The Opening Of Dove Season

By Scott Ellis

After a long day on the annual planting of our dove field, one can do nothing but stand back and have a sense of pride and accomplishment. That’s the beauty of planting a dove field, it’s not only a gathering of friends, it’s a time of sharing memories and bonding. Three of my closest friends, my father and my uncle joined together back in July to get our annual dose of farming. We started this endeavor five years ago. That was my first time planting. With my father and uncle, I grew up hunting millet fields the mines had planted for erosion purposes. We had some great shoots and it is where I learned to hone my wing shooting skills. But there is just something special about standing over 12 acres of freshly planted earth and knowing you’ve done it on your own. You really appreciate the shoot and the all the camaraderie that comes with it.

You visit the field throughout the summer months checking your planting and watching it grow. About a month and a half later the crop starts to brown out and the millet starts to seed over. As the dove start to gather it is truly exhilarating. Anticipation is high and you anxiously wait for the arrival of opening day. As the season starts to draw near everyone starts speculating who will limit out first and who will shoot the most shells. We rib each other about the past misses and rejoice over doubles we’ve taken along the way.

Careful preparation and planning go into our annual event. At daybreak we start with a venison sausage gravy and biscuit breakfast. Soon after we start the smoker and prep our chicken quarters for their three hour journey from cooker to the end result, our belly. All the fixings are there for the taking, potato salad, baked beans, corn bread and sweet iced tea. We finish our lunch and at high noon begin loading the shotguns and grabbing the dove stools to head up the field. We all know as dove hunters not many birds will fly that early in the heat of an October day in Florida, but we don’t care, we’re there for the fellowship as much as anything. As it starts nearing mid afternoon the birds start their attack on our field with ravenous appetites, as they attempt to forage on our well prepared field. Shots ring out and the whistling and hollering starts as birds enter the field and we commence to filling the air with number 7 ½’s and 8 ‘s. The laughing out loud begins and the watching in disbelief as we miss. Shouts of joy ring out when we bring down one of these grey buzz bombs.

As the hunt draws to an end and the waves of birds have diminished, we start gathering up our empty shell boxes and dove decoys. We laugh and poke fun at one another and talk about the shots that could have been. From day light till dusk, we make a full day of it, all the way down to cleaning our harvest at the end of the hunt. It all comes down to the memories made and the precious times shared afield with loved ones and friends. If you haven’t had the opportunity to become a part of such a great event I would encourage you to do so. There’s no better way to kick off the upcoming fall hunting season than with a dove shoot.