My Favorite Time of the Year

[Whistlebritches]

Dove season only 26 days away.I love this time of year.......summer slipping away,Thank God,faux autumn mornings are already here.Middle of September we have an awesome 16 day teal season..........fishing heats up after a long HOT summer.Lots of cast~n~blast opportunities up through October.Then whitetail season opens,we have a long 2 month season so no rush to harvest.Turkey,quail,duck and goose season all open about the same time.Not really a fall turkey enthusiasts,quail numbers are looking up this year so I'll probably devote one weekend to them,but ducks and geese are in my blood.Duck season doesn't end til the end of January and geese the end of February and if you hunt the conservation order you can hunt snows damn near til April.The weekend before thanksgiving we have mule deer season,only 16 days but it runs concurrently with whitetail and where I hunt we have both so these are my favorite deer hunting days.Later in the season as winter sets in pig hunting goes absolutely crazy........every field has pigs out feeding before the sun goes down,time to fill that freezer with pork.So if I come up missing a few weeks here in the near future........I think you know where I'll be,enjoying the best of what the Great State of Texas has to offer.

[9 Iron]

I’m with ya brother! Dove season out here in the foothills of the central Sierra Nevadas is a hot one. It’ll still be blistering summer weather so opening morning will be a couple of hours of shooting, then you have to pack it in until dusk. It’s funny though, even though the morning lows are in the 70’s and there are doves all over the place, about every third year it seems we’ll have a weird monsoonal rain a week before the opener and the birds will be scattered. If we have a year with no rain you limit out in under an hour on opening morning. If it rained you need the morning and evening shoot to limit out.

All the hunts here are too early in the year. I think it’s the tree hugging granola chompers in the democratic party who run this state, they do that shit on purpose. Our waterfowl season opens with blue skies and no wind, our deer season opens with temps still in the 80’s and 90’s. The only way to harvest anything, unless you’re able to hunt a sweetheart private spot somewhere, is to plan on hunting the last week or so hard and hope for weather. By then most folks have gone off to other things, given up really, and you sit watching the weatherman on TV and praying for a bit of a cold front so you can hunt a drainage up high and catch some muley bucks coming down out of the only snow in the state. Just about the time the hunting conditions are getting decent, the season is over.

God I can’t wait to retire and move to Oregon!

[Whalehead King]

I didn't know there was a dove season. I'm not a hunter (no surprise, I know).

When you serve doves, do you call them squab? I'm not trying to be funny. I'm curious because I think that's what they are but I rarely see squab on a menu----certainly not as much as I see it served in Bugs Bunny cartoons.

I'm reminded of a book about China. I don't remember the name of the book but I remember the author's name. It was Fox Butterfield. Who can forget a name like that? Anyhow, he had brought his Chinese wife to Venice and her first reaction in St. Mark's Square was, "How is it nobody eats these fat pigeons?" That observation has stuck with me for over 30 years. I always think this when I read about people raising pigeons during the Depression up until the 1950s. I think about it when I see all the fat pigeons in Jackson Square. My thinking is that it's just too much work for most people when a McDonald's hamburger is so inexpensive.

There is a dovecote in City Park, at the end of our street. Though it's not maintained, pigeons still roost there. People ask me what it was built for, even though it's obvious if you know what a dovecote is. Not a lot of people eat dove nowadays, unless they are getting their mouths washed out with soap.

One last question: Am I correct in thinking pigeons and doves are the same?

Thanks for answering. This isn't my specialty. It is something I've pondered from time to time---not enough to do any real research on it to find out the answers myself, obviously.

[Ruffinogold]

I didn't know there was a dove season. I'm not a hunter (no surprise, I know).

When you serve doves, do you call them squab? I'm not trying to be funny. I'm curious because I think that's what they are but I rarely see squab on a menu----certainly not as much as I see it served in Bugs Bunny cartoons.

I'm reminded of a book about China. I don't remember the name of the book but I remember the author's name. It was Fox Butterfield. Who can forget a name like that? Anyhow, he had brought his Chinese wife to Venice and her first reaction in St. Mark's Square was, "How is it nobody eats these fat pigeons?" That observation has stuck with me for over 30 years. I always think this when I read about people raising pigeons during the Depression up until the 1950s. I think about it when I see all the fat pigeons in Jackson Square. My thinking is that it's just too much work for most people when a McDonald's hamburger is so inexpensive.

There is a dovecote in City Park, at the end of our street. Though it's not maintained, pigeons still roost there. People ask me what it was built for, even though it's obvious if you know what a dovecote is. Not a lot of people eat dove nowadays, unless they are getting their mouths washed out with soap.

One last question: Am I correct in thinking pigeons and doves are the same?

Thanks for answering. This isn't my specialty. It is something I've pondered from time to time---not enough to do any real research on it to find out the answers myself, obviously.

Dude , youre awesome .

