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Secret to dove hunting success

Curran

Senior Member
Supporting Member
7,971
172
Central Ohio
Another piece of must-have gear for anybody serious about dove hunting...

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1441385324.191385.jpg

Make sure you get the pro series model. Anything else and you're just winging it.
 

Kaiser878

Senior Member
2,633
97
ohio
Shit u guys are shooting the expensive stuff. I go buy the 100 Rd value packs at walmart. Although, my gun has a problem. When it goes off once, it goes off 3 times. Haha weird
 

Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
38,841
260
Shit u guys are shooting the expensive stuff. I go buy the 100 Rd value packs at walmart. Although, my gun has a problem. When it goes off once, it goes off 3 times. Haha weird

Trust me and get a better shell. The first year I went out there i shot about 125 rounds out of value pack shells to get limit. The past couple years I've shot the Rio brand 7.5s and only needed about 60 shells. They're 1 1/4 oz loads and 1250 fps. Compared to the value pack stuff that's only 7/8 oz. Some were way too high so I could probably do it in 50 but that's half the fun. Reduced my cripples way down too.
 

Kaiser878

Senior Member
2,633
97
ohio
I shot 24 shells Monday for my limit. When we shoot doves we hope for cripplesI. It gives the dog some excitement. IMO your choke is most important . Buy a kicks or a pattern master and you'll see your accuracy improve dramatically. I shot a lot of Rios and B&P shells for sporting clays. They are a good shooting shell
 

brock ratcliff

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
24,834
247
I'm willing to bet the best thing a person can do to cut down on the shot-to-kill ratio is to hunt a private field. I enjoy hunting the piece of public that we do. The huge crowd is part of the fun. However, you will not get good shot opportunities at birds that have 20 or more shots thrown at them before they ever reach you... they are fast, and usually high... high enough to stay out of shotgun range.
 

Kaiser878

Senior Member
2,633
97
ohio
Wait. Ur saying to hunt a public field with how many other people in it? How don't people get shot? Or their dogs get shot?
 

JPN

Junior Member
618
94
coshocton
Wait. Ur saying to hunt a public field with how many other people in it? How don't people get shot? Or their dogs get shot?

Opening day is always really crowded at the public place we go and we usually have pellets rain down on us multiple times lol. I never take the dog on the first day but after that it slows down a lot and I'll take her.
 

jagermeister

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
18,060
223
Ohio
Brock's right... I always burn through way more shotgun shells on public land openers than when I hunt a private field. Much easier to pass up marginal shots when hunting private.
 

brock ratcliff

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
24,834
247
Wait. Ur saying to hunt a public field with how many other people in it? How don't people get shot? Or their dogs get shot?

People DO get shot, usually the range from which they are shot is such that it doesn't do any damage. You hear pellets raining down all around you nearly the entire time you are on the field. This year, we had a cry baby catch some shot, go to the hospital, and of course the game wardens came down to investigate. Luckily , Joe fooled 'em and no arrest was made... :) I'm kidding there, the dude was shot before we arrived at the field... As long as people shoot UP, it's not a problem. There are only issues when some clown waits for a high-percentage shot and shoots across the field.
 

Kaiser878

Senior Member
2,633
97
ohio
Anyone showing up with a prized dog on a public dove field opening day is an idiot...
Haha that sounds like an interesting day. I don't think there's any public dove fields around me. What do they do to attract the birds at these places? or are they just naturally there?
 

Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
38,841
260
Haha that sounds like an interesting day. I don't think there's any public dove fields around me. What do they do to attract the birds at these places? or are they just naturally there?

They plant sunflowers and then a week or so before the opener they mow leaving a strip of standing sunflowers in the middle. The strip runs the length of the field and is about 20 yards wide. The birds flock in there like crazy coming in as singles all the way up to flocks of 15 or so. Fire a shot or two at this one passing and turn around to see two more coming, hurry up and load and fire at those.

Like Brock said. There's probably 100 yards on both sides from the middle strip of sunflowers to the edge of the field. When there's quite a few people there you may have someone across from you on the field edge. Just make sure you're shooting at an upward angle. Pellets and feathers are constantly raining back down.

Where someone gets peppered is when a guy on one side of the field shoots at a low bird not knowing there's a guy on the other side some 200+ yards away. At that distance though it just stings a little.
 

giles

Cull buck specialist
Supporting Member
Once they cut the field they disc it also. So as long as the bird falls on the disced part, they are pretty easy to find. It was for sure a good time! I didn't even aim half the time, my gun wasn't loading correctly so I was taking single shots and my barrel was still smoking hot.
 

Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
38,841
260
Man.... sounds like a good time. Seems it would be hard to find all your birds without a dog though.

Oh it's a blast. Usually when I hit one I'll keep my eye on the spot it fell and walk right to it. Unless he falls close to a stick, dirt clump etc where I can mark it. If that happens I'll drop another one before going out to get it. On your walk out and back you'll get a few more shots if you want. Within 5 minutes of getting there my barrel was too hot to touch for more than 2-3 seconds. The birds just keep coming. It's almost like they think if they can land they're safe. Ever have geese or ducks that just refuse to quit and will circle back to try and land in the deeks no matter how many times you shoot of flare them? That's public land doves but it's constant.