Dove Hunt in Tropical Storm Dennis

I have to admit that many of the dove hunts I’ve been on have not produced a lot of shooting.  There was the time my brother Mike, and I drove 2 hours to pay $50 for a hunt over a field that was supposed to be full of doves.  We waited in line to pay and took our place in the middle of a field crowded with hunters but few birds.  I think I shot twice.

Then there was the hunt in the middle of tropical storm Dennis.  Mike had secured an invitation to a field of cut corn outside of Kinston in eastern North Carolina.  He picked me up in the morning and we started the trip hoping to return with our limits.  The problem was that Tropical Storm Dennis was headed straight for us.  As we drove east, the storm moved west.  By the time we were half way to the field, the flags at a car dealership were flapping so hard that it looked like the poles would snap.

By the time we got to Kinston, the first bands of rain had arrived and we crowed into a garage across a narrow highway from the dove field.  The field had been corn, but was recently cut with a lot of kernels left on the ground. A buffet in the minds of the doves.  But we were inside staring out at the rain and playing cards.  No one was about to hunt in the wind and rain and we all joked at the two young teens who toted guns out in the field.

As we watched from the dry comfort of the garage, an amazing thing happened.  We heard a gun and then saw a dove drop to the field.  In seconds we all had our gear and were headed to the hunt.  Doves were coming into the field from all directions to feed as much as possible before the full force of the storm hit.  While trying to shoot one flying with the wind at 90 mph was difficult, trying to hit one going crossways to the wind was impossible.  The wind would catch the dove and lift it, bend its course, drop it unexpectantly and then lift it up again.  It was like watching a super ball bounced under a table.  The best chance was to aim at the doves flying into the wind.  Really, thease doves were slow, and it was like shooting at a still target.

We ended up hunting in thirty minute increments.  Thirty minutes in the wind and then thirty minutes of down pour in the garage.  We left a few hours before the full tropical storm force winds hit and drove home wet and quiet but thrilled.  We didn't get a lot of shooting moving into and out of the field, but we sure had lots of fun.

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