New Dove Season and New Dove Hunter in Yuma, Arizona

Arizona dove season starts on 1 September. This year, I took a new dove hunter out on on opening day. My policy is to introduce new hunters to hunting as often as I have opportunities presented. Jesse had fired a few shots with a .22 rifle before; but had never fired a shotgun at a moving target. He had to learn nearly everything from scratch.

Jesse understood basic gun safety. I reinforced the four basic safety rules.  I told him while actually hunting for dove, to have his finger on the safety of the old Remington 20 gauge 870 he is holding. It may appear his finger is on the trigger, but it is not. It is on the safety, just behind the trigger on the 870 shotgun.

The pictures are posed. The shotguns were unloaded, as we had finished hunting.

Dove hunting is a good introduction to hunting for a new hunter. There are a lot of targets. Doves are not very sophisticated birds.  Minor mistakes can be made, and still have a successful hunt.

Dove hunting is an authentic hunting experience.

Hunting is a primordial experience that seems hardwired into our brain patterns. It can be explained to non-hunters, but it needs to be experienced to be understood. Explaining hunting to someone who has never hunted is like trying to explain hot showers to a person who never had running water.  They may understand the mechanics, but not the experience. The difference between merely walking through a wilderness area, and hunting in the same area, is profound. In one experience, you are merely observing nature. In the other, you are an active participant in the drama.

This year, there were plenty of doves. Jesse did well. He shot 10 doves the first day, the majority of which where white wing doves. It took him a while to learn to swing the shotgun, to follow through, and to get “on” a moving target quickly. He fired a lot of shots to harvest the 10 doves, but there were a lot of doves to shoot at.

With my guidance, he did not waste shells shooting at doves that were out of range. Determining range is an important skill for wing shooting. Jesse harvested birds with both the 870 and the Browning Double-Auto Twelvete. He favored the beat up 870.

I insisted we collect each downed dove before another shot was fired. Unless you have a good dog or another person who is willing to work specifically at retrieving the birds, they are easy to lose. Their coloration blends in well with the desert, and a winged bird will burrow into bushes and hide. It is best to collect them quickly.

Learning to mentally mark the location of downed birds was another skill I worked at transmitting to Jesse.

I always bring some snacks and cool drinks when dove hunting. I want to make a young hunter’s first experience enjoyable and memorable.

After the days hunting, I taught Jesse how to clean the doves. He was fascinated by the internal mechanics of the dove’s organs. I pointed out the crop, the heart, the lungs, and the gizzard.

These things were common knowledge two generations ago, when nearly everyone participated in butchering chickens for a family meal. Today they are esoteric knowledge for a young person.

On the second day of the hunt, Jesse and I only had two hours. I had a prior commitment to be part of the security team for the Vertical Church in Yuma.

Jesse’s shooting had improved. He downed five doves, even though the shooting is alway slower on the second day. Many doves have already been harvested, and many survivors have learned caution. Only 35% of doves survive from year to year, whether they are hunted by humans or not.

Doves have many non-human predators. Birds are more subject to accident than humans. There are no warning labels or OHSA regulations in nature.  There are few multi-generational rules of thumb for birds. Weather and famine cause significant mortality. Doves have to eat between 12 and 20 percent of their body weight each day to survive.

Dove hunting is an important part of the Yuma economy. On a per pound basis, dove meat is very expensive. People travel hundreds of miles to participate in Yuma dove hunting.

As an older hunter, I find great satisfaction in mentoring young hunters. I benefited greatly from the mentoring of my father. I had the advantage of being able to step outside my door, and start hunting while growing up in northern Wisconsin. Most of today’s young people do not have that advantage.

If you have the opportunity, take a young person hunting. The experience will broaden their horizons far beyond another video game.

©2018 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch