The day after our big shoot, Rachel and I went home to celebrate birthdays and to pick up some stuff from my parents place. This if course gave me another opportunity to hunt doves. This time Michael Parker picked me up at the unholy hour of 4:30am. With the allergies destroying me, I was not at my finest but went anyway. We beat some other guys to the spot by ten minutes. The three guys limited out opening morning in this spot and now we beat them to the punch. We walked in and took the far side of the public field. Over the course of the morning, 8 people lined a 200 yard swath. I was not pleased, but it seemed to work out ok. The only issue I had was controlling the dog. Every time someone shot, she would take off to retrieve their birds. A few times I had to take birds back to guys because they would shoot one, and Mocha would retrieve it to me.....I was rather displeased. I see a shock collar in the near future.
Despite the difficulties, we managed a one man limit between the two of us. There was one point in which Micheal went and dispatched a barking squirrel, which in turn gave me a chance to give him a his first skinning lesson.
We had one bird in particular that was destined to be Michael's. We would rotate birds just to keep it even, but we had one bird fly behind the "firing line" with all of 40 shots fired upon it before it made it's way to us. Michael had the better position on it so I said take him. One shot and poof in the dirt. There were more birds flying so I went to pick up his bird. When I did I saw a tiny aluminum anklet around a leg.
Another banded dove for the kid. He shot two here last year. It was just meant to be and he earned it with a great shot.
As usual, a large breakfast courtesy of Dad awaited us when we got home.
Stay Tuned.
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