FORUM
A rainy Saturday didn't stop hunters from ruffling feathers on the opening morning of dove hunting season.
Dove Season
Dove hunting season opened Saturday and runs through Oct. 25, and again Dec. 20-Jan. 8.
Shooting hours are 30 minutes before sunrise to sunset. The daily limit is 15 mourning doves. There is no limit on Eurasian Collared Doves.
Source: Arkansas Game & Fish Commission
Are Doves Good To Eat?
Doves are fine table fare and easy to prepare. A simple way to fix them is to grill dove breasts, brushing them with Italian dressing while they cook. Here’s another recipe for the oven.
Wild Doves in Wine
8 doves, cleaned and picked or breasted
3 tablespoons olive oil or bacon drippings, heated
Brown doves on all sides in oil or drippings in a heavy iron skillet
1/2 cup sherry or dry red wine
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon of salt
Add all ingredients to doves. Cover skillet with tight lid. Simmer over low heat for 90 minutes or until doves are tender. Serve over brown rice.
Source: Missouri Department of Conservation
Dove season is the starting pistol that gets fall hunting off and running. It's a day afield that some never miss, rain or shine. Never mind that a lot of the shooting brings more misses than hits.
Three of us were hunkered in a tract of tall grass early Saturday morning at the McIlroy Madison County Wildlife Management Area north of Huntsville. Shooting light was slow to arrive this overcast, drizzly day. Eventually we each slid three shells into our 12-gauge shotguns and waited for the birds to fly.
Doves were few and far between under the heavy sky. Finally, a brazen bird winged its way in erratic flight straight through the field past a gauntlet of hunters.
Shotguns popped at the far end of the field. When the single bird strafed a stand of sunflowers, more guns roared. Two more shots sounded before the dove disappeared unscathed over the eastern tree line.
Seems a dove's purpose on this planet is to taunt hunters.
Another bird wasn't so lucky. Jess Eoff of Garfield was the picture of contentment, smiling in a comfy folding chair beneath a big green umbrella to fend off a light rain. This dove followed a similar flight path. Eoff stood and fired his over-under shotgun and the dove cartwheeled to earth.
The bird was one of about a half-dozen killed by some 10 hunters during a slow opening morning at the public dove field.
"The weather's sure not with us today," Eoff said. Drizzle to moderate rain fell while Eoff, Erney Precure and your faithful outdoors reporter waited out the doves opening morning. We could see the few other hunters along the field edges.
Precure, who lives near the dove field, was optimistic we'd get some shooting. He scouted the tract the previous morning and saw doves flying.
"I didn't see the first dove yesterday until 7:30. It's 7 o'clock now so we've still got 30 minutes," he said.
Eoff's dove was 20 minutes late, shot from the sky at 7:50.
The Madison County public dove field is one of two in the region that the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission manages for doves. Stands of sunflowers are planted to bring in the birds. Look for the abandoned fire tower at the entrance to the management area and the dove field is right there.
Precure hunts the field throughout the season. Action can be good one day, poor the next, he said.
Dove hunting runs hot and heavy on opening weekend. After that, participation in the season drops off dramatically.
"I like to stop here and hunt for awhile in the evenings. There's hardly ever anybody here," Precure said.
The sky darkened in the west. We could smell rain coming. The heavens parted a little after 9 and heavy rain sent every hunter scurrying to their vehicles.
Birds Of A Feather
Another Northwest Arkansas public dove area is a network of fields in the Ozark National Forest, east of Siloam Springs, at the Wedington small game unit off Kinchloe Road. Those fields, too, are planted in sunflowers.
Mark Hutchings, regional wildlife biologist with Game & Fish, said hunters showed up at Wedington on opening day, but left when the rain got heavy.
Dove hunters on private land fared better, said Brian McKinzie, regional enforcement supervisor with Game & Fish.
"One guy from the Centerton area called me and said they'd killed their limits three days in a row," McKinzie said on Wednesday.
He heard that hunters on private land in the Pea Ridge area did well on opening weekend.
Perseverance Pays
Razorback Farms near Lowell holds a pay-to-shoot dove hunt during the early part of the season. A field is planted in wheat as part of the regular farming operation. The wheat brings in doves. Gerald Tate, hunt master, said those who waited out the rain on Saturday were well rewarded.
"They shot some early in the day. Then, about 8 a.m., it rained hard for about 15 minutes," Tate said. The deluge sent all but about 15 of the hunters home.
"The ones who stayed with it after the rain did great. Most of them who stayed shot their limits," Tate said.
Hunting will take place at the farm this weekend. Cost is $50 per person. Call Tate at 479-263-4502 for information.
Opening weekend has passed, but doves will still fly. Cooler weather may mean flocks of birds this weekend and far fewer hunters, rain or shine.
Outdoors on 09/11/2014