User Panel
[#1]
I shot one bird this morning in Wichita Falls. Fortunately we were in a better spot in the evening, the birds were flying, and all 7 in our group limited out.
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[#2]
Quoted:
I shot one bird this morning in Wichita Falls. Fortunately we were in a better spot in the evening, the birds were flying, and all 7 in our group limited out. View Quote Wow. what changed? How far did you go? I saw 4 birds in the morning, and only 2 birds in the evening, and took them all. The number of non-dove birds was insane. And quite annoying. |
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[#4]
Quoted:
<a href="http://s197.photobucket.com/user/hadriel_photos/media/6CB2FFCF-4F43-4C1B-AC07-509CB02775E2.jpg.html" target="_blank">http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa71/hadriel_photos/6CB2FFCF-4F43-4C1B-AC07-509CB02775E2.jpg</a> Not to bad of an opening day. View Quote Where at? |
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[#5]
Quoted:
That Sterlingworth was made to shoot. Just don't use heavy loads. I have been told the stock soaks up oil and can weaken. Mine fits me like it was custom made for me. I am really looking forward to using it. There is a board for Fox collectors. It has a lot of good info. View Quote Yeah, I've seen it. The Sterlingworth being the "field grade" of that day isn't one of the ones that is highly prized like the "grade" guns (which are worth 2-3x as much and up). The one I have other than a little normal wear condition wise looks more like it is 5 years old than 105 years old. I've read that it isn't the metallurgy in these compared to modern shotguns that is the issue, but basically you don't want to go anything much over the AA light trap loads in it because the chambers tend to run a little short for modern plastic cartridges and higher power loads can develop too much pressure. The old waxed cardboard paper cartridges when they opened up were a little shorter. I've heard some people say they were designed for 2-1/2" 12 ga cartridges which are now considered obsolete, but I don't believe that to be true or the chambers would probably be even shorter. |
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[#6]
Quoted:
Yeah, I've seen it. The Sterlingworth being the "field grade" of that day isn't one of the ones that is highly prized like the "grade" guns (which are worth 2-3x as much and up). The one I have other than a little normal wear condition wise looks more like it is 5 years old than 105 years old. I've read that it isn't the metallurgy in these compared to modern shotguns that is the issue, but basically you don't want to go anything much over the AA light trap loads in it because the chambers tend to run a little short for modern plastic cartridges and higher power loads can develop too much pressure. The old waxed cardboard paper cartridges when they opened up were a little shorter. I've heard some people say they were designed for 2-1/2" 12 ga cartridges which are now considered obsolete, but I don't believe that to be true or the chambers would probably be even shorter. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
Quoted:
That Sterlingworth was made to shoot. Just don't use heavy loads. I have been told the stock soaks up oil and can weaken. Mine fits me like it was custom made for me. I am really looking forward to using it. There is a board for Fox collectors. It has a lot of good info. Yeah, I've seen it. The Sterlingworth being the "field grade" of that day isn't one of the ones that is highly prized like the "grade" guns (which are worth 2-3x as much and up). The one I have other than a little normal wear condition wise looks more like it is 5 years old than 105 years old. I've read that it isn't the metallurgy in these compared to modern shotguns that is the issue, but basically you don't want to go anything much over the AA light trap loads in it because the chambers tend to run a little short for modern plastic cartridges and higher power loads can develop too much pressure. The old waxed cardboard paper cartridges when they opened up were a little shorter. I've heard some people say they were designed for 2-1/2" 12 ga cartridges which are now considered obsolete, but I don't believe that to be true or the chambers would probably be even shorter. Follow this link to a thread I started on the Fox Collectors forum. About halfway down that page we began discussing the chamber lengths. Apparently they did ream the chambers to 2.5", but it may have been intentional, and Fox says to use 2.75" shells. There is a pic of a page in an article referencing the benefits of short chambers. If you shoot a 7/8oz or 1oz load around 1200fps there will be no problem. Those loads should take dove easily. You can also have the chambers reamed to 2.75". There is 2.5" shells available. The main reason to use the lighter loads isn't the steel, it's to avoid damaging the stock wrist in case it became oil soaked over the last 100 years. |
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[#7]
Quoted:
Wow. what changed? How far did you go? I saw 4 birds in the morning, and only 2 birds in the evening, and took them all. The number of non-dove birds was insane. And quite annoying. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
Quoted:
I shot one bird this morning in Wichita Falls. Fortunately we were in a better spot in the evening, the birds were flying, and all 7 in our group limited out. Wow. what changed? How far did you go? I saw 4 birds in the morning, and only 2 birds in the evening, and took them all. The number of non-dove birds was insane. And quite annoying. We moved to a different spot the landowner leased about 5 miles away. It was near a pecan orchard they roost in and I've never seen so many birds in my life. |
