Opening Day in Georgia – Public Land Dove Looking

The primary Saturday in September is taken into account by most the most important day of the dove looking season in Georgia. Whereas the mourning dove season in Georgia is a cumulative 90 days, for many hunters that is the one day that actually issues. Whilst you can go to a personal land paid hunt, lots of people don’t need to spend $150 per individual to shoot a discipline, me included. Fortunate for us the Georgia Division of Pure Assets’ Wildlife Assets Division units up public dove fields in Wildlife Administration Areas or Voluntary Public Entry space. These public fields are ready by the company to draw as many doves as potential yearly. In order that was the plan to hit the dove fields up at Berry School WMA.

All the pieces went fairly easily apart from me operating slightly late, we bought all my gear loaded into his truck alongside along with his and his pup, Violet, and bought on the highway. Fortunately for us, it’s solely a 20-minute drive in comparison with the standard one-and-a-half-hour drive I used to be used to for the opposite WMA I went dove looking at. As we pulled up the fields we truthfully thought oh it received’t be crowded, seeing how empty the roads have been. We have been each very incorrect, whereas the roads have been fairly empty the gravel parking zone was not. We have been simply later than a lot of the different hunters. However truthfully, it didn’t matter an excessive amount of apart from looking for parking, as nobody was allowed onto the fields till an hour earlier than dawn.

So we bought all our gear and loaded it into the cart, and walked as much as the gait, and waited until it was time. As soon as 6:15 a.m. rolled round everybody was transferring, a sort of rushed stroll via the darkish. Nobody was operating actually, however everybody was making an attempt to maneuver slightly forward to get to the spot they needed first. With all of those hunters, there was loads of competitors for what folks thought can be their honeyhole. We stored strolling to the rear discipline, a mowed discipline of millet. We discovered a spot on the nook of the bushes and brush and arrange our spot. As soon as the decoys have been out we simply waited. Taking pictures gentle got here, however the fields have been nonetheless quiet. Round 7:00 a.m. lastly we heard some pictures from behind us within the sunflower fields nearer to the doorway.

The climate was cool, and principally overcast that morning. Whereas the forecast for doves this 12 months for the fields was good, the opener was beginning off fairly sluggish. We might sometimes hear the pictures behind us however whilst dawn got here and went the doves have been a bit sporadic. A number of right here and there, normally both to the left or proper of us, and in the event that they flew from throughout the sector normally getting turned by a pair teams of hunters arrange on the hay bales in the midst of the sector. Sometimes although we might get a number of pictures on birds, whereas my inexperience and my buddy’s ammo points did make touchdown these hits a bit troublesome. Whereas I had already taken the Savage Renegauge Subject mannequin out entice taking pictures already a dove and a clay are two very various things. The Savage was a dream to shoot a minimum of, in comparison with my outdated O/U the recoil system made taking pictures it tremendous snug.

For the primary couple hours of the morning, it stayed a bit slower like this however we did have a few doves attempt to land within the decoy unfold. However as a result of they flew in low and the way crowded the fields have been we held off taking pictures at them for security causes. Whereas we didn’t get the doves it’s all the time good to see that your decoy unfold truly labored. Issues began choosing up although, the birds have been transferring a bit later this morning.

I believe it was because of the overcast situations however right me if I’m incorrect. We might see a pair birds right here and there after which some greater teams of 4 or 5 begin to fly by. We even downed a few birds because the morning went on, however the first couple went straight into the briars behind us. That stuff was so thick you couldn’t see greater than 8ft into it and Violet couldn’t push via it.

Whereas we nonetheless didn’t have a dove in hand, we a minimum of had some extremely tasty venison snack sticks that my buddy introduced. A significantly better hunter than me he had these from deer he bought final season. However issues have been going to vary the doves have been choosing up, with increasingly flying over the fields. You possibly can hear all of the pictures going off throughout, the shouting and yelling of excited hunters. Whereas some could not just like the crowds there’s a appeal to it, it retains the vitality up and even is useful when others would let you know off a chook coming in over your shoulder. That kind of warning bought us our first couple of birds that Violet might truly retrieve from the sector. She was ecstatic lastly attending to seize a chook after seeing them go down round her all morning.

We ended up dove looking until slightly earlier than midday. The birds ramped up a very good bit earlier than seeming to give up. Together with the decelerate, we knew the wonderful climate was solely going to final so lengthy earlier than the new noon solar was going to peak out from behind the clouds. So we determined to name it a day and head out. Packing all of the gear and trash again into the cart we did our stroll out of the dove fields. In fact, as we left one other group of doves flew throughout. Whereas we bought nowhere close to a restrict of doves, for a last-minute journey the place we went in blind apart from some satellite tv for pc photos I can’t complain. I couldn’t have requested for a greater opening day of dove looking; nice climate, nice firm, and a great deal of enjoyable.

Eugene L.

Fishing Author for AllOutdoor.com An avid angler since I used to be little, primarily based out of the South East United States.