There is something about the first dove hunt of the year that feels like the unofficial start of fall.

It almost never actually feels like fall in Mississippi, with heat indexes in the 100s, but after a long summer, things are finally starting to change. College football is back on TV. Hunting seasons are opening. And for the first time since turkey season, there's a reason to pull the camo out, grab your gun and go hunting again.

The buildup to a good opening day dove hunt starts months before anybody fires a shot.

Somebody has been fooling with that field all summer. Planting it, watching the weather, worrying about whether the crop is going to make, checking for birds and trying to decide when to start getting the field ready. As opening day gets closer, somebody is driving by every few days to see if the birds are still there. You start getting pictures and texts. “There were 200 birds in the field yesterday.” “Sure hope we don’t get a hurricane that blows them outta here”. “Bring extra shells because the field is loaded.” “I don’t know what happened, but there probably wasn’t 50 in there this morning.”

The list goes on and on. 

By the time opening weekend finally gets there, you're ready to hunt something.

Everybody starts showing up that morning with shotguns, chairs, coolers and dogs. There's really no need to be quiet. Nobody is whispering or worrying about slamming a truck door. You aren't trying to slip into a deer stand in the dark or get set up on a turkey without him knowing you're there.

You're just going hunting with a bunch of people you enjoy being around. It’s almost more of a social gathering than an actual hunt.

Eventually everybody spreads out around the field and waits on the first birds to start flying. We have a joke at one of my hunts that birds never fly “Before 7:15.” There isn’t really any truth to it, but year after year, it’s the running joke because at this hunt, it does from 0 to 100 quick. 

There will be birds that everybody shoots at and nobody touches. Somebody will fold one at a distance they probably had no business shooting. Somebody else will shoot outta shells on a bird looked like it was barely moving. Everybody sees it, and you're probably going to hear about it for the rest of the day.

That's part of what makes dove hunting different. You can talk. You can laugh. You can bring your kids. You can sit beside somebody and carry on a conversation between groups of birds. There's still plenty of competition about who killed what and who shot the best, but it just isn't that serious. And as much as I enjoy the actual hunting, the middle of the day might be as good as any part of it.

*Side note- There is nothing better than a dove hunt to get your kids accustomed to the sights and sounds of hunting. 

The morning hunt winds down and everybody comes back in. The first birds of the season get cleaned and the grill gets going. Jalapenos and cream cheese get sliced up, because no matter what, poppers are the go to with the first round of birds. College football is on TV. Somebody opens a cold beer. You're eating dove that was flying around a few hours earlier, watching football and talking about everything that happened that morning.

Then there's nothing much to do but rest up for the evening.

That's the beauty of it.

You eat. Have a couple beers. Watch a game. Let the dogs sleep. Hang around with friends and family. Maybe take a nap. All the while, you know you've still got another hunt coming that evening.

Eventually people start getting restless and looking at the clock. Shotguns come back out. Everybody loads up again and heads toward the field.

The evening hunt always feels a little different. The worst of the heat is hopefully gone. The sun starts getting lower. Birds begin moving again, and before long shots are coming from all over the field.

Then, almost as quickly as it started, it's getting dark.

Everybody ends up back around the trucks. Guns get put away. Birds get counted. Somebody shot way too many shells. Somebody else won't let him forget it.

And hunting season is officially underway.

There are hunts that are more exciting. There are certainly hunts that are more challenging. I've spent plenty of days preparing for deer and turkey hunts where being quiet, playing the wind and doing everything exactly right matters.

A dove hunt isn't really like that.

A properly put together dove hunt is as much about the day as it is the hunting. It's the months of getting a field ready. It's the anticipation leading up to opening weekend. It's the first shotgun shells of the year, football on TV, something cooking on the grill and a few cold beers. It's kids, dogs, friends and family all being able to enjoy the same hunt without anybody having to sit perfectly still or keep their voice down.

At the end of the day, whether you killed a limit probably isn't what you're going to remember anyway.

 

You'll remember who was there.