Skipper gets skunked
Posted: Sat Sep 27, 2008 5:09 am
I decided to go try a public hunting unit located near my house yesterday. I arrived with ten minutes to spare before the official "thirty minutes before sunrise". I had high expectations and two boxes of shells. I even took my new double barrel shotgun I posted pictures of a couple of weeks ago. Here is a picture of the sign-in station. You have to have an annual public hunting permit to hunt on these units and even then they are only open to certain species at certain times. Most will allow dove hunting. This one allows dove hunting along with farrel hogs taken with slugs. After dove season these units will close.
I found a place that looked pretty promising and set up my chair to hang my pack on and sit after I got tired of walking around. This unit is 330 acres of harvested corn fields. There are a couple of creeks and hedgerows dividing the property into three major fields. I set up on the southern most creek so I would be able to shoot in any direction without having to worry about where the roads were.
This was the view to the left of me. There were lots of birds stopping in these trees throughout the day, just not any dove.
This was the view straight out in front of me.
This was the view to the right of me. I saw signs of deer and hogs this direction by the creek. There's no road this way just another farmer's field on the other side.
I saw lots of birds. Mostly cardinals and mocking birds. I only saw one dove while walking the perimeter. A passing truck scared it and I emptied the shotgun trying to get a hit. It was too far away for a good shot but I just couldn't resist. The recoil was a lot less than I expected from this shotgun. I guess it fits me better that I thought. I wanted to see if it had selective ejection so later in the day I shot at a dragon fly just so I could see if it would just eject the spent case. It ejected the left shell but didn't eject the right one so I was pretty pleased with the shotgun.
I don't know if it was the hurricane or what but there just weren't many dove out. Later in the day there were a couple more hunters that showed up but they weren't doing much shooting either. Oh well, the wife wants to go with me when I go again. I'll probably take her Monday, my day off. They say that a bad day hunting is better than a good day at the office. I'd have to agree. If you're looking for a place to do some wing shooting in Texas. Public hunting units are open all across the state. Hopefully you will have better luck than I did.
Is that a RED dove I see there?
I found a place that looked pretty promising and set up my chair to hang my pack on and sit after I got tired of walking around. This unit is 330 acres of harvested corn fields. There are a couple of creeks and hedgerows dividing the property into three major fields. I set up on the southern most creek so I would be able to shoot in any direction without having to worry about where the roads were.
This was the view to the left of me. There were lots of birds stopping in these trees throughout the day, just not any dove.
This was the view straight out in front of me.
This was the view to the right of me. I saw signs of deer and hogs this direction by the creek. There's no road this way just another farmer's field on the other side.
I saw lots of birds. Mostly cardinals and mocking birds. I only saw one dove while walking the perimeter. A passing truck scared it and I emptied the shotgun trying to get a hit. It was too far away for a good shot but I just couldn't resist. The recoil was a lot less than I expected from this shotgun. I guess it fits me better that I thought. I wanted to see if it had selective ejection so later in the day I shot at a dragon fly just so I could see if it would just eject the spent case. It ejected the left shell but didn't eject the right one so I was pretty pleased with the shotgun.
I don't know if it was the hurricane or what but there just weren't many dove out. Later in the day there were a couple more hunters that showed up but they weren't doing much shooting either. Oh well, the wife wants to go with me when I go again. I'll probably take her Monday, my day off. They say that a bad day hunting is better than a good day at the office. I'd have to agree. If you're looking for a place to do some wing shooting in Texas. Public hunting units are open all across the state. Hopefully you will have better luck than I did.
Is that a RED dove I see there?
Better luck next time! 
Gary