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[#8]
If anyone hits up Coit and 121 around 730am you can limit out on pigeons
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[#9]
Quoted:
<a href="http://s197.photobucket.com/user/hadriel_photos/media/6CB2FFCF-4F43-4C1B-AC07-509CB02775E2.jpg.html" target="_blank">http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa71/hadriel_photos/6CB2FFCF-4F43-4C1B-AC07-509CB02775E2.jpg</a> Not to bad of an opening day. View Quote Were they all flying straight for that Yeti cooler? |
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[#10]
Quoted:
Were they all flying straight for that Yeti cooler? View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
Quoted:
<a href="http://s197.photobucket.com/user/hadriel_photos/media/6CB2FFCF-4F43-4C1B-AC07-509CB02775E2.jpg.html" target="_blank">http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa71/hadriel_photos/6CB2FFCF-4F43-4C1B-AC07-509CB02775E2.jpg</a> Not to bad of an opening day. Were they all flying straight for that Yeti cooler? |
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[#11]
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[#12]
Quoted:
Quoted:
<a href="http://s197.photobucket.com/user/hadriel_photos/media/6CB2FFCF-4F43-4C1B-AC07-509CB02775E2.jpg.html" target="_blank">http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa71/hadriel_photos/6CB2FFCF-4F43-4C1B-AC07-509CB02775E2.jpg</a> Not to bad of an opening day. Where at? NE of liberty hill |
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[#13]
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[#14]
Quoted:
Follow this link to a thread I started on the Fox Collectors forum. About halfway down that page we began discussing the chamber lengths. Apparently they did ream the chambers to 2.5", but it may have been intentional, and Fox says to use 2.75" shells. There is a pic of a page in an article referencing the benefits of short chambers. If you shoot a 7/8oz or 1oz load around 1200fps there will be no problem. Those loads should take dove easily. You can also have the chambers reamed to 2.75". There is 2.5" shells available. The main reason to use the lighter loads isn't the steel, it's to avoid damaging the stock wrist in case it became oil soaked over the last 100 years. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
That Sterlingworth was made to shoot. Just don't use heavy loads. I have been told the stock soaks up oil and can weaken. Mine fits me like it was custom made for me. I am really looking forward to using it. There is a board for Fox collectors. It has a lot of good info. Yeah, I've seen it. The Sterlingworth being the "field grade" of that day isn't one of the ones that is highly prized like the "grade" guns (which are worth 2-3x as much and up). The one I have other than a little normal wear condition wise looks more like it is 5 years old than 105 years old. I've read that it isn't the metallurgy in these compared to modern shotguns that is the issue, but basically you don't want to go anything much over the AA light trap loads in it because the chambers tend to run a little short for modern plastic cartridges and higher power loads can develop too much pressure. The old waxed cardboard paper cartridges when they opened up were a little shorter. I've heard some people say they were designed for 2-1/2" 12 ga cartridges which are now considered obsolete, but I don't believe that to be true or the chambers would probably be even shorter. Follow this link to a thread I started on the Fox Collectors forum. About halfway down that page we began discussing the chamber lengths. Apparently they did ream the chambers to 2.5", but it may have been intentional, and Fox says to use 2.75" shells. There is a pic of a page in an article referencing the benefits of short chambers. If you shoot a 7/8oz or 1oz load around 1200fps there will be no problem. Those loads should take dove easily. You can also have the chambers reamed to 2.75". There is 2.5" shells available. The main reason to use the lighter loads isn't the steel, it's to avoid damaging the stock wrist in case it became oil soaked over the last 100 years. Other than a couple dings my stock looks near mint and totally solid, no sign of being oil soaked. |
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[#16]
Quoted:
Other than a couple dings my stock looks near mint and totally solid, no sign of being oil soaked. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
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That Sterlingworth was made to shoot. Just don't use heavy loads. I have been told the stock soaks up oil and can weaken. Mine fits me like it was custom made for me. I am really looking forward to using it. There is a board for Fox collectors. It has a lot of good info. Yeah, I've seen it. The Sterlingworth being the "field grade" of that day isn't one of the ones that is highly prized like the "grade" guns (which are worth 2-3x as much and up). The one I have other than a little normal wear condition wise looks more like it is 5 years old than 105 years old. I've read that it isn't the metallurgy in these compared to modern shotguns that is the issue, but basically you don't want to go anything much over the AA light trap loads in it because the chambers tend to run a little short for modern plastic cartridges and higher power loads can develop too much pressure. The old waxed