Public Land Dove Hunting
By:  Brad Blaine
It was late summer of 2002.  I had searched and searched for a good shotgun at the price I wanted.  A couple of months earlier, I managed to acquire quite a few.  The first was a Remington 870 Wingmaster 12 gauge with a 3 inch chamber that I got at a gun show for $325.00 used.  Not bad but not extravagant, I was hoping for $275.00.  The next was another Remington 870 Wingmaster 12 gauge with a 2 ¾ inch chamber that I bought off my brother who paid $50.00 for it.  I bought it off him for $75.00 put the greater quality wood on my 3 inch 870 then turned around and sold the 2 ¾ inch for $275.00.  You win sometimes.  The next was a Remington 1100 12 gauge semi-automatic with a 3 inch chamber.  I thought initially that THIS was the gun I was looking for as a slug gun.  However, research showed me that this 1100 was not good for 2 ¾ inch loads.  You lose sometimes.  A few weeks later, I was at yet another gun show and saw a dealer who had a 175th anniversary Remington 11-87 12 ga. 3 inch with invector chokes for $500.00.  I didn’t have any guns with me to trade, as the show was a last minute excursion.  However, I promised him I’d look him up the next time I was down his way, which was in Davis, West Virginia near Canaan Valley.  Work had me in the area a few weeks later, I stopped by and traded the 1100 for the 11-87.  You win sometimes.  The point of this whole story is that getting a shotgun for hunting with can be quite a ride!  Now that I had my first semi-auto shotgun I was anxious to try it.  But what could I hunt in late summer?  That’s right, dove!

I started looking around for potential dove areas near my new living and working town – Fairmont.  I checked with some of the biologists at the WVDNR and they first asked me, “How far you willing to drive?”  I replied, “Well, it depends on the hunting.  If it’s good I’ll travel far, if it’s poor I won’t.”  As luck would have it, there was a fairly good dove population available at the Prunytown State Farm and Wildlife Management Area in Taylor County.  There, they had several food plots sewn in sunflower, millet, wheat, and other food crops.  I went to check it out and met with the farm manager, who was very helpful and pointed out several places where plots were located.  I had an area, my map and some key dove fields to play with.  Why not give it a try? 

The first plot I tried was close to the road so naturally every scattergun toting fool in the county was parked at the area.  Men, women and kids, all had flooded the field the first day of season so I had to walk clear to the end of the field, just to get a good spot.  I sat and sat and sat some more, hoping birds would make it my way.  However, the direction they were coming from seemed to cross about 10 hunters before they could make it to me.   Needless to say, I didn’t see many birds.  Then, here came a flock of 3 circling far out and above my position.  I waited, waited and then cut loose.  The 7 ½ shot from the two shells had found two doves.  Two doves for two shots is never bad!  A few more birds came over and I connected on a few until I had my limit.  My 11-87 had performed great and it was a joy to shoot.  In addition to that, it looked like a bird gun.  I never have been a big upland bird hunter but I do love those doves and had the gun to work on them.

I managed to hunt the same plot a few more times, but the birds had wised up so I knew I had to try another field.  The one I decided on this time was one that was clear up on top of a mountain and only accessible by foot traffic.  Since the going got tough, the tough (me) got going.  Boy that mountain was steep and the walk was hot and exhausting.  But when I finally did reach the top, I immediately jumped about 8 doves.  Unfortunately, the things had taken a liking to the perches provided by the 8 ft. fence around the radio tower also located on top the mountain so I couldn’t get a shot.  I knew they would be going into the dove field, hopefully, sometime while I was there.  I sat up in the middle of the field along the back edge in a locust thicket.  This provided much needed shade and cover.  I was the only one there with the whole field to myself.  Then here they came.  For about two hours, the doves didn’t let me load fast enough.  I wasn’t doing too hot.  I was connecting on about 1 out of 3 or 4.  At the end of the day, I had shot up nearly 3 boxes of shells and had my limit.  Boy that was fun but it was also humbling.  Perhaps a little trap or skeet shooting would have helped.  I also tried to “pump” my semi-automatic.  That’s what I’ve used for years and that took some getting used to.  But once I got used to the action, boy was it a blast. 

For a good late summer excursion, try going out dove hunting.  Look for a couple good spots, crowded or not, pack a lot of shells, bug repellant, chair and a trusty shotgun and have yourself a ball.  However, you might want to practice a little bit.  Two doves for two shots isn’t bad but 1 dove for 3 or 4 shots isn’t impressive.  Oh, and don’t try to pump a semi-automatic!