My First Dove Hunt Today!

[TheGDog]

So, since I started my Hunting Career in reverse, by going for Big Game first, I've been steadily going back and working my way thru the littler stuff.

@SteveHazard was nice enough to offer having me join with him going out for Doves on this last day of the Dove Opener.

I definitely understand what all the hype is about now! Even though my first time at bat was quite a bit frustrating because I've had extremely little time under my belt with a Shotgun (before now, the last time I touched a Shotgun was pretty much greater than 30yrs ago). It was still hunting though...So I LOVED IT!

@SteveHazard was a beast at knockin' 'em outta the sky! And I made sure to thank him and let him know that I noticed that he was being nice after he'd racked up a few and that I noticed he was purposefully waiting until I'd tried with at least my first round or two before he'd then jump in. I appreciated the significance of that gesture.

Was having the darndest time figuring out the right lead-in until I bothered to ask Steve what folks say the typical rule is for Doves at distance, which apparently is in the neighborhood of 2-to-3 Dove body-lengths of lead-in. No sooner did he tell me this then we had another taker and this time almost like magic I dropped that one like a stone out of the sky once I increased the lead-in. It's an interesting skill that will no doubt take a lot more time for me to master.

But hey... at least I downed 4 and we recovered 3 of them. (I found 2 of them I shot, Steve found the first one I shot (It flew down slowly and hid itself), and one I had shot, neither of us could find it where we thought it looked like it should be at.

And... as a bonus!... I was able to shoot my first JackRabbit today! I've already taken a good number of cottontails, just never happened to have taken a JackRabbit before, so that was real cool! Since the shot was a bit out, distance-wise... and his back was turned to me... he had a very painful experience... I got to hear first-hand the sound of "JackRabbit Distress" in Person. I quickly followed-up with a second shot. Later on we noticed that the first shot seems to have busted through BOTH Femurs on the poor guy. So no wonder he was screaming his fool head off like that! Both Femurs were sticking out of both legs, Yikes!

.

 

[SteveHazard]

That jack was crying so loud I was half expecting a coyote to come running in.

 

[Deleted member 27310]

Right on Larry, congrats!! And thanks SteveHazard for taking him out getting his feet wet.

 

[SurfNHuntSD]

Welcome to the addiction of dove hunting.. it's a ton of fun. Except for Hatch lol.

Let me know if you need a jack recipe.. I'm the lone jack advocate on here.

 

[TheGDog]

First of all... It was just cool being out in the field with another person there!

And it was cool that on the setups, one or the other of us would be like "Incoming!" so you had some time to hurry up and get your shotgun ready. And with the way we were setup, the two pairs of eyes, sometimes I'd see the occasional ones coming in from a weird side angle to the wind towards the decoy.

What's the basic way people brine the meat off the Jack? I'm gonna be cleaning the game tonight.

 

[SurfNHuntSD]

What's the basic way people brine the meat off the Jack? I'm gonna be cleaning the game tonight.

The day before I cook it I just soak it in salt water to bleed it.. I do the same with diver ducks.

My fave is jack pasta sauce.. second fave is red or green chile, New Mexico style. Any way you do it, you gotta braise it low and slow. Grilling or frying won't turn out well.

 

[TheGDog]

I tend to cook most things low and slow just as a general rule. That way it doesn't destroy the nutritional value as much. Plus things tend to stay juicier when cooked slow and low.

Ugh... rabbits man... their dander makes my skin crawl, itchy. He was a nice and meaty little Bastard though! Filled-up an Entree size plastic-ware.

And trip out! ... Musta been some kinda Owl or other night-time predator bird that found me cleaning that Jack in my front yard. I start to hear this bird call... I look up in the direction I first hear it and can't see anything (I was cleaning 'em with a portable light pointed at the garage door to reflect the light onto my work area on top of the Yeti)... the sound of this bird was moving around but definitely somewhere in front of me and quite close. I think it might have been in my tree at the curb out front before I started? I figure once I started cutting in it for sure totally knew that smell and went nuts. Several other neighborhood dogs went a little on alert too with their protective barking. I'm sure it's because they smelled it.

