Shot dove and got shot - IV opener

WaterDawg

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Nov 20, 2016
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Had a really fun opener with my nephew Jared and buddies John and Pete. After some scouting Thursday afternoon we chose the game field area on English north/east of 111. After watching the flight pattern we decided to take a chance and start at a spot just away from the actual field to avoid crowds, but when the sun came up and everyone was cracking except us we decided we had better move over to the war zone. Plenty of birds and we put the hurt on em.

At one point I watched two birds coming in really low, heading between me and another hunter who was about 40 yards away. I was just letting them fly through but when the two got exactly lined up between me and the other guy, he fires at them!!! We've all been rained on and even peppered, but this guy fricken outright shot me. I took four pellets in the rib cage and one to the face, missing my eye by two inches. I was in disbelief, and yelled out "dude you shot me, that was way too low". After calming down a little I walked over to him, I think he was afraid to approach me. Young guy in his 20s I guess. He was very apologetic and I explained that you CANNOT shoot low in a crowded dove field. He said he only hunts one day a year, but he knows better.

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The side welts were mildly painful and did not break skin. The face wound bled a lot and is still sore. The pellet did not push through my nostril, to the dismay of my compassionate buddies who wanted me to put a nose ring in it.

My pals nicknamed the field Nose Field for future reference. Went on to have a fun weekend shooting, hanging out in the pool, and eating some really good food at Inferno in Brawley. Hope y'all had great times.

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Reactions: SurfNHuntSD
Glad you are OK. That could have been a lot worse.
He is lucky you took it the way you did. Somebody else may have pressed charges.
He seemed genuinely sorry. I just wanted him to understand what he did wrong, and I wanted to get back to shooting and not ruin my day by getting irate.
 
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Reactions: Bonejour
Glad you are Ok..I'm planning on going nexts week. I'll be looking for spot for me and my family. That is a scary stuff.

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Glad you are Ok..I'm planning on going nexts week. I'll be looking for spot for me and my family. That is a scary stuff.

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It's really just an opening day problem. Second day was a much smaller crowd. Next week you should be safe.
 
Glad you're OK. I wouldn't have been so nice.
 
Glad it wasn't a lot worse. You went easy on the knucklehead.


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I've only hunted the actual DFG/DWU fields twice. The other time, a fight between guys with guns nearly broke out because one guy kept shooting over the road and peppering the other guy's truck. And this time, where the guy shot low directly at me. The volume of doves they attract by planting and partially cutting wheat is hard to resist, but our group is planning to go back to scouting for random fields to hunt on the openers. Its just getting too crowded and dangerous out there.
 
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Reactions: Big Jim
I hunted the Saturday after the opener and didn’t run into too many people. A few years ago, however, we were sitting along one of the roads near the DFG fields when we recognized someone was shooting something other than a shotgun. Then we noticed we were hearing ricochets and bullets flying by. Turns out 100 yards down and 10 yards to our left a group of guys were shooting a pistol into a foot high dirt mound. We had some brush separating us the long way so they didn’t see us. I went down and explained and they were nice enough to stop illegally shooting a pistol in a crowded area.

Glad you didn’t lose an eye.


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This is precisely why you would never find me in those fields. And if they will shoot at YOU what do you think would happen with dog?
 

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