Doves

[PorkChop]

Things seem to be looking great! I think the early hatchers are flying around. Plenty of time for a second hatch and maybe a late third. We have one that nests in our tree every year. Saw her for a few days and then she disappeared. Not sure if a cat got her or what.

[Duck Engr]

That’s a good start! I saw about 150 (which is a whole lot for us) on my little one acre wheat field from last winter a couple weeks ago and haven’t seen a single one since. Don’t know if they were just passing through or what.

[Rick]

Doves will be everywhere. And then they won't.

[PorkChop]

Numbers in the road every morning continue to increase. The only real thing I know about doves is how to kill them and eat them. So not sure if they hang out in family groups but mostly everything in the road has been what appears to be family groups.

Still have not spotted any gosling’s or ducklings. Really do not know what to say or think at this point. We’ve got the water and we’ve got the vegetation.

On a sidenote, there has been an awful lot of gulls hanging around. Some other kind of bird that looks like an arctic tern with their blackish head, but they are the size of a large gull.

We have more rain in the way of thunderstorms forecasted for tonight. We are in the level three of severity. Rain forecasted for tomorrow, Monday and now the Fourth of July. The thunderstorms from the other night produced hail, which wiped out a lot of crops in my hunting areas. Hopefully birds on the nest fared well.

[Duck Engr]

Were y’all dry early in the spring and possibly overflown by ducks or are there some around just no little ones?

[PorkChop]

We had decent conditions and then it got dry and now we are super wet. Currently Plenty of duck pairs around so not sure if the hens already tried nesting once. I believe planting got a little behind schedule and so my fear is birds were nesting and then farmers came through and broke up some of that cover. I think a lot of cover may have gotten flooded out now with all the rain. Also seeing a lot of drakes around which usually means hens are sitting on the nest. So far a very weird spring and I don’t have any predictions right now. Staying optimistic though that it is just a late hatch.

In regards to Honkers, there were tons of pairs on the Refuge road and they have disappeared. Even before the molt started happening. Should’ve been seeing those gosling’s by now, but nothing. Hopefully the Game And Fish haven’t been up to their shenanigans of shaking and oiling eggs.

Typically, I am pretty confident with my reports, as if you remember two years ago when we had all that snow, and they were saying, the upland bird population was doomed and all that garbage and I was saying the complete opposite. I just can’t give any good solid information right now. Well I’m going to predict it’s gonna be a hell of a dove season haha

[Duck Engr]

Haha well at least you have that going for you. Look forward to your observations.

[PorkChop]

August 15 and I see a dove making a nest in the neighbors tree. I think she will be cutting it close.

Once again, as mentioned in other posts, the amount of doves is ridiculous for this time of year! Two more weeks till the dove opener!

[PorkChop]

woke up to 46° this morning. Feels fantastic but I think we have lost a lot of doves between this cool and the cool from last week. Our opener is on Sunday. My dad flies in tomorrow as he’s never hunted doves before. I’m sure we will find some but it’s gonna take a lot more effort this year it looks like. I see a few more days forecasted with overnight lows into the 40s and I believe tomorrow or Friday. The high is only in the 60s again. Sending more blue wings your way!

[Rick]

Hope the doves show for your dad.

[PorkChop]

Thank you! He’s going to be here for a few weeks, so hopefully l can him on some Doves and some Honkers. He’ll be here for a couple days of crane season as well. He is 77 and has a hard time with the cold so we will take it day by day.

Mainly wanted to get him here so he could hunt with some of the grandkids that he’s never hunted with. His dad never hunted or fished so he kind of started from scratch. He is the reason why I got into hunting and fishing so it’s just kind of a good way to show him what he has passed down.

[Rick]

He's gonna enjoy hunting with the grand kids, know I do.