We're all quaffing iced tea under the air conditioner now, but in a few weeks we'll all roast in dove fields, goose pits and teal marshes around the state.
We'll enjoy it, too!
Early Canada goose season starts Sept. 1, and early teal season opens Sept. 10, but the main event -- dove season -- opens Sept. 3. That's the unofficial beginning of hunting season, the day we unleash all the pent-up tension we've repressed since the end of duck season.
Opening day of dove season is not for the timid. It's always hot, humid and still. You don't notice it much if birds are flying, but if they're not, it makes for a long day.
Fortunately, you'll be in the company of good friends, so you can share the misery or the merriment.
If birds are flying, the shooting can be intense, and hunters pretty much stay in place. If birds aren't flying, hunters soon wander down a sunflower strip to commiserate with the nearest group. Before long, friends cluster, gulp bottled water, wipe sweat from their brows, tell jokes and admire each other's shotguns.
If they're lucky, doves will arrive eventually, and a peculiar decorum descends.
"You go ahead and take that one," someone will say, and you'd better hit the bird if you don't want to be ridiculed.
If enough birds show, everybody filters back to their stations, and they'll shoot until lunchtime.
Lunch usually takes place under an equipment shed, and hunters load up on barbecued beans and pulled pork or brisket. Most go home after lunch, but those that didn't shoot their limit often go another round in the afternoon heat.
Some of the best shoots occur in the afternoon when doves fog into sunflower fields for an evening meal. Shooting doesn't dissuade them, and if a field is hot, you can bag a 15-bird limit in a short amount of time.
The daily limit is 15 birds, of course, and includes whatever you bagged in the morning. It can be tempting to keep shooting too long when birds are thick, or to give your birds to another hunter that's leaving, but those are expensive and unsporting lapses.
A good dove hunt is a shotgunner's dream, and the shotgun is the centerpiece. You'll see a little bit of everything in a dove field, including fine over/unders, all manner of pump guns and all manner of semi-automatics.
Youngsters often shoot single-shot breakovers. Single-shots make it safer to be around inexperienced shooters, but it also encourages youngsters to choose their shots carefully. Well-seasoned youths often stick with single-shots long after they are ready for repeaters because they are accustomed to them. They often astonish adults when they shoot, reload and reshoulder a single-shot with lightning speed.
While 12-gauges rule the duck hunting world, many hunters prefer smaller bores for dove shooting. For starters, it seems excessive to deploy the firepower of a 12-gauge against a bird that weighs only a few ounces. It's more satisfying to score with 20- or even 28-gauge shotguns. Really good wingshooters sometimes use .410 bores. Success accords them immediate stardom in a dove field.
Smaller bore shotguns are also easier on the shoulder, and that's really important when you consider that the average hunter fires four shots for every dove he kills.
Many farmers plant a small sunflower crop to attract doves every year. The most fortunate hunters are invited to these shoots. You can also pay to hunt private dove fields, but there are a lot of X factors in a field full of random strangers. You might be assigned to a spot across from somebody that shoots at low-flying birds, and thus shoots at you.
I paid for a three-day hunt a few years ago near North Little Rock. Across from me was a group of guys that shot at every bird that flew, including meadowlarks, killdeers and all kinds of other songbirds.
The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission also plants a few public dove fields at wildlife management areas, including Galla Creek and Rick Evans Grandview Prairie. Those can be excellent shoots, but the real joy is in all the people you meet.
That's always the best part of hunting for me anyway. I can hardly wait for it to start.
Sports on 08/07/2016