I'm sorry, please forgive my ignorance... but what does the term "diver ducks" mean?

 

[Hiryuu]

@Larry grats on the birds. Let me know how the jack tastes. I've heard mixed reviews on Jack's.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

 

[TheGDog]

The meat looks awesome from the Jack and the backstraps pulled out nice and easy off the ribs and the vicera! Just had to do the long cut beside the vertebrae and a cut just inside of the hip crest. The rest pulled right off nice and easy. Easier than it did for the cottontails. They required a little more coaxing cuts to the vicera.

I need to look it over in the daylight and make sure it's all cleaned off and no hair on it, etc.

I forgot what a hassle it is to process Doves. And I was just doing it quick and dirty. Just cutting the skin down by the leg/groin region then pulling skin with feathers over to expose the chest then rip the chest piece out.

The big ol' Yeti works great as a work surface to place your cutting board upon. Just cop a sit with the Tripod stool and go to work. It's easy to rotate the cutting board around to bring the work to you. Keep the hose right beside you, clean in-between each one blowing it onto the lawn. Win-win. Lawn gets watered and fertilized! Hehe. Just hope I don't get too many skunks visiting in the night.

 

[Wildgame]

Nice. Leading the birds seem to me that is more intuitive than technical.

 

[ilovesprig]

I tend to cook most things low and slow just as a general rule. That way it doesn't destroy the nutritional value as much. Plus things tend to stay juicier when cooked slow and low.

Ugh... rabbits man... their dander makes my skin crawl, itchy. He was a nice and meaty little Bastard though! Filled-up an Entree size plastic-ware.

And trip out! ... Musta been some kinda Owl or other night-time predator bird that found me cleaning that Jack in my front yard. I start to hear this bird call... I look up in the direction I first hear it and can't see anything (I was cleaning 'em with a portable light pointed at the garage door to reflect the light onto my work area on top of the Yeti)... the sound of this bird was moving around but definitely somewhere in front of me and quite close. I think it might have been in my tree at the curb out front before I started? I figure once I started cutting in it for sure totally knew that smell and went nuts. Several other neighborhood dogs went a little on alert too with their protective barking. I'm sure it's because they smelled it.

I'm sorry, please forgive my ignorance... but what does the term "diver ducks" mean?

Diver ducks are ducks that generally dive under water to get their food (canvasbacks, redheads, scaup, etc.)….Puddle ducks generally eat on either dry land or shallow water....Tip up to eat off of bottom (mallards, pintail, widgeon, etc.)

 

[TheGDog]

Hrrmph... learn something new everyday, thanks!

 

[TheGDog]

JACKRABBIT STEW - Well... the JackRabbit is in the Mini-Crockpot today. At the last water-change to get the blood out I put this Memphis BBQ Rub, Kosher Salt, and Scriracha into the water. When poured it into the Crockpot I then added a dollup of Bacon-fat, some Chicken Bouillion, MSG, Garlic Poweder w/ Parsley... and we had some Tamarinds a friend had given us that I just never got around to using yet, I cracked the seed pod open and added-in maybe four of the "seeds" covered in their pasty/fatty covering which contains that bold flavor which they impart.

I decided to go for some bolder (for me) flavorings because the Jack did still have a mild-amount of off-putting gamey scent to it. And this was most likely since I was lazy and didn't yet bother to butcher-out any and all silver-skin tendon sheathing from the pieces yet. I noticed with the deer that those silver-skin pieces seem to hold-on to an off-putting scent. I've noticed the vicera (clear coating stuff) also holds that same smell too. The dogs LOVE that smelly stuff, people... not soo much.

Got my fingers crossed. It is smelling good though! Checked it just now and the salt level still needed to come up a tad.

The addition of the Tamarind and the Bacon fat is sorta giving it a hint of flavors kinda like a Filipino Sinagong soup. Perhaps if I had bitter melon added to it, it would be very similar.

 

[TheGDog]

OH Heck Yeah!!! This stuff came out fan-freakin'-tastic! Note to Self, JackRabbit (when done right) is The Bomb!