Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, September 17, 1995 TAG: 9509180126
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
From a hillside, I'd watched the yellow school bus rumble down the blacktop and stop in front of his house, where he and another youngster got off and disappeared inside.
In about the time it takes to eat a snack and change clothes, he was coming out of his back door, toting a shotgun and a five-gallon bucket that I assumed he would use for a seat. He headed my way.
I'd been in the field for about 30 minutes. A few sleek-winged doves had flown along the edge of the cut corn, displaying outrageous aerial maneuvers and keeping well out of range, as they always seem to do once the season opens. I hadn't fired my gun.
``Been getting any doves,'' I asked the boy.
``A few,'' he said.
``How about opening day? Were any birds flying here?''
``Some,'' he said.
``And Monday?''
``A few.''
He glanced toward an adjacent farm where a corn harvester sounded like a prop-jet revving.
``I think I'll head on across the field to the other side in case some come in there,'' he said, nodding toward a grove of trees in the distance. When he left, I pretty well forgot about him, until his gun started booming.
There is an art to selecting the best stand in the field where you are dove hunting. You watch the flight patterns as the birds wing in. A walnut tree, a piece of high ground, a depression often are the kinds of things doves will home in on. That's where you want to be.
When you think you've found the very best location, I've discovered it's a good idea to immediately stride across to the other side of the field. That's because the No.1 rule of dove hunting says there always will be more birds flying across the field from you. The quicker you realize this and give in, the greater your success.
There are other rules, as well:
The corn crop either is going to be too early or too late for the best dove hunting during the early part of the season.
The heaviest concentration of doves is in the city, where you have to swerve your car to avoid them as you drive toward the country, where it is legal to hunt.
Every year on a certain day, doves throw aside their cute cuddling and cooing mannerisms and these birds of peace, with scriptural credits from Genesis to John, suddenly take on hawk-like characteristics. You can pinpoint the exact day this will occur by referring to your hunting law digest under ``Opening Day Dates.''
Doves are easy to hit. All you have to do is fire at the spot where your shot and the bird will collide. In all but rare cases, that is impossible.
If you do happen to hit a dove, have a search party organized to find it. It takes a half-dozen people on hands and knees to locate one that has fallen onto a golf green.
A week's grocery money spent on shotgun shells will net you enough meat for a 6-inch pot pie.
And now for a brand new dove hunting truism: If a farm boy comes wandering nonchalantly through your field, and uses words like ``some'' and ``a few'' when you ask him about doves, follow him.
An hour after the boy I met trudged up the hill from me, it suddenly sounded like the fireworks at a state fair. The youngster knew exactly where to go. He had located the hot spot. Doves were swarming into his stand, while only bullbats and bluebirds sailed about in the sky above me.
Now I know what the bucket was for: to carry shells up the hill and doves down it.
by CNB