cardboard paper cartridges when they opened up were a little shorter. I've heard some people say they were designed for 2-1/2" 12 ga cartridges which are now considered obsolete, but I don't believe that to be true or the chambers would probably be even shorter. Follow this link to a thread I started on the Fox Collectors forum. About halfway down that page we began discussing the chamber lengths. Apparently they did ream the chambers to 2.5", but it may have been intentional, and Fox says to use 2.75" shells. There is a pic of a page in an article referencing the benefits of short chambers. If you shoot a 7/8oz or 1oz load around 1200fps there will be no problem. Those loads should take dove easily. You can also have the chambers reamed to 2.75". There is 2.5" shells available. The main reason to use the lighter loads isn't the steel, it's to avoid damaging the stock wrist in case it became oil soaked over the last 100 years. Other than a couple dings my stock looks near mint and totally solid, no sign of being oil soaked. Someone told me I would need to remove the buttstock and look at the wood where it contacted the receiver. He said decades of being oiled then standing on it's butt allowed oil to get into the wood and weaken it. I haven't seen any signs on mine either. I will be using it Saturday. RST sells 2.5" shells and this dealer has some too and a decent price. If you aren't comfortable shooting the 2.75" shells these are an option. |
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[#17]
Quoted:
What road?....I'm in Sanger. We hunted off of Harberson Rd the 1st and 2nd. We probably got a total of 20-25 for both days. https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfp1/v/t1.0-9/11209617_1065347130141986_3354738814446527547_n.jpg?oh=b78e402bfe8c9ee534ff554a77724f2a&oe=567EA3A8 View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
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Got 3 4 this morning. Didn't miss any. :-( Evening will be better. Just north of Sanger What road?....I'm in Sanger. We hunted off of Harberson Rd the 1st and 2nd. We probably got a total of 20-25 for both days. https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfp1/v/t1.0-9/11209617_1065347130141986_3354738814446527547_n.jpg?oh=b78e402bfe8c9ee534ff554a77724f2a&oe=567EA3A8 We were hunting at the corner of Metz Rd and Hoen Rd, about 3.5 miles NE of you, on a place with 1/2 milo, and 1/2 mowed pasture |
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[#18]
Quoted:
Someone told me I would need to remove the buttstock and look at the wood where it contacted the receiver. He said decades of being oiled then standing on it's butt allowed oil to get into the wood and weaken it. I haven't seen any signs on mine either. I will be using it Saturday. RST sells 2.5" shells and this dealer has some too and a decent price. If you aren't comfortable shooting the 2.75" shells these are an option. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
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Quoted:
That Sterlingworth was made to shoot. Just don't use heavy loads. I have been told the stock soaks up oil and can weaken. Mine fits me like it was custom made for me. I am really looking forward to using it. There is a board for Fox collectors. It has a lot of good info. Yeah, I've seen it. The Sterlingworth being the "field grade" of that day isn't one of the ones that is highly prized like the "grade" guns (which are worth 2-3x as much and up). The one I have other than a little normal wear condition wise looks more like it is 5 years old than 105 years old. I've read that it isn't the metallurgy in these compared to modern shotguns that is the issue, but basically you don't want to go anything much over the AA light trap loads in it because the chambers tend to run a little short for modern plastic cartridges and higher power loads can develop too much pressure. The old waxed cardboard paper cartridges when they opened up were a little shorter. I've heard some people say they were designed for 2-1/2" 12 ga cartridges which are now considered obsolete, but I don't believe that to be true or the chambers would probably be even shorter. Follow this link to a thread I started on the Fox Collectors forum. About halfway down that page we began discussing the chamber lengths. Apparently they did ream the chambers to 2.5", but it may have been intentional, and Fox says to use 2.75" shells. There is a pic of a page in an article referencing the benefits of short chambers. If you shoot a 7/8oz or 1oz load around 1200fps there will be no problem. Those loads should take dove easily. You can also have the chambers reamed to 2.75". There is 2.5" shells available. The main reason to use the lighter loads isn't the steel, it's to avoid damaging the stock wrist in case it became oil soaked over the last 100 years. Other than a couple dings my stock looks near mint and totally solid, no sign of being oil soaked. Someone told me I would need to remove the buttstock and look at the wood where it contacted the receiver. He said decades of being oiled then standing on it's butt allowed oil to get into the wood and weaken it. I haven't seen any signs on mine either. I will be using it Saturday. RST sells 2.5" shells and this dealer has some too and a decent price. If you aren't comfortable shooting the 2.75" shells these are an option. Winchester makes 1145 fps light target loads, and they also make some 980fps low recoil/low noise loads, both in the AA variety. |
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[#19]
Anybody hunting around Graham, TX?
