It’s that time again! September first will dawn tomorrow, and with it comes what, for many hunters, is the kick-off of the hunting season… the Dove Opener!
I remember years ago, living in NC, and waiting eagerly for the annual opening day hunt. Before I knew what a feral hog was, my hunting season generally wrapped up around the end of February, and that was it until Labor Day. The dove opener was the like Christmas to me.
The big opener was also a huge social occasion. In NC, the dove opener always started after noon, which made for a great opportunity to get friends and family together at a “decent hour”. At the best dove openers I can remember, we’d gather on the edge of a recently cut corn or millet field to the aroma of hardwood coals and slow-cooking pork. Guns and hunters of every vintage would mingle excitedly, eating, telling tales, and making memories before spreading out across the field to burn ammo on the grey rockets.
Here in CA, we start at sunrise, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have fun! Once again, I’ll be down at the Native Hunt properties with T. Michael Riddle and a handful of friends and guests. We’ll greet the morning with gunfire, and then retire back to the comfortable lodge for a great lunch and a big party.
I’ll be offline until I get home, but I’ll be carrying the camera and the video, so I hope to capture some of the fun to share with all of you when I get back. I’ve got a new toy to try out, from Hunter Specialties. At the SHOT Show in January, they introduced the I-Kam Xtreme video glasses. I thought they were kind of neat, in a purely gadgety kind of way, and asked if they’d send me some to try out. I thought they’d forgotten about me until about two weeks ago when an unmarked box showed up on my front porch. I think I’ve got them figured out, so we’ll see how they work on tomorrow’s hunt.
So to all of you who’ll be out there tomorrow, slinging shot at the feathered furies, have fun and be safe! Don’t forget to follow the rules, stick to the limits, and shoot where they’re going, not where they were.
Peter Derick
Don’t forget to look for bling and report any bands at http://www.reportband.gov!