Dean, Marcus and I are thrilled to go dove hunting, and the sport is now in season! I have been hunting before; deer, turkey, squirrel, duck, goose, rabbit, pheasant, etc! But this was my first time dove hunting! These birds are little and they fly like jet planes!
Dean fixed me up with Marcus' youth model .20 gauge. It fit me to a T! I also inherited Marcus' old dove vest, as he has outgrown everything! And yes, they laugh at me and tell me how short I am. (although I never considered myself short!!!) Anyway, we have been dove hunting every evening for a few weeks now. The evenings are quite beautiful and the doves were plentiful! The first few times out, we went with a crew of guys from Kansas City. Now, Dean is tall, but these guys make him look like a shrimp! When I stand next to these guys, my face is level with their belly! I was a little intimidated being around all these guys, but I tried. I didn't do too good, but I tried.
When our hunting friends left, it was just Dean and I, and I was more comfortable and could shoot better. I finally started bagging me some birds!
The other day, I shot a dove and watched the feathers get blown off it's rear end. It twirly birded down in a field of tall grass. I watched where it landed and kept my eye on that area as I walked towards it. I placed it by a few taller than normal weeds, just in case I lost the sight. I lifted my gun parallel to my shoulders and started to walk quickly towards my mark when I heard something rustling next to me. I figured it was a bird and I didn't want to lose my mark, so I didn't look that way. However, it kept running right alongside me! I began to wonder what it was, so I turned my head to look and it began to move away from me! I never knew what it was! So I continued on my course to my downed bird and found it. In the back of my vest it went.
The sun was setting quickly and we had to gather our booty, count them and clean them. I probably shot 30 shells and I bagged 6 dove! It's the experience though! I was having a ball! Feathers were flying everywhere as I plucked them from the breast of the bird! I had them up my nose and in my hair and stuck to the blood on my hands! It was just about dark when we finished and we bagged up the breasts and loaded everything up and hopped in the pick-up and headed for home. I began to tell Dean about the experience I had in the field. Now you have to know that I moved to Kansas after living in the south for 11 years! I had acquired a slight accent and some colorful language that Dean was not used to. Dean was driving the pick-up, I was in the middle, and Marcus was on the passenger side. I began my story: "The last bird I shot, I took off after it and there was something running alongside me in the grass! I don't know what it was...if it was a bird or a snake or what!" Simultaneously, the two began laughing. At first it was a low laugh...sort of a chuckle. I turned and looked at Dean, who had a big smile on his face as his chuckling became louder. I turned to look at Marcus, and saw the same thing. I asked, "What's so funny?" Dean answered, "I've never seen a snake run before!" I told them both that I use colorful language!! I do believe they get a kick out of me!
