First time dove hunter

[Etoncathunter]

A dove shoot over uncut corn. Wow

We had several people pull up to the gate and ask if it was the quota hunt location. When we said yes they would look at the fields, then just get back in their vehicles and leave. I'm sure some were just curious, but I bet a few were drawn and just decided it didn't look worth it.

 

[NCHillbilly]

Well... It went...
Met some good guys, and had a good time killing the clouds. I didn't scratch a bird though. Mostly from me being rusty at shotgunning, and inexperienced at dove in particular.

The shoot it's self wasn't what I expected. Seemed slower than what I thought would be. In 4 hours I think I shot roughly 15-18 shots at maybe 8 birds. I have no previous experience to compare it to, but what the other people were saying was that the field is not prepped worth a flip. It's all ~5' standing corn, 1 field had a road cut and a couple lanes but that was it. The 2nd field didn't even have that, and everything was THICK. Of the few birds I saw shot at least half weren't found and the others took forever to find. That said, the farmer could have gone in today and fixed everything up and it's perfect for hunt 2&3. Who knows ?

There can be an amazing amount of difference in numbers of birds from one day to the next, or different parts of the same day.

As for the misses, that's not hard to do with doves. Jim Dean described shooting at doves as like trying to spray a low-flying F-15 with a water hose.

 

[Etoncathunter]

As for the misses, that's not hard to do with doves. Jim Dean described shooting at doves as like trying to spray a low-flying F-15 with a water hose.

That's kinda what I expected. I've done some sporting clays since I got my new shotgun last year, but not as much as I'd like. I also know that clays can only do so much to prep ya. Shooting at a live guided missile is a whole other thing. Part of my issue I think was since it was the first time I had issues judging distance with nothing to compare it to. I recon that will come with experience/practice.

 

[NCHillbilly]

I miss a lot more than I hit, too. Swing through.

 

[Nicodemus]

When you shoot at a passing dove and it "dips or dodges", you shot ahead of it.

That doesn`t happen much. Most times you`ll shoot behind, especially if you don`t follow through.