Sniper John
Member
Opening weekend of Dove Season I met up with Saltstorm near Uvalde. Kind of a spur of the moment thing for me due to cancelling my blue quail road trip west, so I just threw the basic hunting gear in the truck and left Dallas Saturday morning. When I arrived I checked in at Garner State Park before meeting the outfitter Kevin and some of the other hunters for lunch in Uvalde.
Within a few minutes of arriving at the field, we could see a couple of what I would call Waves of Dove over the field. I had a hard time getting a good picture due to my position facing the sun, but trust me when I say it is more dove I have ever seen in one flock before. I borrowed this picture from Kevin
Saturday I had Dove entering the field from behind me. I think I need to head to the skeet range and work on those station one high house singles to improve my shot to bird ratio on that shot. Seems to be a trouble spot for me, but I eventually got dialed in.
No shortage of birds to shoot at for sure.
My girl Blaze was sure happy to be along.
This young man and his Dad, Bart, were on the field to my right. It was the kid's first Dove and their Dog, Dirt's first Dove retrieves.
They did well. I think the kid shot better than me.
You know I'm not going to post a hunt report without some pictures of my Dog. On one end of the Sesame Field there was a small field of Milo. No problem when you have a dog to find the birds.
Young Man Zack surprised by a Blaze fly-by. Another crack shot kid. Must be those good eyes and reflexes us old guys don't have any more.
Sunday and Monday, the birds were more in steady streams rather than the big waves I saw Saturday evening. At least for the places on the field I had moved to.
What I ended up doing Sunday was hunkering down in a row of Sesame a few feet inside the edge of the field. Often birds would be landing near me or be flying right around me.
Blaze retrieving down one of the rows of Sesame.
Limits for all Sunday with enough birds to go around to make your shots as easy or as difficult as you wanted.
I got the impression this is a Dove hunt operation that has a lot of the same people come back for year after year. Great comradery. Some funny stories passed around of past hunts. Here is a couple of the Characters.
Charlie
I am a fan of fine shotguns even if it is not the focus of my gun collecting and I don't have that many fine shotguns myself.
Here he is with his new Guerini that his wife bought him for Christmas.
And of course Kevin. A super nice guy full of great stories related to his past guiding and hunting experiences.
This is the first time I have ever hunted in Sesame, much less seen it before. My understanding it is planted there as part of a government or university project with several different types for testing and research.
Thus why it is not cut. I had seeds in all my hunting cloths when I got home. I can see why this hunt is such a sure thing every season.
Ok, I am going to stray from the hunt. There is more here than just dove hunting. I got side tracked on the way to the Dove field Sunday morning. On the 20 minute drive from the State Park to the field at dawn, I think I saw more Deer in that 20 minutes than I have seen in the last 5 years. Including some Axis and Blackbuck. I had to stop to get a picture of these two.
On a budget I stayed at Garner State Park rather than in Town. I camped with electric and water for less than 20 bucks. Though next time I am going to take my non hunting family and get one of the State Park Cabins. They could hang out at the park while I am away hunting. This time of year, it was not crowded at all. I had the best site in the entire park I think right on the river.
So many birds I decided to stay for Monday morning. I swear there were more Birds on Monday than on Saturday and Sunday combined.
A nice sunrise.
I hunted in the edge of the Sesame again, but with a Mojo this time behind me just a little ways out in a plowed field. Not a lot of Dove came to the mojo, but the ones that did presented some high success rate shots. With the others flying in my face one after another, I was done by 8:30 in the morning.
A big public thank you to Kevin for his hospitality to everyone on the hunt and to me. Though I have no affiliation and am mostly a public land hunter, I do hope to make a tradition of this one for years to come. Especially for the late season Dove season. Kevin's hunts on the Dove are $85. Kevin can be reached at (936) 537-6759. When he has so many great people coming back from year to year, it shows he is doing something right.
John
Within a few minutes of arriving at the field, we could see a couple of what I would call Waves of Dove over the field. I had a hard time getting a good picture due to my position facing the sun, but trust me when I say it is more dove I have ever seen in one flock before. I borrowed this picture from Kevin
Saturday I had Dove entering the field from behind me. I think I need to head to the skeet range and work on those station one high house singles to improve my shot to bird ratio on that shot. Seems to be a trouble spot for me, but I eventually got dialed in.
No shortage of birds to shoot at for sure. My girl Blaze was sure happy to be along.
This young man and his Dad, Bart, were on the field to my right. It was the kid's first Dove and their Dog, Dirt's first Dove retrieves.
They did well. I think the kid shot better than me.
You know I'm not going to post a hunt report without some pictures of my Dog. On one end of the Sesame Field there was a small field of Milo. No problem when you have a dog to find the birds.
Young Man Zack surprised by a Blaze fly-by. Another crack shot kid. Must be those good eyes and reflexes us old guys don't have any more.
Sunday and Monday, the birds were more in steady streams rather than the big waves I saw Saturday evening. At least for the places on the field I had moved to.
What I ended up doing Sunday was hunkering down in a row of Sesame a few feet inside the edge of the field. Often birds would be landing near me or be flying right around me.
Blaze retrieving down one of the rows of Sesame.
Limits for all Sunday with enough birds to go around to make your shots as easy or as difficult as you wanted.
I got the impression this is a Dove hunt operation that has a lot of the same people come back for year after year. Great comradery. Some funny stories passed around of past hunts. Here is a couple of the Characters.
Charlie
I am a fan of fine shotguns even if it is not the focus of my gun collecting and I don't have that many fine shotguns myself.
Here he is with his new Guerini that his wife bought him for Christmas.
And of course Kevin. A super nice guy full of great stories related to his past guiding and hunting experiences.
This is the first time I have ever hunted in Sesame, much less seen it before. My understanding it is planted there as part of a government or university project with several different types for testing and research.
Thus why it is not cut. I had seeds in all my hunting cloths when I got home. I can see why this hunt is such a sure thing every season.
Ok, I am going to stray from the hunt. There is more here than just dove hunting. I got side tracked on the way to the Dove field Sunday morning. On the 20 minute drive from the State Park to the field at dawn, I think I saw more Deer in that 20 minutes than I have seen in the last 5 years. Including some Axis and Blackbuck. I had to stop to get a picture of these two.
On a budget I stayed at Garner State Park rather than in Town. I camped with electric and water for less than 20 bucks. Though next time I am going to take my non hunting family and get one of the State Park Cabins. They could hang out at the park while I am away hunting. This time of year, it was not crowded at all. I had the best site in the entire park I think right on the river.
So many birds I decided to stay for Monday morning. I swear there were more Birds on Monday than on Saturday and Sunday combined.
A nice sunrise.
I hunted in the edge of the Sesame again, but with a Mojo this time behind me just a little ways out in a plowed field. Not a lot of Dove came to the mojo, but the ones that did presented some high success rate shots. With the others flying in my face one after another, I was done by 8:30 in the morning.
A big public thank you to Kevin for his hospitality to everyone on the hunt and to me. Though I have no affiliation and am mostly a public land hunter, I do hope to make a tradition of this one for years to come. Especially for the late season Dove season. Kevin's hunts on the Dove are $85. Kevin can be reached at (936) 537-6759. When he has so many great people coming back from year to year, it shows he is doing something right.
John
