Young Hunters Score in Yuma Dove Hunt

Mason and Joe after a successful day's hunt.

As many have learned, teaching a skill can be more enjoyable than exercising it.

Last year I took Joe hunting, and he shot his first doves. In between seasons, I taught him to drive. This year I asked if he wanted to go hunting again, and he did. He asked if he could bring a friend, Mason. Mason had already been dove hunting, he said. After a few questions, I agreed. Mason is 16.

The boys were up and ready at 05:30, as I had asked. It was gratifying to see them appropriately dressed, with water and snacks, and shotgun shells. Joe's father was giving Mason instruction on a Benelli Nova 12 gauge pump. Mason said he had used a side by side, and I had brought one, an Ugartechea 12 gauge. I said he could use it. We brought the Benelli along as another spare.

I carried a beat up 20 gauge Remington 870 Wingmaster. Someone had removed nearly all the finish, so I picked it up at a local gun show for $100. I had grown up with a 20 gauge 870, and it suited me like an old friend. It was likely four times as old as the young hunters. I did not expect to shoot much, if at all, so it was another spare. I brought an old box of 20 gauge paper shell reloads with it, just in case.

The sun was not yet up when we arrived at the urban pocket where I have hunted doves for 15 years. It is just legal, and few know of it. The suburbs of Yuma (yes, we have them) have not quite wiped it out, yet.

This was the second day of the season. The limit was 15 Mourning and White Wing doves. There was no limit on Rock Doves (pigeons), or collared doves, both being invasive species. On opening day I had limited, with a bonus of two pigeons and four collared dove.

The hunt started slowly, pass shooting as the dove flew from roosting in the citrus groves to the fields. I instructed the boys on safety and shooting technique. I learned that Mason's experience consisted of three outings. The first, he did not shoot. The second, he fired only a couple of shots. The third, less than a dozen. I considered him a beginner.

Both boys did well, but Mason had an exceptional day, one I think he will remember for a long time.

A bird came in. I told Mason to swing on it, get in front of it, and shoot. He did. With his first shot his first bird dropped like a rock.

We changed position to take advantage of the the doves returning from the fields, and the action quickened.

Mason shot three shotguns that day. He dropped doves with all of them. The Ugartechea started misfiring in the right barrel, so I handed him the Remington Wingmaster and gave him some instruction. He had never shot a pump before, and he loved it. He fired twenty-one shots with it. With only four 20 gauge shells left, we switched to the Benelli.

He jump shot another dove with the Benelli as we walked back to where we had left Joe. Shortly after, the birds stopped coming and we quit for the day. Mason had 14 Mourning doves for about 40 shots, showing real wing shooting talent.

Joe bagged 7 Mourning doves, doing well. Joe was shooting the Browning Double Auto. The young hunters might have gotten more birds, but I kept them close for coaching.

I had the young men retrieve each dove as it was downed before they shot another. We did not lose any birds that we saw hit the ground.

I hope to take both hunters out again. I did not fire a shot.

Joe has indicated an interest in big game. Maybe I can find a place in Texas that needs some wild hogs removed.

©2016 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch

Yes.

I cook them in a slow cooker with soy sauce, garlic, onion salt, celery salt, a small amount of Tabasco, some oregano, a bit of red wine, if handy. Make sure the dove breasts are covered with water. After cooking overnight, the meat falls off the bones, and it is easy to remove the bones.

I usually serve them mixed with rice. Add the dove meat to the rice, break up the breast meat into smaller bits that will easily fit on a fork. This year I added some roasted garlic Balsamic dressing to the rice and doves, and it was delicious!

“Are doves good eatin’?”

As others have posted, yes, they certainly are. I used to go dove hunting every season, very much enjoying the challenge of their erratic flight paths, but due to various circumstances haven’t had the chance to go the past couple years. I’ve tried preparing them many different ways, and in the more recent years opted to just save the breast meat, that is, until the last ‘hunt’ I was on...

I was building a house for a guy a couple years ago. It was just the homeowner and I doing 90% of the work. We’d gotten all the rough framing done when a collared dove built a nest on top of an interior wall and proceeded to lay eggs in it. I’d rob the eggs (good eating!) and remove the nest one day, and a couple days later the nest would be back with more eggs in it. The homeowner got quite tired of the droppings and mess the doves were making, so I volunteered to get rid of them. I brought my Franchi over the following day and waited until just before leaving for lunch, planning on eating the doves for lunch. There was three of them that kept coming back, I’m guessing probably the one hen and two males. Why they decided to nest inside, with all our activity and the racket from our saws and nail guns is strange, but they did.

So I went outside with the Franchi to wait as the homeowner climbed up on the ceiling joists to flush them out. All three came out at once, and I managed to get two with the first shot and the third on a longer distance second shot. I picked them up and hurried home to prepare them, planning on eating (tough) dove breast and eggs for lunch.

As I was cleaning them, they remained warm since the ambient temperature was just over 100 degrees here in the high desert. I’m not sure what inspired me to do such, but when I split the breast on the first one and saw it’s little heart, about the size of a quarter, I pulled it out and popped it into my mouth. Perhaps it was some ancient carnivore/hunter instinct of going straight for the bloody organ meat, but I’ll tell you this, that warm and raw recently beating heart was absolutely the very best taste of dove I’ve ever eaten! As I cleaned the other two, I ate the hearts in the same manner, very tender and perfectly salted with the little remaining blood left inside.

After ‘discovering’ that special treat, the cooked breast and egg meal almost seemed like a let down. I haven’t had the opportunity to go dove hunting again since that last time, but having tasted that fresh, warm, and raw organ meat, and how exquisitely good it tasted, it’s a treat I’ll be looking forward to that cannot be duplicated or found anywhere else!

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