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Sileage Dove Bonanza!

jagermeister

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The big dairy farm south of me has chopped sileage like crazy over the past month, and the doves are pouring in like nothing I've ever seen before. There must be hundreds, if not thousands, of doves utilizing these fields right now. So yesterday I picked up a box of shells and went out for a quick afternoon hunt.

The field...


The decoy spread...


The point of ambush...
(by the way, layout blinds kick ass for dove hunting... not just for waterfowl)


My view...


The results...


Lucky for the doves, I was a terrible shot yesterday. 25 rounds just wasn't quite enough... lol. I did manage to scratch out 10 birds, though, and it only took me about 40 minutes.

Here's a brief video from the gun cam...

[video=youtube;GNgykJA8_gI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNgykJA8_gI[/video]
 

JOHNROHIO

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Fun stuff JB, I keep talking but have not made it out yet. Maybe that will # 1 on the list Friday.
 

jagermeister

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I need to do that shit. Looks like a blast JB!!!

Fun stuff JB, I keep talking but have not made it out yet. Maybe that will # 1 on the list Friday.

IMO this is the perfect year to get out there and do it. The mild winter and dry spring was pretty kind to the nesting birds, and I believe the local dove populations are booming right now. Add to that the early harvest of wheat and chopping of sileage, and there is food everywhere. I'm seeing WAY more doves this season than I have in the past 4 seasons living in this area. Get out there and get shooting! It's fun, they're delicious, and there isn't a better way to hone your shooting skills prior to waterfowl season.
 

Gern186

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Nice Jim, looks like a good time. I could shoot about 15 in a single shot at my place every night if I wanted to shoot them off the powerline in front of the house...those things are all over the place here too.
 

jagermeister

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Nice job. Too bad there weren't any pigeons around and u had to settle for doves...lol

You would have smacked me if you had seen the pigeons that I didn't shoot at! lol There was a slunger of a white pigeon too! I just had limited ammunition.
 

brock ratcliff

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Looks like a great time, Jim! Lesson learned; when dove hunting, always take more ammo than you will ever need.
 

Redhunter1012

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Good times for sure. We have a Dekalb plant close to us that a local farmer would visit and get the ground up extras for free. He would spread that stuff on his cut wheat fields. I'm not kidding, for a few years it was like one of those argentina dove hunts. You literally shot as fast as you could reload and the doves and pigeons would land beside you as you were picking up dead birds. Not sure what happened with him getting that stuff but when he quit there wasnt a dove anywhere out there
 

jagermeister

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Our Dove action has slowed down the past few days,,I am wondering is the cold nights pushing the birds south?????

Funny you mention this. I was thinking the same thing yesterday afternoon. I was doing some afternoon scouting and, even though there were still a butt load flying around, it still didn't seem like there were as many as I had seen the day before. I am "guiding" my buddy's kid tomorrow afternoon on a hunt, so we'll see how the numbers look then. It wouldn't surprise me though if the cooler temps are driving them south already.
 

Huckleberry Finn

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We had a huge flock of doves in the cut wheat field by the house, with a few white's mixed in...they just never made it to this end of the field!