Three was a number that figured mightily into a September safari for doves in the wilds of west Benton County.
Two hunters hoped for some shooting at three public dove fields managed by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. Three was close to the number of doves seen all morning.
Dove season
Arkansas’ dove season opened Sept. 1 and runs through Oct. 27. A second segment is Dec. 14 through Jan. 15.
The daily limit is 15 mourning doves or white-winged doves. There is no daily limit on Eurasian collared doves.
Source: Arkansas Game and Fish Commission
Maybe that's because the pair picked a date with another three -- Friday the 13th.
Hopes were high on Sept. 13 during the pitch-dark drive before dawn to the fields situated four miles east of Siloam Springs. Arkansas Game and Fish Commission manages some fields at the Wedington Wildlife Management Area for dove hunting. Fields are in an area known as the Wedington small game unit. A couple more are west of Lake Wedington.
Seed-yielding plants are sown before dove hunting season opens to attract the birds. Limited mowing is done to scatter more seed from weeds and wild plants.
Alan Bland of Rogers parked his pickup by the gate at the first of three fields he and his hunting buddy would visit that day. Stars twinkled above. The team arrived plenty early. Nothing like the season's first dove hunt to roust a body out of bed at 4 a.m.
End of night passed while catching up on family and neighborhood news. Faint, gray first light finally washed over the spacious field pocked with small islands of trees. Both men carried 12 gauge shotguns and 5-gallon buckets with lids to sit on. Shotgun shells, water and gear were inside their brown plastic buckets.
Attention was fixed on the overcast sky as legal shooting time arrived 30 minutes before sunrise. The first hour passed with nary a dove seen. Chit chat increased and concentration waned.
A wandering mind is all it takes to bring in a flight of doves. From nowhere, two doves flew right over Bland's head. He squeezed off two shots that ruffled no feathers. Songbirds, crows and vultures were the only other birds. Time for a move to field No. 2.
The drive to this public field was short, about one-half mile west of the first field along a gravel lane. Bland slid three shells into his 12-gauge and hunkered down on his bucket in a grove of four trees. He stared out at a mowed strip the width of an interstate highway. Again, the doves were no-shows.
On to field No. 3 for this Friday the 13th dove safari. Luck was about to change at this public field a tad west of Lake Wedington. By now it was midmorning and past prime hunting time. An inspection of the wide, mowed tract revealed plenty of seed on the ground, a banquet for mourning doves.
One other car occupied the field's parking area. Later, the pair met Rob Adams of Bentonville, also on a slow quest for doves. He'd fired one shot, but didn't send the bird cartwheeling toward the ground.
Now the three sat together back in a little hideout of tall grass and brush. While they talked hunting, Adams spotted a fast-flying dove, raised his gun and fired. Friday the 13th was this bird's lucky day.
On last year's mid-September hunt, Bland blamed the lack of success on his hunting buddy clad in camouflage shorts and -- get this -- white socks. Every dove in the county can see those socks, Bland chirped.
Now his hunting buddy had his turn. Seems Bland left his camouflage ball cap in the truck and hunted bare headed. Every dove in the county can see the whites of those eyes.
Later that day, the two chatted about their hunt with Richard Bowen, area wildlife biologist with Game and Fish.
"It just goes to show that you can prepare a field all you want," Bowen said, "but if the doves aren't there, they just aren't there."
So true. Doves are migratory. Sept. 13 felt more like Aug. 13, and cold fronts can bring in more birds. We can't wait to go back.
Sports on 10/15/2019