I went on my first dove hunt this year thanks to a good friend who invited me to join him on a public land hunt. Wow, what a great experience! We arrived sufficiently early to claim very desirable spots in the field, only to have hundreds of others crowd in on us in the last few minutes before daylight. At 4:30 AM, the dirt access road looked like rush hour traffic on the 5 freeway. Nothing like hunting elbow to elbow with people you don't know... Now for the good part. The birds were flying well on opening morning. My buddy bagged his limit by 6:45 AM, and several others in our party limited out before 8:00 AM. I am a new hunter and had just purchased a shotgun for this trip, so this was the first time out for me. I shot some target clays a couple of days before the opener to get a feel for the gun, but was basically going in cold having never hunted birds in my life. I had three in my pouch at 6:45 AM when my buddy limited out. This suggests that either I am a really bad shot, or he is a really good shot ... I prefer the latter, but you be the judge. I finished the morning at 8:30 with 10 white wings and 1 mourning dove. It took me some time getting comfortable shooting with so many people in the field, but with the understanding that no bird was worth taking a dangerous shot, I let many birds fly by. The second day was a different story. Far fewer hunters (good!), but even fewer birds (bad!). You couldn't afford to miss any birds on day 2 because there were so few of them. The birds must have taken a serious pounding on opening day with crowds hunting the relatively small public land fields from daylight until sundown. My percentage of hits improved greatly on day 2, but my total take was only 6 birds for the short morning and short evening hunting sessions. Spent the rest of the time floating in the river enjoying life and keeping cool. Overall, it was a great experience. I certainly enjoyed hunting with the reduced crowd on day 2, and I made much better shots on day 2, but I can't complain about taking a limit of white wings on the opening day of my first ever bird hunt. I am afraid that hunting may turn into an addicting hobby.
