Opening Weekend Dove Season
 

Anyone hunt over Labor Day weekend? Damn good hunt in North West Texas. Our group shot over 500 opening day.

:( poor little feathery cooing guys.

Seriously, I didn't know there was such a thing as "dove season." Is there an overpopulation problem with them down there?

There's deer season, turkey season, etc. - why wouldn't there be dove season?

I know people are probably going to jump on me for this, but I've never understood this (coming from the environment I grew up in) so I have to ask: why is it that some people get SO upset over hunting, but they have no problem at all eating meat that they buy in a store or restaurant? I mean, you do realize that those animals that you're eating were killed in a much nastier, less hygienic, and crueler way, right? In the grand scheme of things, what is the big deal about hunting? :confused:

/ends rant and goes back to eating the bird that her uncle killed

Because I didn't think there were enough of them to warrant a season. Plus, they're not very big. To me it sounds like "robin season" or "bluebird season."

Blackbird pie is tasty, according to nursey rhyme book.

I don't think dove season is in yet up here, but I can't go dove hunting. It starts way too early. And deer hunting is worse. You wake up at dark thirty to go freeze your ass off in the woods. Vinencen is good. So I guess it works out. I don't want to wake up though.

IIRC, the doves that are hunted aren't the pretty white lovebirds most people think of when they hear the word dove, they're more like pigeons.

Oh, okay, I'm sorry - I completely misunderstood what you were trying to say (one of the many hazards of Internet communication). Doves are a pretty diverse category of birds - there are quail doves and pheasant doves and just ordinary city pigeon kinds, etc. They're a really common bird in general, as well as being a common game bird.

Edited to add a word I left out by mistake, lol.

I have no problem with hunting, as long as it's not just for trophy purposes. (Mount your 30 point buck, but eat it too)

But as a Sigma Kappa I have to protest the shooting of doves.

Just on principle.

I'm missing your point. Are you saying there should be a "standard of demise" for the meat we consume? Is it somehow better if it's hunted meat?

As for the hunting, give the animals a gun, make it fair......now you might have something for ESPN.

My friend just went dove hunting. He laughed at me when I asked him did he "catch" anything...catch, shoot, whatever. :p

Well, everybody's free to eat whatever they want to, of course. Personally, I don't eat most meat available on the market. It's just my own personal preference, because of the conditions that those animals are raised and kept in and the way they are killed. To me, it's nasty. I guess it's "standard of demise" (I like the way you phrased that, lol) and the standards of living of the animals before their demise. I would much rather eat something that has lived a nice, happy, free life and then been killed cleanly, and that I know exactly how it's been killed and prepared for consumption. I am really particular about meat, for health issues and for ethical issues, and I would much rather eat hunted meat than standard meat from the store.

Regarding giving the animals guns to make it fair, what weapons would you give the animals that are on meat farms?

I know I'm kind of weird about this, I'm just really picky about my food ...

There are countless millions of Dove that are all over North and South America. There isn't a season because of overpopulation, there is a season because Dove are migratory game birds and hunting helps control the population.

For anyone that doesn't know, the Dove you hunt are very big....almost like Pigeons. Eurasion Dove are almost bigger. The breasts of the Dove (that you eat) are actually quite big in size and are very tasty.

Ahh, I was thinking of Mourning Doves like this guy.

http://www.stanford.edu/~petelat1/photos/modo-1.jpg

They wouldn't be worth plucking to eat. The Eurasian ones do look a lot bigger.

You obviously have little to no knowledge of how hunting wild game helps animals and animal populations far more than it hurts them. (actually it really doesn't hurt them at all.)

For an example, i'll use deer. Go talk to any wildlife biologist and he will tell you that you absolutely have to control populations of male and female deer...especially on ranches and hunting leases where the numbers are higher on smaller pieces of property (anywhere from 2000 - 60000 acres.) If you don't kill them over breeding occurs and you start to get severe inbreeding which leads to diseases and pretty gnarly deformaties. Most often on larger ranches (such as the one I have) you will have an extra "Game Management" period after the end of the regular season to just kill Doe (females). Usu\ually are target number is around 35 - 50 deer per year.

Mourning Dove can get pretty big....White Wing Dove are what you really try to shoot. Eurasion Dove are funny......they aren't in a whole lot of places and actually don't count as a game bird. (The limit for the two hunts that you can do per day during season in Texas is 15 birds) So basically if you shoot 3 White Wings and 20 Eurasions, you would technically only have 3 Dove that counted towards your limit.

Eurasions are right on the brink of actually not being considered a Dove....but more in the Pigeon family. They are damn big though and good to eat.