I'll be headed out there for the weekend hunt. |
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[#20]
By the way - we got a visit from two Game Wardens on opening day.
He could have written two tickets.... one guy didn't have his HE # on his license and he didn't have his card with him.... and the other guy was hunting with his little kid but kid didn't have his $7 youth hunting license..... because Walmart told him he didn't need one. They just checked over our kill, checked our shotgun capacity, asked a ton of "fishing" questions, then took off. Nice enough guys. |
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[#21]
Hunted Matador WMA on opening day...five birds in the morning for me and three for my buddy, so we packed it in instead of sweating in the evening.
Planned on hunting the Richland WMA Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning, but my plans were derailed. I found the lock cut on my gate, a window frame busted out on my cabin, and the cabin ransacked. About $2000 worth of stuff stolen and another $500 worth of damages. I replaced an entire window today, repaired the door jam (they tried to kick in the door.) and replaced a through-the-wall AC unit. Doing clean up tomorrow and reinforcing the gate. They will need hydraulics or the 48" bolt cutters if the want back in. It's time to break down and pay for a cellular security or game camera...I had a carefully hidden game cam mounted high up in a tree...they found it and broke it off at the mount. ... |
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[#22]
Three of us almost limited out today in San Saba. I think dillehayd and I were just a bird short and itsARanchrifle got a handful in addition to a nice bruise on his bicep.
I think our hit ratio was maybe 10:1 Had fresh dove and some venison fillets for dinner. |
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[#23]
Limited this morning near Seymour, TX. Amazing amount of birds. Near graham, we have seen almost zero.
Headed back to Seymour in the morning. |
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[#24]
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[#25]
Yesterday morning they were flying thick. Yesterday evening I saw 1 bird.
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[#26]
Limited yesterday morning near Fentress. Didn't see any flying last night.
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[#28]
http://www.outdoorhub.com/news/2015/09/03/texas-air-force-personnel-detain-dove-hunters-private-property/
Full article on hotlink Texas Air Force Personnel Detain Dove Hunters on Private Property “I’m disappointed in our local Goodfellow Airforce Base Security for what they did today,” wrote Greg Simons, the operator of Wildlife Systems, on Facebook. “On a farm field that we lease that’s adjacent to the Base, surrounded by a security fence, they swarmed our group of 6 hunters, made them lay on their belly, spread eagle, for almost 30 minutes at gunpoint, two of them on asphalt in almost 100 degree temps and would not let them move, with our hunters pleading with them. One was laying in a red ant bed and they would not let him move.” |
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[#29]
In town DFW. Had one assist on Thursday evening, two Sat morning, zip this morning. There weren't a lot of birds but I defiantly should have been able to take a few more.
That Air Force thing is nuts. If they wanted more buffer, they should have bought the surrounding land. Fuck .gov coming armed onto private land and detaining lawful citizens with threat of death. Off to read the 2A again. ETA: Oh, and got check by a game warden for the first time in my life yesterday morning. Very nice lady. Other than her having to do her job, would rate 10/10 encounter. Should have gotten pics but I only think of you guys when I get on the computer. |
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[#30]
Finally got to go yesterday. Had a flight of 5 come in, a flight of 3 flew out. I could have had a third shot, but they were falling in thick brush and I was lucky to find them both as it was. Had a single at 40 yards that I shot right behind him, and had one fly right at me and shot at about 20 yards, he fell about 5 steps in front of me.
