Buck Hollow Sporting Goods - click or touch to visit their website Midwest Habitat Company

Who here must always dove hunt with retrieving dogs?

BarrowBoy

New Member
There are several reasons to have dogs in a dove field as far as I have studied. I'm thinking about taking up dove hunting and getting into retrievers as a hobby.

-wildlife conservation
-fewer lost birds
-more time humans can spend to shoot birds
-doves can be very difficult to retrieve for humans
-fun being outdoors with your K9 buddies

Here is my narrative on dove hunting with dogs sourced from my personal dove hunting book, Charley Dickey's Dove Hunting, as follows:


The most heart-warming thing about hunting doves and other game with a gun is having a well-trained, loyal and loving K9 companion afield. The hunting dog is important for the conservation of game and the dog can even let you know if birds are coming in case you did not see them of hear them yourself. In spite of text in this book, you should not let your male dog chase stray bitches as a reward. He can get hurt by an automobile or impregnate stray bitches if he has not had a canine vasectomy. I am troubled by all these dove hunting videos I see this day and age without the employment of retrieving dogs afield.

Source publication:

Galahad Books New York City (January 1, 1976)
Language: ‎ English Hardcover 112 pages
ISBN-10: ‎ 0883653362
ISBN-13: ‎ 978-0883653364

Author's Dedication: "To Dave and all those boys in the back room."
 
Gonna try dove hunting one of these years!!!! & make a fool of myself !!!! :)

To me, it's mostly about the romance of the working dogs afield. A good shotgun mount, swing, lead and follow-through makes things more enjoyable as well. The dove poppers are just the dessert. The cherry on top of the proverbial sundae. I hear that a rookie dove shooter had better bring more than one box of shells to the field if you are to have a snowball-in-hell hope of even coming close to a daily limit.

I would get in a little skeet field practice before the September 1 opener as a pre-season warmup. Make sure the retriever is limber in the field as well. Unlike deer hunting, you and dog both have to limber up for wing shooting. I would hate to have a dog that mocks me for my misses. Sometimes a good Lab or Golden knows you hit even when you thought you missed.

Shotgun shell makers and their corporate bean-counters are highly gleeful that doves, by decree of Mother Nature, have such an uncanny knack to dodge high-velocity lead.
 
Top Bottom