falling at once. Pretty impressive stuff! I saw similar feats of shotgunning all over the field and decided I was in the presence of greatness.

I was able to shoot and kill one dove that day with the 5 or six shells that another hunter gave me after having pity on me. Some folks don’t care for Southern Baptists, but you can always count on them for an extra shell or two when the chips are down.

The first time on a real dove shoot, you should count on shooting every shot shell you own, spend a lot of time with an incredulous look on your face and you will probably go away humbled. It is not unusual for 1-2000 birds to be working a field.

A good friend, a grouse hunter of some note, shot 6 boxes of shells his first afternoon in the dove field we have here in West Virginia. He is quite the shot gunner, attested to by a story about three turkeys killed with one shot on an October day a while back.

But this day was different. I walked by his spot and inquired “How many?” He pulled two birds from his vest and looked disgusted.

I explained that the two-foot lead he was using just may need to stretch to 5-6 feet!

A mature dove, with the wind on his tail can cross your killing zone at over 50-MPH, jinking and twisting the entire route of his flight. You will almost always shoot behind the dove, until you learn better. After shooting these fields down south a few late summer weekends, I decided to try to import the sport back home to West Virginia. A friend, Stan Wallace, owned 287 acres of fine deer ground that had a neat little river bottom field that was mostly overgrown. It had perfect dove potential. A small river bordered the field for 500 yards. It had a small pond. There were several dead snag trees. For some reason, doves love to fly into a feeding area, land in a dead tree and check out the buffet a few minutes before flying down to feed. If you can conceal you self near such a tree, you are guaranteed a hotspot.

One side of the field is a hillside with a piney ridge where doves like to roost. We started mowing the field to a short height in early August. Then we plowed a few strips of ground where we sowed wheat, sunflower seeds and planted winter peas for the deer. We have been quite successful most years in attracting and holding birds at our little field.

The West Virginia limit is 12 doves per day. Some days, on a successful morning hunt, we can limit out in an hour. Usually we only hunt 6-8 guys on our little patch. Our guys all chip in with the cost of tractor fuel, wheat, etc. for this fun hunt. It’s the only form of hunting where you can talk to each other, hoot and holler, and shoot a lot. I have shot as many as nine boxes of shells in a day.

The little Browning was traded off in favor of better-suited dove guns. My favorites are Over/Unders with IC and Modified tubes or a Beretta and Benelli semi-autos. Twenty gauge guns are perfectly adequate for doves, with 1 Oz of 7.5, 8, or 9 lead shot. I enjoy shooting a twenty, but a 12 gauge allows for heavier loads of shot, putting as much as 75 additional pellets in the air.

It should be noted that doves are NOT legal to shoot in all states. Seasons are generally broken into three distinct segments with an early, mid, and late seasons allowed. Almost universally a dove opener is around the Labor Day weekend, and some states allow dove shooting as late as December or even January. This is great sport to start out a young hunter. Lots of shooting and laughing keeps their attention.

A longtime goal is to make it to Mexico or Argentina for a dove shoot. There, an average day of shooting will involve 5-8 CASES of shells shot. Hundreds of birds shot per day are the norm. Some of the big ranches there have populations of birds in the MILLIONS. The doves are larger, call Whitewings.

Doves are very, very tasty, too. There are many recipes but we like to pull out the breasts, roll them in a strip of bacon, secured with a toothpick, season with a little Lowry’s and toss them on the grill. They are dark meat and just like a little beefsteak while cooking.

So, if anyone gets an opportunity to shoot doves, please don’t hesitate. This is probably the most fun you can have with a firearm!

Copyright©2005 Rod Davis - Story and Photographs