Dove and other wild game hunting…

[Errand Wolfe]

Nice! I took half my limit of doves on Colorado/Nebraska's opening weekend. Cut the breasts in half, pounded them flat, breaded with panko, pan fried, and they made amazing mini sliders/tenderloin style sandwiches.

Only caught a few sharptails and dusky grouse before I injured my knee and ended my hunting season. Still chasing the elusive sage grouse and ptarmigan both of which I expended lots of energy chasing this year.

 

[Tex]

Dove season is upon us, September 1 is open day I think for 21 states.

Had a limit by about 9:30am, west Texas, Haskell.. Had lots of rain, so had to walk into the fields to hunt.

Tara on a retrieves, she is holding steady has bird marked, just wanting for me to release her..

When I release her on command, she takes off like a rocket, she always licks her lips right before she takes off…

 

[Tex]

Awesome morning west Texas. Shot another limit, took me all day but that just makes it more fun..

 

[Bad Bob]

Growing up in Alaska would take spruce grouse with a rock or a stick. Not a particularly smart bird, but worked just fine for dinner on the trail.

 

[Wilhelmson]

I haven’t really hunted since I was a kid with a 22 pellet gun. Looks fun though.

 

[scott43]

Growing up in Alaska would take spruce grouse with a rock or a stick. Not a particularly smart bird, but worked just fine for dinner on the trail.

Dumbest bird going. Could run them over with my car...

 

[Bad Bob]

Dumbest bird going. Could run them over with my car...

Good camp food though.

 

[Tex]

Shot 15 dove (limit) Friday afternoon, and 9 Saturday morning, west Texas Haskell county. Nice cool weather in the morning, really nice. Tara on a retrieve. For labs, retrieving is instinctive, they are bred for this, it is natural, you do not have to train them for this…it’s intuitive for them.

Now getting them to heel and sit next to your chair, hold it so nicely and gently, not chomping and slobbering all over it, this is not intuitive, not natural, not instinctive, you can't bred dogs to do this, this requires training. Teaching them to not chomp on it is constant work, it’s like teaching your kid to not use their fingers when they eat, using your fingers is natural, you have to be taught to use a knife and fork. She is such a good girl.

Oh and I put 8 crappie in the cooler on Sunday, it was a cast and blast weekend. The Farmer I dove hunt on his land, he loves crappie... brought him 60 fillets for the dove opener, the next day he had his family over and cooked every single one of them. I took him 60 more this weekend.

 

[Andy Mink]

Shot 15 dove (limit) Friday afternoon, and 9 Saturday morning, west Texas Haskell county. Nice cool weather in the morning, really nice. Tara on a retrieve. For labs, retrieving is instinctive, they are bred for this, it is natural, you do not have to train them for this…it’s intuitive for them.

View attachment 179104

Now getting them to heel and sit next to your chair, hold it so nicely and gently, not chomping and slobbering all over it, this is not intuitive, not natural, not instinctive, you can't bred dogs to do this, this requires training. Teaching them to not chomp on it is constant work, it’s like teaching your kid to not use their fingers when they eat, using your fingers is natural, you have to be taught to use a knife and fork. She is such a good girl.

View attachment 179108

Oh and I put 8 crappie in the cooler on Sunday, it was a cast and blast weekend. The Farmer I dove hunt on his land, he loves crappie... brought him 60 fillets for the dove opener, the next day he had his family over and cooked every single one of them. I took him 60 more this weekend.

View attachment 179111 View attachment 179112

My old dog would retrieve dove but didn't care for it. Those feathers fall out if you look at them too hard!

 

[Tex]

My old dog would retrieve dove but didn't care for it. Those feathers fall out if you look at them too hard!

That is the main reason to train them to not chomp "mouth" it, because when they do that, all the feathers come off, and the feathers stick in their mouth like peanut butter, it for their own good to not chomp on it, but it is natural for them to do that. It is like teaching your kid to use a fork to eat a chocolate cake, it is natural for them to use their fingers, but it will get all over their fingers and face and shirt, not very pleasant...

I also keep a bowl of water right next to Tara, that helps a lot. She laps that water up after every retrieve, cleans the feathers off.

 

[UGASkiDawg]

Dove is excellent. A little garlic butter and sautéed. Grilled. All good.

My favorite game meat. I have a freezer with lots of the little buggers already wrapped in bacon with jalapenos and cream cheese. Dove Poppers

 

[KingGrump]

I don't hunt. Unless rummaging through the refrigerated poultry case in the Chinese groceries qualifies as hunting.

We love squab, doves and other smaller "game" birds. Usually we poach them in a flavored soy mixture. Finish them just before service with a light frying. Delicious. The best part is the flavored paper thin skin. Yield on the bird is a lot better too.

https://thewoksoflife.com/chinese-fried-pigeon-squab/

 

[Drahtguy Kevin]

Bert moves a little slower in his 11th season, but he doesn’t stop moving until birds are scented.

Bert and Steve in the shade of the truck after a romp through the sage flats.

My friend’s pup got some feathers in her mouth. She liked it.

On to Wisconsin in a week for ruffed grouse and woodcock.

The dove shooting has been incredible this season. Glad I stocked up on 28 ga. shells.

 

[Tex]

Getting cool enough in Texas to camp, dipped into the 50’s last night, real nice. Dove hunted Friday afternoon, camped, hunted Saturday morning. Shot my granddad's 16ga Remington Model 31, have not shot this gun in 15 years, it is a sweet gun, built in the 1940’s.

Love my Colman propane coffee maker, makes piping hot coffee…

 

[Tex]

This is how I work with Tara to hold the dove and not chomp on it, hold it gently and perfectly. I make her hold it, give her a little pop on the nose if she chomps it, she knows that correction.

She is such a good girl, holds them dove like an angle…

 

[Quandary]

I've yet to get out. Gotta get the antelope hunt out of the way first. Shorter than ears starts next week.

This was my New Mexico visit in August. Makes for good eatin'!

 

[chris_the_wrench]

This was my New Mexico visit in August. Makes for good eatin'!

I’ve never hunted antelope. Based on where they live(wide open, pretty much treeless areas) how do you stalk them? They are crazy fast and I ‘assume’ jittery?

 

[Andy Mink]

I’ve never hunted antelope. Based on where they live(wide open, pretty much treeless areas) how do you stalk them? They are crazy fast and I ‘assume’ jittery?

They have insanely good vision; they see at 8x-10x. So it's more of a "be there already when they get there" thing. Be accurate at 3-400 yards and greatfully take the 68 yard shot when it presents itself.

 

[tch]

My son-in-law is a bow hunter (very experienced, very successful). He tried bow hunting antelope once; said it was like trying to hit a Ferrari with a slingshot at a quarter mile.

 

[Quandary]

I’ve never hunted antelope. Based on where they live(wide open, pretty much treeless areas) how do you stalk them? They are crazy fast and I ‘assume’ jittery?

Where we were in New Mexico, Absolutely flat cattle grazing and oil fields there really is no stalking. (They eat the exact same grass as the free range beef you buy in the grocery store.) You could set up a blind by a water hole. This would be the approach for bow. For rifle it is spotting scope and see how close you can get for a reasonable shot. I took the animal in the picture at 246 yards. Dropped where it stood, which is always ideal for the flavor of the meat.

p.s. Pronghorn are the second fastest animal on earth. The fastest the African Cheetah. Supposedly the Pronghorn evolved its speed from being chased by the American Cheeteh which has been extinct for 1000s of years.