If
you have ever Dove hunted then you know that it is
an absolute blast. I remember being a kid and bugging
the shoes off my dad to take my brothers and I dove
hunting every weekend during all three phases. We
had an old family friend, His name was Dick Amestoy.
Dick was a farmer in Boynton Beach and had a whole
bunch of land that bordered the turnpike. He grew
vegetables and even gave us fresh produce here and
there; and man was it good. But better than that produce
was the dove shoots he used to put on.
I
remember the distinct smell of the farm. I would roll
down the windows on the way in, and the dust from
the previous truck entering Dick's place would roll
over my forearms. I would replay the previous weeks
shoot in my head over and over again. Back then I
was shooting a single shot 410 that was handed down
numerous times between my dad and his friends. I would
concentrate on what I was going to do different this
week, and tell myself over and over in my head, "Concentrate
this time Doug. Don't get excited; take aim , lead
the birds, put a bead on 'em, and most importantly,
have a good time." These were all things my dad
had said to us every time we went shooting. I was
a pretty good shot, but for a 10-14 year old kid to
be stuck in the middle of hundreds of dove with 2
or 3 boxes of shells and a whole afternoon to waste,
it was everything I could do toeven see straight.
The
best part of hunting at the Amestoy was the amount
of dove on the property. We could shoot a box of shells
in half an hour easy. I remember sitting on my 5 gallon
bucket and looking at my watch over and over again,
wondering when the birds were going to start flying.
I would get up and pace. Then I would check to make
sure I had that one shell in the chamber to ensure
I was ready when the wings starting flapping. Eventually
I would see the birds congregating on the wires that
wrapped Dick's property, and I knew it was time. Sure
enough, I would see one bird fly, then two, then 30
or 40. Before I knew it we were cleaning a mess of
dove at the house, and I was asking my dad if we could
go again next week.
 I
am now 25, and took my daughter dove hunting last
year, she was 2. I took some stuff into the field
with me, it was all loaded on a baby jogger with the
following items: A cooler (which had a sippi cup and
plenty of extra apple juice, apples,skittles,crackers,and
some string cheese, which my daughter can't resist.
I must have had about 15 books all of which involved
princess's, toads, clown fish, a beauty and a beast,
and last of all, my personal favorite, a little story
about and engine that could. I also had a tarp that
I used to cover the huge multi colored umbrella that
kept the sun out of my daughter's eyes. I had some
mesh along with me that I used to cover the stainless
steel that was on the baby jogger. That was her stuff.
The rest of the gear was typical dove hunting gear-
shotgun, shells (3 boxes) a bird vest, my license,
and a 5 gallon bucket to sit on. She sat on the tarp
and a beach chair so she could be comfy.
Lets
back up a little bit. We arrived at the dove field
around 12:00 p.m. (incase they started flying early.)
After about 4 capri suns, two dirty diapers, and about
30 children’s stories (YOU ALWAYS READ 'EM TWICE),
I saw the dove building up on the wires. I quickly
explained to her she needed to put on some headphones
so that her ears wouldn’t hurt. She put them
on and then took them off about 100 times and then
I gave up. I didn’t mention this before, but
I took my daughter to J.W. Corbett to specifically
test her ability to handle a shotgun blast. I fired
a couple of times, I then looked at her and with her
hands over her ears she yelled "DADDY, DO IT
AGAIN!" Any dad that hunts knows, I almost cried.
To wrap this up, that day I only took home about 5
dove. I lost a couple but it was well worth the trip.
She was a real trooper even though I think she made
some fellow dove hunters a little angry. I was yelling
across the field a couple of times to a couple of
guys that were making some amazing shots. I would
yell "Nice Shot". Well, my daughter felt
that she would do the same. The problem was she was
yelling at a totally different set of guys all of
which couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn.So
every time they would miss she would yell "Nice
Shot" She is verbal, very verbal. Sometimes I
wonder why I wanted her to talk so much. All in all
it was fun, and this time I will do it again except
this year I have to bring a POTTY.
The
reason I wrote this article is to get us all thinking
about dove season. I know it is a little early but
as many of you know dove hunting is a sport in which
you need land and the right conditions. Some land
owners have dove shoots in which you can pay to go
hunt, and Florida has opened some dove fields that
are pretty good. The public fields are fairly inexpensive
and can produce a good amount of birds. I also want
to point out that dove hunting season is a time to
get the whole family out . As you know, you dont have
to be real hidden and you dont have to be all that
quiet. This dove season try getting the family out
and save the solo hunting for killing that trophy
deer, pig, or gobbler.
We added a page that lists all the
Florida Special Opportunity Dove Hunts
Click HERE to view them.
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