The early resident Canada goose and mourning dove seasons are upon us, opening on Tuesday, and I can’t explain how happy I am about it. While I’ve hunted goose a few times and dove once before, these opening days signal the many more waterfowl and upland seasons to come.
I know West Virginia isn’t the most popular spot for waterfowl hunting, so I’ll spare the majority of you another piece about how much I love chasing ducks and geese. Rather, I’d like to talk about a few necessary preparations I like to make.
Hope you scouted
Like other hunting situations, scouting land for birds is huge and I hope you’ve done so. Even if it’s using Google Earth or OnX Maps to determine new pieces of land to run, identifying these parcels is the difference between kicking up dust or kicking up birds. If you’re hunting geese, finding roosting and feeding fields or talking to private landowners beforehand is critical. It’s a little easier with private land because the landowner knows what’s flying around his property, but with public land, you can’t beat a boots-on-the-ground approach to identifying landing zones for geese. Same goes for upland birds and mourning doves – if they aren’t hanging around there then you’re going to have a boring trip.
When I hunt geese in Maryland, we hunt soybean fields. This has some success, but some other places to keep in mind when scouting for geese are fields with wheat and alfalfa. And, it should be obvious, you want a water source to be nearby. And don’t forget, if you’re going out for geese, bring decoys and make sure you’re hidden in a blind. It’s not hard to trick a goose at this time of the year, but you can’t go in empty-handed.
Scouting for doves, in my limited experience, has been a little easier. If you just sit out in a field for a while you can hear their sad-sounding call, but it can be hit or miss in different areas. Doves love sunflowers, which I haven’t found an abundance of around here. but they also love some small grains, which we have plenty of. Look for them in places near gravel roads or footpaths and, of course, water. When it comes to nesting, doves like dense cover, so there are plenty of places around Morgantown that offer great habitat. Laying decoys is a tried-and-true method as it is with waterfowl, but I’ve seen people make it work with nothing but a chair and a retriever. Whatever works for you, stick with it.
Tune-up, gear up
Since hunting birds requires a different kind of shooting, it’s best to get tuned up. For me, I just need one or two runs on clays but for others, it might require more practice. I’ve become pretty proficient on the Browning BPS Field 12 gauge I run, and just on Friday took it around the course at Orvis Hill Country in Fairfield, Pa. I missed some shots, but it was the first time I pulled the trigger on anything since a sea duck hunt in January. I now know what to tweak and that I’ve gotten worse leading targets, which is the biggest thing I need to fix moving forward.
You don’t need to go to a shooting course to tune up though, grab some friends and go to an area where you can throw clays. After your body is in tune, it goes without saying to make sure your shotgun is good to go, too. But you know that.
While I shoot lead at the range, I like to use non-toxic shot on all bird hunts. There are inexpensive choices when it comes to steel, but if you want to run tungsten or bismuth it will cost you more. Without getting into the economics of it, I recommend shooting non-toxic shot. It eliminates the risk of unintentionally killing other birds since it’s been shown that some will eat lead that is left on the ground – and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a hunter go pick up the shot that didn’t hit a bird.
Good luck out there, whether you’re hunting in-state or taking a trip elsewhere.
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