Salton Sea Dove Opener

[Joshua]

Not sure where to post this report so I tried this section.

Got out of town on Wednesday afternoon in hopes of some trap shooting and some scouting. Drove through the town of Mecca and posted up along the Coachella Canal for some trap shooting. Blew through a couple boxes of shells. Saw a few birds flying and they were heading into the desert.
Opening Day came quickly. Idiots (my nephews) didn't want to sleep. When they finally gave up the ghost, they didn't want to wake.
Hit up our usual spot. Thank God the locals didn't show up. They had been an issue the past 2 seasons. Property owners told them no more hunting.
My oldest nephew had his usual spot about 100 yards North of me. He usually gets a few bird lead on me but I rally back and get the first limit. Not this year. He had 14 birds and went through 3 boxes of shells to my 3 birds. I only shot at 5. I gave in and moved. He did have a better spot but the heavy flights had diminished to an occasional single. Made a walk around the vineyards to jump shoot some birds.
Decided to call it a morning. Picked up breakfast and headed to our camping spot.
I setup my Mojo decoys and some stationary decoys. We were impressed on how effect the decoys works. Birds kept coming in all day and night.

Sept 2
Went back to the spot that was productive for the opener. Very different. The birds just vanished. We managed a handful of birds but it wasn't anything like the opener.
Went back to camp and setup the decoys again. Got countless shots throughout the day. After the evening shoot, we packed up and headed home a day early. Seemed pointless to sit around for a 3rd morning shoot that had all indications of being a poor shoot.

We had a mixed bag of morning, whitewing and a few Eurasian. We were averaging 7 whitewing per limit. Temperature seemed much hotter on the opener. Believe there was a 3 degree drop in temp on Friday but it was noticeable.
I would like to get back out on Saturday, but the odds are stacked against me. We will see.

[NFCD I]

We had pretty much the same shoot in Yuma this year hunting over a alfalfa field, surrounded by lemon groves. Opening day was cloudy, which was good, until around 9:00AM. We limited, but it wasn't like past years. The ratio was about like yours as well. More white wing than anything else. We went out in the afternoon to shoot Eurasians. We ended up with 10 between my son and I. Normally the area we hunt is loaded with them. Maybe the no limit and no season is thinning them out. We hunted the 2nd morning and had our limits of small morning dove with a mix of white wings by 8:30AM. All in all is was a pretty good shoot.

[one long cast]

Did my shooting around the Blythe area, Started out 2 weeks ago with a 3 day scouting trip, there were millions of white wings in the grain fields south of Blythe. Thought we had the ticket. Came back 3 days before the opener and all the fields had been turn over real good and leveled so the farmers could plant alfalfa. Also a lot of the fields were now posted. Did some more scouting up by the ecological reserve off of second street. Again millions of white wing in and around the Milo that had been planted. This is a steel shot area only. Didn't return because it is a crowded area, almost gun to gun. Went back up to the Ripley area and check out a turned over wheat field, this looked good.
Up bright and early and the small caravan proceeded to the field to find approx. 10 hunters (all giving us a dirty look) along the dirt road. So we went the field next to this one and did what we could do. Myself got 1 so at least no skunk. The boys in the next field probably shot 2 cases of ammo. Oh that Blythe for you.

[John Harper]

Wow, I had the best shooting in my 53 years of dove openers! Limited all three days, done by 6:15AM day three. It seemed like there were more birds days 2 and 3 than on day one. Shot kinda crappy day 1 (15/45 shots) but got my act together days 2 (15/37) and day 3 (15/35) so that made me feel good considering I only bust out the shotgun (20 gauge Weatherby Athena) once a year. We found an awesome new spot this year!

http://i958.photobucket.com/albums/ae65/johnharper91/IMG_01931_zpsoogocnkz.jpg (http://s958.photobucket.com/user/johnharper91/media/IMG_01931_zpsoogocnkz.jpg.html)

We shot nothing but mourning doves. I actually only saw 3 Eurasians and one whitewing the entire 3 days. Very strange.

Bon Apetit.
http://i958.photobucket.com/albums/ae65/johnharper91/IMG_01961_zpsodvimgw4.jpg (http://s958.photobucket.com/user/johnharper91/media/IMG_01961_zpsodvimgw4.jpg.html)

John

[DEVOREFLYER]

Looks very good but I have gotten lazy in old age and only cut the breast off with kitchen shears. Wrap the babies in bacon and put in the smoker.

Figures that a liberal gun owner would shoot a 20 ga. Real men shoot 12 ga. :Envious:

[John Harper]

Figures that a liberal gun owner would shoot a 20 ga. Real men shoot 12 ga. :Envious:

12 gauges hurt my little noodle arms. Ouch.

John

[DEVOREFLYER]

12 gauges hurt my little noodle arms. Ouch.

John

A good Semi Auto is your friend trust me. I no longer shoot my Winchester 25 or my Ithica mod 37 and only shoot my Weatherby SA08 now due to an arthritic shoulder. Low base shells in a semi auto and you can shoot all day, magnum duck and goose loads are another story but not even close to a pump or an over/under.

[John Harper]

A good Semi Auto is your friend trust me. I no longer shoot my Winchester 25 or my Ithica mod 37 and only shoot my Weatherby SA08 now due to an arthritic shoulder. Low base shells in a semi auto and you can shoot all day, magnum duck and goose loads are another story but not even close to a pump or an over/under.

I shot trap and dove using a 12 gauge Remington 1100 since age 14. Upgraded to the Weatherby years later after college when I got a "offer I could not refuse" from a gun dealer going out of business. Athena IV with spectactular woodwork for $1200 brand new. I think they retailed for about $1800 at the time. Still have the 1100 too, just never shoot it anymore.

With the 1100, I have done as well as 10 birds in 13 shots. That gun just does not miss. The 20 is more of a challenge.

John

[Joshua]

I used to try to get a limit with a box of shells (25).
I shoot seldom that I decided to try tougher shots. If you aren't going to shoot well, shoot alot. The law of averages swing into your favor.

I did get a 2 dove for one shot this year. Haven't done that in years. Followed that up with a double. 4 birds in 3 shots. Pretty good average, which quickly goes to hell

[John Harper]

I did get a 2 dove for one shot this year. Haven't done that in years. Followed that up with a double. 4 birds in 3 shots. Pretty good average, which quickly goes to hell

That's damn good shooting, Josh!! It can all go south so quickly when you go into a lull and blow off a bunch of shots before hitting another bird.

My dad use to hit those "doubles" of doves all the time. I've only done it rarely.

John