I dont think pidgeons and dove are the same

[9 Iron]

Doves are half the size of your average city pigeon and infinitely more tasty, not to mention much more acrobatic and more fickle. Doves are not easy to hunt. They fly in fast and are gone as quickly as you can spot them coming. Pigeons will walk over to you and ask to bum a smoke. Around here pigeons are known as flying rats whereas doves are revered as a game bird and a delicacy. A short soak in a simple marinade and broiled over hot coals, doves are wonderful and come in second only to the quail in deliciousness. The quail is even more difficult to hunt and has more of a cult-following from a smaller crowd. I find this a good thing, as they are rather delicate in their ability to rebound from depleted numbers.

[Whistlebritches]

I didn't know there was a dove season. I'm not a hunter (no surprise, I know).

When you serve doves, do you call them squab? I'm not trying to be funny. I'm curious because I think that's what they are but I rarely see squab on a menu----certainly not as much as I see it served in Bugs Bunny cartoons.

I'm reminded of a book about China. I don't remember the name of the book but I remember the author's name. It was Fox Butterfield. Who can forget a name like that? Anyhow, he had brought his Chinese wife to Venice and her first reaction in St. Mark's Square was, "How is it nobody eats these fat pigeons?" That observation has stuck with me for over 30 years. I always think this when I read about people raising pigeons during the Depression up until the 1950s. I think about it when I see all the fat pigeons in Jackson Square. My thinking is that it's just too much work for most people when a McDonald's hamburger is so inexpensive.

There is a dovecote in City Park, at the end of our street. Though it's not maintained, pigeons still roost there. People ask me what it was built for, even though it's obvious if you know what a dovecote is. Not a lot of people eat dove nowadays, unless they are getting their mouths washed out with soap.

One last question: Am I correct in thinking pigeons and doves are the same?

Thanks for answering. This isn't my specialty. It is something I've pondered from time to time---not enough to do any real research on it to find out the answers myself, obviously.

Pretty sure pigeon is referred to as squab in upscale restaurants.

Our pigeons are delicious........thousands of them live near our grain elevator.No season so when I feel the need for a pigeon fix I head to the west side of town.Takes less than 10 minutes to shoot a nice meal for two.

Dove hunting and dove eating reaches a whole other level here in Texas.We stuff a jalapeno in the breast,wrap it in bacon and grill it.We dredge the breast in milk,egg and flour and fry them.Served with biscuits and gravy this is slap yo mama good.We oven bake them in mushroom soup and rice,served up with a side of asparagus this an all time favorite of mine.Dove is a dark meat unlike quail which is white meat.I love dark meat.In the deliciousness department dove comes in second only teal and Sandhill Crane.....which are the most delicious things on the wing.We refer to crane as ribeye on the wing.

[avid]

they banned dove hunting in my state...

[Ruffinogold]

they banned dove hunting in my state...

[LtPiper]

I too, love the upcoming time of the year - autumn, fall, hunting season. I live in central Pennsylvania and I have been a hunter for a long time - especially birds. So here's what I know, though semantics may get in the way. Squab is another name for pigeons. Pigeons and doves are not the same. I have hunted both in my life - along with Grouse, Woodcocks (also called snipe and timberdoodles), pheasant, quail, and chukars. Most people in my area of the country view pigeons as pests and because they are not normally hunted (rarely hunted) most do not know how tasty they are. However, squab is a fancy and sometimes pricey delicacy in other areas of the world. Just proves the point that one man's trash is another man's treasure.

BTW - Autumn is the time of the year when I become a pipe fiend. There is something about those cool fall days that really make me want to light the briars.

[LtPiper]

Dove season only 26 days away.I love this time of year.......summer slipping away,Thank God,faux autumn mornings are already here.Middle of September we have an awesome 16 day teal season..........fishing heats up after a long HOT summer.Lots of cast~n~blast opportunities up through October.Then whitetail season opens,we have a long 2 month season so no rush to harvest.Turkey,quail,duck and goose season all open about the same time.Not really a fall turkey enthusiasts,quail numbers are looking up this year so I'll probably devote one weekend to them,but ducks and geese are in my blood.Duck season doesn't end til the end of January and geese the end of February and if you hunt the conservation order you can hunt snows damn near til April.The weekend before thanksgiving we have mule deer season,only 16 days but it runs concurrently with whitetail and where I hunt we have both so these are my favorite deer hunting days.Later in the season as winter sets in pig hunting goes absolutely crazy........every field has pigs out feeding before the sun goes down,time to fill that freezer with pork.So if I come up missing a few weeks here in the near future........I think you know where I'll be,enjoying the best of what the Great State of Texas has to offer.

I have never been pig hunting but would like to try it sometime. I have watched YouTube vids of guys hunting them out of helicopters which looks like so much fun. My son, who moved to Georgia 2 years ago says they are a real nuisance in the southern part of the state. He is planning on hunting them too. I hope to join him someday for the experience.