75% hit ratio, but only three doves in the bag. Everything else I saw was flying at 500+ feet. I also spent some time in the blind with my AR and FLIR scope... there are 4 less coons at the ranch now. Going back out Monday. ETA: We are just outside of Comanche, 100 miles SW of Fort Worth. |
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[#31]
Hunted Saturday and Sunday. Got a few each hunt but never saw many birds and neither did any of the other groups at our ranch. Lots a great fields but no large number of birds.
We were 15 miles south of Wichita Falls. We hunted V-TX and 4L ranch. Both are great places to go and hunt. The deer at V- TX Whitetail are huge. It was hot and dusty. We think the weather hasn't cooled enough up north to drive the birds south yet. Last year they were two weeks early, Hopefully they won't show up two weeks after the season is over. |
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[#32]
Quoted:
Hunted Saturday and Sunday. Got a few each hunt but never saw many birds and neither did any of the other groups at our ranch. Lots a great fields but no large number of birds. We were 15 miles south of Wichita Falls. We hunted V-TX and 4L ranch. Both are great places to go and hunt. The deer at V- TX Whitetail are huge. It was hot and dusty. We think the weather hasn't cooled enough up north to drive the birds south yet. Last year they were two weeks early, Hopefully they won't show up two weeks after the season is over. View Quote Big front moving in Wednesday. Highs are dropping each day after. Weather patterns are also indicating a huge tropical storm to form in the gulf with this front stalling out in the gulf. This weeks weather is going to be interesting. |
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[#33]
Big front moving in Wednesday. Highs are dropping each day after. Weather patterns are also indicating a huge tropical storm to form in the gulf with this front stalling out in the gulf. This weeks weather is going to be interesting. View Quote Should move some birds in. Also sounds like liquid overtime for me. |
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[#34]
Eastern Bexar county must be experiencing a dove famine.
Pretty scarce this morning, i'm hoping this afternoon picks up. |
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[#35]
This weekend report from north east burnet county.
Saw about a dozen doves in three days, managed to get two. Also saw forty turkey,five does and six bald eagles. Had six jakes come up close enough to pet and eat corn out of my hand, still dumb until turkey season starts. Neighbor kid got three birds and shot about three cases of shells to get them. |
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[#36]
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[#37]
I had some of the best hunting of my life. It was limits for everybody. We were south of larain/ Colorado City. Now, on Sunday we headed back home and stopped at the deer lease in Gorman and it was pretty dead there.
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[#38]
Quoted:
Limited this morning near Seymour, TX. Amazing amount of birds. Near graham, we have seen almost zero. Headed back to Seymour in the morning. View Quote We finished the Sunday morning hunt in Seymour, we set a hard stop at 8:00am so we could get the birds cleaned and get on the road, and everyone had about 6 birds by 8am, with LOTS of good hunting left to be done. I probably would have gotten close to limit if we had hunted till 10am, they were still flying great when we drove out around 9am. |
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[#39]
Birds should be moving thick this weekend with the fronts pushing through.
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[#40]
Anyone have any recommendations for a day hunt around the DFW area?
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[#41]
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[#42]
I didn't see more than a couple labor day weekend, near la grange or lincoln, but I did see quite a few deer. I may have a chance to get near Brenham this weekend, might it be worth my time? How have they been flying in that area?
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[#43]
Getting my DIY decoy rig finished up in time for the south zone opener next week.
https://youtu.be/QzQKus513X8 |
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[#44]
Anyone been hunting in the north east part? How it looking this year? This will be my first weekend free and was just curious on how it's been going.
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[#45]
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[#46]
Up on the Red River north of Bonham we have seen VERY few dove, hoping the weather this weekend will push them down...of course I'm not hunting this weekend
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[#47]
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[#48]
I went opening day of the south zone to my friend's place outside of Poth and it was the worst opening day we have ever had there. That after having one of the best opening days ever the prior year. With 5 of us there, we got 5 birds total in the morning and only 1 in the evening. We didn't bother to go back and ended up staying at another friend's place outside of Jourdanton. Saturday was much better there, few more shooters, but think we ended up with 75 birds. Hopefully the weather lets up some and pushes some more down as we're going to try again next weekend. I haven't seen anything around my place here in Burnet, but we don't have any food or water to draw them here right now it's been so damn dry.
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[#49]
I've ended up with a couple of limits but I've ate them all already. I needs more!
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[#50]
I've seen 3 today but that was pulling onto the property. None hunting so far.
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