It’s the weekend, friends! Who’s excited? This cooler weather has definitely given me a boost to want to get back in the woods/ out in the field. Last weekend, I did exactly that – my first Estherville dove hunt of the season!

The weather was fantastic – pretty warm but a cooler breeze was always cruising through the field, which definitely helped to keep us the dogs from overheating. It was also the first hunt for Parker’s new pup Esther, and the first time we’ve really gotten Prine in the field this year (since duck season, at least).

We got in the field around 2:30, and it wasn’t long before the birds started flying. Dad and I set up under a tree for some shade, with John about 20 yards away but facing the opposite direction. It wasn’t long before we moved out of the shade and to a nearby power pole, just based on a better field sky of view and the general location of the birds we’d seen.

The occasional ones and twos came by, then all of a sudden a huge flurry of doves would buzz into the field. There were more than a few instances when I was walking out to pick up a downed dove, trying to keep my mark and not paying attention to the sky, and was unexpectedly covered up by another flight, all hunters calling out to each other that birds were coming in. It really was such a fun hunt – keeping us guessing as to where the birds would come from, rather than a steady direction. It wasn’t long before we had a dozen birds in the bag, and more than half the hunt still ahead.

Dad and I kept combining our birds in 1 bag, so we quickly lost count of who had how many… Not to worry, SCDNR – the hunt slowed down before we had to worry about someone potentially going over their limit and we called it a day. I only bring that up because, despite what Otis claims, I am pretttttty sure I bagged more birds than he did :).

One of the best parts of the hunt, though, was watching the dogs work. Prine really surprised/ impressed us, I have to say! Having not dove hunted in so long, coupled with the fact that he hadn’t seen John in 10 days (he stayed with my parents while we were in Marathon), we just figured he would be in play-mode. Wrong! That hunting drive kicked in and took over, and he was picking up doves for us, and  hunting for/finding doves that that we couldn’t. Bravo, Wiggles! Esther, still in puppy mode at only 9 months old, has clear drive as well. This was her first real hunt ever, and it was really fun to see her get used to how the hunts work, what she’s supposed to do when a dove falls, and that she should pick it up once she finds it and take it to Parker.

Needless to say, it was a great day to kick off dove season.

I actually hunted again Wednesday with ol’ Otis at a field he has right outside of Columbia. It was a fair amount slower than that first hunt. Much cooler outside, but slower! The birds flew far (both in time and distance) and few between, so we really had to take our time with our shots and make them count. It may not have been near a fast and furious hunt, but having to take shots you might normally pass up definitely helps you improve your shooting. It also gave us a few minutes to snap some funny photos.

We crack ourselves up, apparently! I came away with 7 birds, and the other hunters in the field had about the same. There may not be a great many, but the ones I have will certainly still be tasty!

I am sure we will have more than a few heat waves over the next few weeks, in typical South Carolina fashion, but it looks like fall is officially on its way. YES.

As John said, we’re happy it’s dove season, too, buddy!