We have doves like crazy this year. Haven't seen this many in ten years. My brother in law and I went out opening morning and both limited out in just over an hour.
Monday (9/1) was our opening day here in NC and we laid down a pile although it was a lot slower than last year. Going back out this afternoon to slay some more and hopefully spark the coals tomorrow afternoon. Good luck
What are your state limits this year? Here in WV the daily limit is 15 with possession limit of 45. As a young boy dove hunting was one of my favorite things to do. I always enjoyed out shooting everyone else and filling my limit before them. I just recently started getting back into it. Have had much success in the pass years. But the numbers this year seem to be very good. While we were goose hunting Monday we could have all easily filled our limit 10x.
Do you ever head over to Jim Edgar to hunt? I worked out there for a few summers when I was in college and they always had pretty good dove harvest numbers each year... usually top 2 or 3 in IL state parks. Never realized how much work went into getting ready for dove season until I worked there.
nope, today was my second dove hunt ever, both at Sangchris. I hit several doves.....I say hit? Yes.....3-4 dove had feathers fly and never went down? 12 gauge and #7 steel shot? Three other doves hit the ground and when I ran over to grab them, they flew away? I am new....is this normal?
We hunted Jim Edgar yesterday and shot a few. Fields 5 and 6 are pretty hot. When shooting steel I'd go down to #6 and 7 for lead. I've heard nothing but good things out of Sangchris (other then having to shoot steel)
Sangchris is awesome and getting better all the time. The Superintendent out there is Randy Hawkins and he has done an amazing job since taking over out there! I wish I had gone down to #6 in steel, I would have got my limit I believe. There were hundreds in the sky a few times.
I would step it up to 5 or 6 steel. When NY opens a season, ill probably start it number 4 steel since I have so much of it.
I usually use 6 shot. This year I shot 1 on opening day.. They didn't fly all day on corn and bean fields. Today I got a flapping decoy and 4 clip ons. Tommorow I'm making a tree to mount them on and I'll be hunting my fresh cut alfalfa fields. Hopefully I can get enough to eat! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Think of it this way. A dove is about the size of a clay target used in sporting clays - skeet - trap... Target loads used for clay targets are #8 Using a larger shot size a reducing shot count is reducing your chances of hitting the target. Take a #8 shot load and put it on paper and put it up against a number #6 or larger shot size and you will see what I'm talking about. Also choke tube size is a big factor. I run modified all season for dove duck and goose.
