I'll start the ball rolling.

28 gauge is my preference this year, but if I can't hit a damn thing, I'll bump up to 20 or 12.

I'm hunting west of Denton tomorrow .

Heading to Breckenridge on Friday.

I'll give an update after each hunt.

Where are you hunting?

How are the bird levels?

Meet any GW?

AAR:
We headed to the sunflower fields around 6:30am, and started seeing birds coming in from the east around 7:00am.

The dove were high, so we passed on all shots.  We could hear someone shooting at them a few minutes later.

About 7:45am, the birds were lower and we were able to start hitting a few.  They were not in great numbers, usually 2-3 at a time.

I had 11 by 10:30, and the birds were few and far between by then.

Started again in the afternoon around 4:00pm, and this time the birds were coming in from the north. A strong southern wind slowed them down a bit.

Birds were scarce, usually 1 at a time.  It took another 2 hours to get my limit.

28 gauge was fine, and did the job just fine.  Load was 3/4 ounce of #8 at 1300 fps from Fiocchi.

Shotgun was an old Beretta Silver Pigeon 1, with Muller U1 and U2 chokes.

Breckenridge AAR:
More birds than last 2 years, but still not great.  
No one limited out over the weekend, but some got close.
More birds in the afternoon. Mornings were quiet.
Best part was it was not so damn hot.  Nice breeze in the afternoons.
Birds were here a few weeks earlier, but most have moved on.

I'm seeing more birds just north of Denton than I've seen for opening in the last couple of years, but there is food everywhere...goat weed, native sunflower  My guess is the 15 minute stock tank flurry at sun down.

I'm in San Saba.
The birds have been here in droves , but left yesterday.

It seems like they know.

I'll be up in Charlie north of Wichita Falls in a few hours and will update this post.

Edit: Just got back and we had four hunters and four limits by 1:00.

Edit II: I was shooting a Beretta 686 Onyx 12 gauge with SK/IC chokes and 1 1/8 oz of 7.5 shot. I had my limit by 11:30 and the birds were starting to slow by then but the other guys in my group persevered and limited out by the early afternoon.

I will be hunting near Italy, TX. Was out there a week ago and the birds were thick.

residential areas are packed with them.

Hunting areas not so much lol damn birds are getting smarter.

Woke up to the sound of massive gunfire. It was awesome.

Fuck

I'm in NTX. Sounds like the VC are advancing from the south this morning.

With all the shooting here north of Denton I believe the mourning doves will be mourning this morning, if any are left to mourn.  All birds avoided my mojo dove, I was completely skunked.

Woke up to the sound of gun fire here so there must be a few around.  I honestly hadn't been paying attention as I usually only get out to dove hunt for the opening of the south zone with some friends.  Been a slacker and need to go get my license and clean up the shotgun to make sure it still works!

Have seen a fewbirds east of Austin, but lots of shots around the house.  Just before 11 and the frequency is decreasing.

Shot at and kill ONE this morning North of Denton. My hunting buddy was the same.  Just west of us, over milo fields, they must have dumped a full case into the air.  I'll be back baking my brain about 5:00

Hunted this morning near San Antonio and my buddy and I both limited out.
Several other people limited out in our group of about 30 hunters.
We just picked the lucky corner of the cut milo field and had the best flyway and the most shooting of the group.

Here's a cool story.
I shot a bird and went to pick it up and it jumped up and fluttered away.
I couldnt shoot it again as it flew directly towards my truck.
It flew around my truck and flew straight for my buddy and I yelled "shoot that bird" but by then it had flown right up to him and I yelled "or club it" and he proceeded to swat it out of the air with his shotgun barrel and killed it.
TRUE STORY. Craziest thing I have ever seen dove hunting.

Hope everyone is having a great day hunting.

I've seen one dove all day
I could have shot hundreds the past week

I'm head towards Breckenridge/Throckmorton on Friday. Camping at Fort Griffith for the weekend.

I haven't had a good hunt in that area in about 10 years....hopefully it's better now

Hunted near Denton this morning. More birds than I have ever seen in my life, just absurd.  Back home in Houston, hoping to head towards Hempstead after work this week to see how they are flying down here.

I was in a conference at sunrise and still on the jobsite at sundown...  Maybe next week I can make it out.

I couldn't get out today. Someone please tell me they are seeing dove near the Grasslands in Decatur.

I limited out in about two hours this morning just north of Hutto.  Plenty of birds in and around North Austin this year.

I was SW of Stephenville... ours had afterburners today!  It didn't help that I couldn't hit a darn thing.

Saw very few birds here in southern Grayson county. What I did see were high and moving fast.

lease is in between san marcos/new branfels...
i got 13 yesterday - we started at 3:30/4 and packed up when the sun went down.
my buddy got 8 - though we both left a couple in the trees/brush we couldn't get to.

they weren't flying as thick as last year. steady numbers, two, three here....three, four there.
i wasn't there for the morning, but the owner told us out of about twenty people there that morning, only two or three got limits.



haven't heard anything more than a rumor from a couple different people - has the duck limit this year been raised to 7?

birds were scarce in Katy. I took 7-8 in the morning, tons of people, lots of trash birds, and few doves.

Of the billion people out there, I took the most of anyone I spoke to.

I went back in the afternoon/evening for 4 hours or so, and I saw maybe 5 birds total, none of them anywhere near me.

We need a cool front to push them through.

Meridian, Tx checking in.

We bagged and were done by 7 and cleaned by 8, back home in Dallas by 10:30.

Bird count in Clay county was crazy.  Wind was blowing fast so it made for great action.  Hit the limit fast even with my poor shooting.

Just waiting for the south season to open.  If I could hunt in my back yard I could limit in 30 min.  White wing everywhere like crazy .  Come opening day they will probably be gone.

I drive around from Bowie to Decatur and from Jacks to Forrest.  I had been seeing a ton of Dove in the roads eating hoppers until this week. I bet so far this week driving around up there I have seen a total of 6 dove.

Sooo, I will only need 6 shells? Sweet!

My 9 year old and his haul from Mondays afternoon hunt.

Slaughtered them between Albany and Throckmorton.
6 shooters with 90 doves in about 2 hrs.