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Brooks Tinsley shooting an M2 accepts a dove from his lab, Coal in a Mississippi dove field.

If asked the purpose of dove hunting, a non-hunter might reply that it is to kill doves. Actually, it’s not. If the object was just birds for the table, logically the cheapest, easiest, most practical method of achieving this end would be to buy a commercially raised, professionally cleaned, pan-ready chicken for about $6. This saves the bother of keeping and training bird dogs, buying hunting licenses and bird stamps, risking snakebite, laying out for guns and shells, breaking teeth from biting into pellets and paying for the hundred fringe items that probably add up to costing the dove hunter in the range of $50 per ounce for dove meat.

And if the object was purely dead doves why do dove hunters choose to spend the money, watch and wait for hours all for possibly taking a limit of birds on the wing, while refusing to murder a dove on the ground or sitting in a tree?   (more…)

Dropping off shooters throughout the dove field.

Creating memories of the first outing in a dove afield.

Merely contemplating the approach of fall’s first outing with gun, good companions and good dogs can lift the spirits of any hunter who’s ever swung a gun at a four-ounce “gray speedster” that might be more aptly be called, the “artful dodger.”

Well, for all those who opened the dove season on September 1, I hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable day or two afield. For those whose opener is still ahead, or for those who will be returning to a favorite or productive field, here a few things to bear in mind for safety and etiquette’s sake.

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