"Summer time and the ammo's expensive."

[Eleanors38]

Come Labor Day, and dove season opens in the Central & North Zones of Texas.

"Prospects are good and the birds flyin' high."

Hopefully, the sun flowers are blooming in the field where last year I limited out twice. Wishing for lower temps (we are beginning to drop from 102° back to the mid-90s). I have 150 rounds of 4 different brands, an IC screwed into the 870, and a stout 5 gal bucket to stow my stuff and put my bo-hind on in the field.

If I limit out early, I'll trudge up onto the mesa and check for deer sign and acorn prospects. I'll be on 125 acres of good land for dove and deer, with a year-round spring, and a shot farm house (are there any other kinds of hunting cabins?). Looking forward to pork steaks over an open fire!

Apologies to the Gershwin Bros & Heyward.

[Hangingon]

1. What happened to hunting season sales tax free weekend?

As I remember, it passed both houses.

[Eleanors38]

2. Oh, it's still around, but a case is in the 60s instead of the 40s, now.

[Hangingon]

3. Southern zone opens a month from tomorrow for dove.

That is the price I see for shells down here.

Edit dropped a couple of words

[Eleanors38]

5. I deer hunt a mile from the Uvalde Co. line near Campwood (Real Co.)...

The owner's land is mainly pasture with lots of mesquite and some huge oaks. But I have noticed some abandoned fields along a dry creek where dove hang out. If he is up for it, I think I might try for dove whould we both punch deer tags early. Fat-assed white wings. Boy, it would be good with a planting of sun flowers!

[Brickbat]

4. Apples started dropping today so it's time to walk the trails and see where they can do their best

work. It's early, but I guess it's never too early.

[Eleanors38]

6. Ha! You must live north of Texas, if you have apples. We watch for acorn crops...

and trails into the 40 acres below the mesa which is under plant for about 40 head of cattle. Deer like to raid it. There is a main trail from there up to the mesa, but at least a couple other obscure ones which bucks use. Lots of rain in the area at end of the spring, but drought set in again, and no rain for nearly 2 months. Still, the land looks good with many hearty oaks, elms, some walnut, and of course cedar. The drought killed off a lot of that, and our "cedar party" 2 yrs ago cleared enough for more shooting lanes. Two seasons ago we got into both mourning dove AND white wings. The two species would not intermingle; the former in the sunflower field, the latter in the oaks and elms less than 2 hundred yards away. Got a Eur-Asian collared dove last year -- big as a small pigeon.

[Brickbat]

7. Yep, northern Minnesota. I wish we had some oaks, but it's all spruce, pine and birch here.

Maybe with global warming. We live on about 10 acres in an undeveloped spread of much larger parcels, mostly heavily forested with some good features like a high ridgeline and some water elements. Great for grouse and deer, although we've had several bad years for deer -- very hard winters and a thriving wolf population. My permit area will have an antlerless lottery, though, this season. We'll see.

[Eleanors38]

8. Never hunted grouse. I have hunted woodcock and snipe, which occurred in...

parts of Florida when I lived there. Hell, we used to get quail. Now, the populations of bob whites are less than 10% of what they were when I was in college. But the dove continue to prosper. Global warming has driven the white wing species (a tropical bird not under the rubric of migratory regs) from below San Antonio north to Austin and Waco where hundreds of thousands have taken up residence in the cities. Plenty of pigs, too, but my friends have fortunately not had a problem with them, so I very rarely see them.

[Brickbat]

9. Grouse are good hunting and good eating. They cycle, and for some reason the good years mean

fewer birds around our place, and lean years mean lots of birds at our place. Not sure why. If we don't get out after them we can almost always count on one flying into a window at the house and offering itself up for the table.

[Eleanors38]

10. HA! The glass frontier. Dove will do that, too. I've bagged a couple that way in Austin.

[oneshooter]

11. I reintroduced Bobwhite Quail onto my 40 acres three years ago

Used to have 3 coveys bu the feral cats got them. Hunted cats for 2 years real heavy. Then brought in 6 breeding couples. Have counted 30 or so birds last week. Still kill every cat on my property to protect them. But may hunt them next year. Also flushed out 3 pair of Phesant last month. Got to keep the cats under control and I will have some more of them.

The cats are unwanted pets from the Houston area. People just bring them out and let them"be free". Average 3-5 amonth, down fron 10-12 a month, I believe the drought killed a lot of them.

[Eleanors38]

12. Those people who abandon their pets are singularly intractible

and unchanging in this behavior. They Must know by now that the cats will screw up the environment and will themselves be killed in short order by stronger predators. But it is a milignant off-shoot of Bambi Biology, hence its enduring quality.