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If your down in the valley for a ww hunt on a large Sunflower field you wont need mojos

I am down. Since, I have no property to hunt on, I "donated" $53 to TX to get access to some leased land as "public" hunting grounds.

We hunted all over the east side of the RGV when I was in high school, doves, quail, ducks, and geese. There were many unfenced and unposted fields with tree lines where we could hunt doves....everything else was pretty much on private property where my friend's father knew the owners and had permission for us to hunt. I miss it. Very different times.

VMI77 wrote:We hunted all over the east side of the RGV when I was in high school, doves, quail, ducks, and geese. There were many unfenced and unposted fields with tree lines where we could hunt doves....everything else was pretty much on private property where my friend's father knew the owners and had permission for us to hunt. I miss it. Very different times.

Very different times, indeed.

In my youth, I hunted with my uncle and grandfather all the time. I knew all of the fields they hunted and had permission to hunt them any time I wanted.

One time a friend and I were quail hunting when an old pickup pulled up next to my car. Knowing the farmer was checking out this unknown vehicle, I walked out to meet him. I told him that I had hunted here many times and my grandfather had said it would be fine to hunt his land. He asked who my grandfather was. When I told him, his face lit up with a big grin. He said I could hunt there any time I wanted. I won't repeat what he told me to tell my grandfather.

I inherited my father's shotgun (12ga), and I've never been dove hunting, but I'm itching to try it out. Any suggestions on how to get started?

Pawpaw wrote:

VMI77 wrote:We hunted all over the east side of the RGV when I was in high school, doves, quail, ducks, and geese. There were many unfenced and unposted fields with tree lines where we could hunt doves....everything else was pretty much on private property where my friend's father knew the owners and had permission for us to hunt. I miss it. Very different times.

Very different times, indeed.

In my youth, I hunted with my uncle and grandfather all the time. I knew all of the fields they hunted and had permission to hunt them any time I wanted.

One time a friend and I were quail hunting when an old pickup pulled up next to my car. Knowing the farmer was checking out this unknown vehicle, I walked out to meet him. I told him that I had hunted here many times and my grandfather had said it would be fine to hunt his land. He asked who my grandfather was. When I told him, his face lit up with a big grin. He said I could hunt there any time I wanted. I won't repeat what he told me to tell my grandfather.

Had a similar incident hunting ducks. Went to a place with my father where I'd hunted with my friend and his father and thought I had permission to hunt (so said my friend's father). When we were about to leave the rancher pulled up and blocked us in. My father went over to meet him....he knew my father and told us we could hunt there any time we wanted.

oohrah wrote:I inherited my father's shotgun (12ga), and I've never been dove hunting, but I'm itching to try it out. Any suggestions on how to get started?

Shoot some skeet to get in the swing of things....then find some place to hunt (don't forget the license). If you don't have a range you can go to or if you've got a place to shoot you might consider getting a trap machine. Hand held throwers are cheap...like $20. Mechanical throwers that have to be manually cocked and released can be had for around $200 or less, depending on the model. I just bought an automatic thrower so I can shoot by myself....works off a foot pedal (or you can get a remote control...button or voice activated) and uses a 12v battery for power. You can get one for under $300 off Amazon.

I went for a little more expensive model (Champion), and with the "trap taxi" to haul it around, plus a $20 lawn and garden battery from Walmart, spent around $500. I haul it around the property with a riding mower. I shoot regular 2 3/4", 8 or 7 1/2 shot, using a skeet bore barrel on a Remington 1100 or an over/under skeet gun. If your shotgun has a long full choke barrel you might want to consider a shorter barrel with less choke or a barrel with adjustable choke. I hadn't really shot much skeet since back in my military days and I was disappointed by how my skeet shooting ability has deteriorated. Still, it's a lot of fun and I plan to add an oscillating base/wobbler kit. There are a lot of videos on youtube about shooting skeet and trap and probably some about dove hunting.

I'm ready. Nothing but local birds so far. I'll be patterning Rio ammo in my shotguns in a few days. I picked up 4 cases of HB Winchester 4's,5's,6's and 7-1/2's last Monday at Cabela's in North Fort Worth and pallets of Rio were all over the place for $62-$78 a case so I picked up a case of HV 7 1/2's on the way out. The Winchester 7-1/2's were about $35 higher.

Rio has been around a very long time and my dad carries them in his gun shop but I never used them. Made in Texas is plus to me. Anyone have any experience with the performance of long-term stored Rio shells?

Skeet shooting - excellent idea! I haven't done that since I was in the service many moons ago. Thanks!

ME, ME!!!

I've been fattening up the Doves in my back yard for months now, (one's a meal). Do you think the neighbor behind me will mind a little shot in their roof or in their pool? I'll give them a few birds to compensate...

I'm looking forward to dove season, but the place I hunt (deer, squirrels and such) is almost all woods and no place for dove hunting. I have tried the public hunts before, but were either too crowded (peppered too many times to count) or never had any birds on it. All my old dove fields are now considered "in city limits".

Public land for me.