Opening Day of Dove Season in GA

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Speaking of doves, does one eat them? I would suppose so, but there can't be more than a couple bites. Is this game that one cooks many at one time? I've never hunted them when I was young, but I suppose they're fun to hone the shotgun skills. The only birds I hunted were grouse & pheasants; I did take a couple woodcocks but they were too small. We just put them in with the chicken soup. Just wonderin' if I missed some good eatin'?
 
Hi what´s exactly the name of the species of dove you have up there ? Size and weight?Any pics?
Down here we have doves and wild pigeons also ,I´d just want to compare them.
Thanks, regards, Ray
 
For thirteen years I have created a dove field out in the front 20. Last year we picked up 349 doves off that field. Over the years it's gotten quite elaborate. I have 7 total members in my club. We have a big dinner(NOON) under my carport( wife has everything cooked up today). We eat left overs after the hunt. We then give each member a momento with Dove Club 2022 on it. This year it's a soft cooler. Started with tee shirts years ago.........Then I lay out the field map with stand locations and we draw from a hat and go to the field. We started using walkie-talkies with earbuds to communicate instead of yelling across the field when birds come in.
Dove fields are expensive but fun. I have over $2600 in this field. My "members" tote most of that load.
I shoot 20 ga and 410 bore O/U's and auto's with with hand loaded home made #8 shot.
 
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We used to plant fields of millet and just mow it rather than harvest it. Made for great dove shoots. No more. I haven't been to a good shoot since.

I'm not sure that's illegal. We have planted Sunflowers and bush hog them and the Law comes up and checks for gun plugs and hunting license and then goes away. We have also top sowed wheat instead of using a drill and never any had complaints from the Law. Larry
 
I'm not sure that's illegal. We have planted Sunflowers and bush hog them and the Law comes up and checks for gun plugs and hunting license and then goes away. We have also top sowed wheat instead of using a drill and never any had complaints from the Law. Larry

Here in SC you manipulate a crop any way you want to as long as the crop doesn't leave the field. I plant corn, sunflowers and prozo millet. I bush hog a couple of sunflower and prozo rows. I also put my mulcher on the tailgate of the truck and grind/blow corn up and down the field. I rake bush hogged SF, millet and corn with my tractor. Raking it back and forth exposes more seeds.
I top sow wheat after Oct 1st. IN 13 years we've only been checked twice, They checked/license and left. Never once looked at the field.
 
We plant sunflowers, then bush hog rows thru the field. Second and third seasons we continue to bush hog.
No shooting for me tomorrow, I’ll park a big grill under a oak tree and grill chicken quarters for a late afternoon meal.
No food at Monday hunt, so me and little Boykin will get a mess of birds

I’ve been a part of this since I was 5 years old and serving as my dad’s retriever. Can’t imagine missing open day of dove season
 
Years ago I traded into an Ithaca 37 12 gauge riot gun that had been threaded for screw-in chokes. I made a magazine plug out of a piece of 1/4”PVC pipe and took it dove hunting. DNR officers outnumbered the ants on that field, and every time an officer spotted me swinging that Ithaca they made a bee line straight to me. I ran their butts off that day.
 
Doves

I couldn’t kill a dove. I’m a bit skeptical of live sporting targets. The dove is the most peaceful, trusting, wild bird I’ve ever observed. One nesting on a garden hose reel on our house would almost allow one to touch her before she flew away. It would be difficult for me to shoot a bird of that nature. The dove is an international symbol of peace. You dove hunters must excuse my squeamishness concerning doves, as I’ve willingly hunted, and harvested equally timid peaceful creatures, but only if they were used as food.

It's mind over matter, if you don’t mind it don’t matter.

Chubbo
 
Chubbo, those birds of peace are anything but. They fight and terrorize other birds around their nests. Hummingbirds are the same way. As far as baiting they kept changing the laws years ago. You could broadcast wheat in afield but had to rake it under kinda sorta. There were 7 or 8 of us that had farms back on the Eastern Shore. We planted sunflowers on our own places and others we rented. To cover the costs we took dove hunters for a fee. Got checked by the state and feds all the time. We were hunting a field of sunflowers one day and the birds were so thick they were coming in groups like those big flights of blackbirds. We got checked by the feds and the fellow that came to me said he had been doing that work for 20 years and had never seen that many birds. I gave him my D grade 1100 410 and 2 boxes of shells and told him to shoot some birds. In 15 minutes he came out of the field with a limit of doves and 24 shells left. One of my labs retrieved over 10,000 doves. As far as eating... I just breasted them out as its too much work to pick the whole bird. 2 of my aunts and my mother loved doves and they split up all I brought home. They were good eating but they really loved 'em. I would rather have a quail or a green wing teal/wood duck/pintail for eating. My daughter saved one she wingtipped and it lived in her room all winter with another that was all but frozen out near the barn. Those birds lose feathers all over the place She turned 'em loose in the spring and they nested in a big ol lilac bush in the yard
 
I am sitting here drooling and jealous.

Doves are great eating and with the liberal limits here in Ohio (15 per day 30 in possession) you can make quite a meal out of them. Barbecued wrapped in bacon is how I like them.

I have missed the dove seasons for the last 10 years or so too many commitments too little time. It is really fun and a great way to introduce young hunters since it is usually a target rich environment.

Below are the Ohio regulations regarding manipulation of grain in fields for hunting. It seems that you can plant then cut, but once cut no further manipulation.

DOVE HUNTING
Hours for dove are sunrise to sunset. Doves
may be hunted with lead shot. Dove field
maps are available at wildohio.gov.
Doves may be hunted on areas that have
been manipulated (for example, mowed
or bush-hogged) for wildlife management
purposes, in addition to areas that have
been planted or harvested in a normal
agricultural manner. Neither waterfowl nor
doves may be hunted on areas where grain
or other feed has been distributed once it
has been removed from or stored on the
field where grown.
 
my Texas way

1. Shoot limit of birds
2. Pull skin and feathers away from breast
3. Make a cut on breast at both wing roots
4. Pull meat away from breastbone, leaves a heart shaped breast
5. Marinate breasts in fajita seasoning overnight
6. Put sliced jalapeno, fresh or canned in middle of breast
7. Put dab of cream cheese on top of jalapeno
8. Fold over, wrap in bacon and grill

6 of the 15 bird limit will fill most people, great appetizers as well.

Picture below from a couple of years ago, in between step 1 and 2.
 

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