In the Kansas City area one place is synonymous with dove hunting. James A. Reed Memorial Wildlife Area will host several hundred hunters on opening day. They have some hunter-to-acre ratio that allows them to pack in a bunch of guys over quality habitat. The result is that on opening day alone they will often kill several thousand doves.
I’ve tried it twice, once each of the last two years. Once I had one of the best shoots of my life, once I felt like the area had been shot out. Both years it was the second day of the season. Like most public areas, if you don’t get to them in the first few days you’re wasting your time. To get a prime spot for noon on opening day people start arriving at 2:30 am!
Anyway, the Kansas City Star had an article in today’s paper saying that the kill was way down because of the weather. 620 hunters and only 1900 doves is not the type of kill they are used to. I sure didn’t notice lower numbers 100 miles to the west on my opening day… The article can be found here.
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