Dove season in Mississippi opens Sept. 1, and hunters of every stripe will be applying lots of pent up enthusiasm in pursuit of the birds. Take extra care to make sure you and everyone associated with you remains safe on the occasion.
In all cases, safety comes first. If you’re the host of the field in question, start each shoot with a safety briefing just as a reminder. You won’t be saying anything the listeners haven’t all heard for years, but reminding everyone of it can serve to bring safety to the front of everyone’s mind. Take care to see that each of your guests is stationed a safe distance away from his neighbors, and don’t hesitate to point out immediately anyone who is handling their gun unsafely. Anyone who gets their feelings hurt by being called out needed to be called out. They should be embarrassed, frankly, that their behavior made it necessary.
When the safety talk comes around to low birds, take an extra moment to explain just what a low bird is. A bird lighting on the ground is low, of course but, for safety purposes, any bird that requires a hunter to swing his barrel below a 45 degree angle to shoot it should be considered low. There will likely be shooters stationed next to and across from each other, and bird shot can cause serious injuries as far as the shot may fly.
Most dove hunters won’t be hosts, though, they’ll be guests in one form or another. As you’re setting up in the location you’ve drawn, been assigned or chosen, take careful note of your nearest neighbors and their distances. Be especially wary around anyone using dove decoys.
Dove decoys are great and can be a tremendous help but, because of what they’re designed to do, they can cause doves to present themselves in range at a height that would make for unsafe shooting on a crowded field.
Decoys encourage doves to come in low and to light on the ground — exactly what they’re intended to do. A hunter using a decoy on a field where others are present must take extra care not to swing his barrel down below an angle of 45 degrees. He certainly should not shoot at anything level or below.
Comfort, concealment
Beyond safety concerns, comfort and enjoyment go hand in hand and should be considered next. Comfortable camouflage clothing to help disappear, good mosquito repellent to help be still and plenty of cool water to be hydrated are critical.
Once you’ve arrived at your stand, take a few minutes to see how you can hide, at least a little bit. Good natural cover front and back will help your clothing disguise your outline and will make a difference in the average range of your shooting opportunities. The best camouflage of all is simply being still. Shooters who stand up and squirm about, preparing for a shot as though they were on the trap range, create their own difficulties. An approaching dove will alter course enough to pass 60 yards away instead of 20. Practice remaining frozen until each approaching dove is in range, then stand up, mount the gun, swing and shoot all in one unhurried motion. There is plenty of time to do this without rushing if the shooter acts deliberately.
Most missed doves are missed because they are shot at too far to have hit. It’s hard to call it a miss if the dove being shot at was 50 or 60 yards away when you pulled the trigger. That’s not a miss, but a case of shooting at one too far. Every dove hunter is aware their gun has a limited effective range, but they may not realize their behavior is limiting the number of opportunities they’re getting within it. Some hunters will see doves coming in their direction and stand up, fidget around and mount their guns well in advance of necessity. The doves may still come in but flare at 50 or 40 yards instead of 30 or 20, clearly reacting to the shooter who moved too soon. If a dove can’t be successfully collected at a given shooting distance, nothing but failure should be expected. By being still until an inbound bird is inside 40 yards and coming, you’ll give yourself the best chance to succeed.
Mount up
Take a moment at the beginning of each shoot to get the feel for how your shotgun mounts to your shoulder. Make a point to bring the sight plane of the gun up to your eye by shrugging your shoulder up, rather than pulling your head down. Try to do this in a way that keeps your eyes as close to level as possible. The more level your eyes can remain, the better you’ll judge distance, angle and speed.
Retest this mount as the morning or afternoon wears on. It’s easy to get sloppy with this point and the results will quickly tell. If you’ve been shooting well, then have two or three misses in a row, chances are excellent you’ve gotten sloppy with your mount. Make sure your cheek is touching the stock for each shot.
With the shotgun mounted properly, concentrate on swinging through each shot. The habit of stopping the swing of the gun after a shot will very quickly creep into stopping it as you shoot, then stopping it before you shoot without calling the fact to your notice. You’ll suddenly be missing birds you know you should have hit.
Shotgun shooting is all reflex and feel. If you know you’re mounting the gun correctly and feel certain you’re not stopping your swing, you know you’re not shooting too far and you’re positive you’re swinging ahead of birds but are still missing, chances are you’re leading them too far. Try starting your swing behind each bird and firing just as you swing through.
Set up your shot
All of us have some shots we shoot especially well. One shooter may prefer shots at doves flying straight on, some prefer a left-to-right cross while others do best with the opposite. Any dove shoot will likely feature a combination but, due to the birds’ flight patterns at each field, most stands produce more of one type of shot than any other.
If you’ll take note of how the doves fly on any given field and then position yourself to meet the presentation you shoot best, you’re that much ahead of the game.
Choose your best gun
Dove shoots often double as reunions with friends, and the shotgun you carry should be one of your best buddies of all. Though the 20-gauge may be the most popular shotgun in the dove field, it’s certainly not the only variety. Like a smoothbore family reunion, a dove shoot may well feature as many different gauges and loads as there are hunters present to use them. Within reason, almost any shotgun can be fed a satisfactory load for dove shooting. The best gun here is the one each individual shooter uses best. Comfort and familiarity outweigh almost every other concern.
Don’t give up
Some of the best dove hunts occur later in the season. Doves are migratory birds, and it’s not uncommon for the first few shoots of the year to involve local birds that have not yet migrated. However, as the season progresses, you’ll discover large groups of adult birds arriving in your area for winter. You can have some excellent dove shoots later in the year if you keep your field prepared and don’t give up on the hunt. As hunting season continues and the doves fly faster and higher, opportunities for easier shots are reduced. Clay target shooting is not only fun, it’s great practice and exercise.
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