August is here. Regardless of the heat, it’s time again to get to the clay target range and put in some practice with your shotgun. Early teal season as well as dove season will be on us in a heartbeat.
If you have planned a trip out of the country to Mexico or Argentina this month you are way behind if you haven’t been practicing your gun mount and shot sporting clays at least three times in the last month. If you take your guns into other countries to hunt, your permits will be for those guns only.
A simple trip to the range to practice your wingshooting will assure you of several things. As Homer Saye says, “the most mainest thing” is that the gun you are taking will function. If you find that there is something wrong with it you still have plenty of time to get it fixed.
We have talked in this column about the need to practice your shotgunning year round. We hope you have practiced at least a little during the off-season. If so, you have done yourself and the birds a favor. If not, make the commitment to get out and shoot some clays. We know of no better way to improve your enjoyment and success in the field than with a little practice and preparation.
August is the month we do our dove clinics. We set our trap machines to simulate dove type shots and work with students on field shooting. We help people with their gun mount and gun fit as well as choke and shot selection and how to shoot. We work with them on how to shoot from a seated position and how to stand up and shoot. Yes, there is a technique for how to stand up and shoot when hunting doves.
Doves are typically shot going or coming to food or water. The hunter is usually standing or sitting by a bush or tree or fence post. As long as the incoming birds do not see any quick movement, they won’t flair.
The most common cause for doves flaring out of range is sudden movement by the hunter, lack of camouflage, or both. When hunting doves, camo is a must in our opinion. That is where the easy part stops.
In order to keep the birds from flaring away out of range, hunters need to learn to move and mount the gun smooth and slow. If the gun is pointed at the bird while you are mounting, and the gun is mounted while you are swinging with the bird, the bird will be less aware of any movement by you.
If, however, there is no movement by the hunter until the last second, the motion of frantically throwing the gun up to the shoulder and slashing after the bird will inevitably cause the birds to flair. Two things happen. One, the bird is farther away, and two, the bird’s flight is erratic at best. Both of these scenarios make for a more difficult shot.
We don’t know about you, but if we had a choice of shooting a dove flying in a straight line or a panicked dodging line, we’d prefer straight. That’s why the dove is often referred to as the “Grey Ghost.”
If you are thinking about a new gun for dove season you might want to try one of the new 20ga. over and under guns with 30” or 32” barrels. I’ve been shooting a 20ga. with 30 inch barrels for the past three years and it really makes a difference. The longer barrels really smooth out your swing and they give the light 20ga. gun a much better balance.
My son Brian has a new Browning 525- 20ga with 32” barrels and he loves it. I asked him how he liked the longer barrels and he said the balance is incredible and he can’t wait to try it out on doves. On a recent trip to the sporting clays range, he let some other shooters try it, and without exception, they were all amazed at how effortlessly the gun moved on sporting targets.
The added weight of the longer barrels helps reduce felt recoil. You might think the added weight would make the gun too heavy to carry in the field. Not to worry. The added weight is minimal, and the advantages of better balance and a smoother swing will help your proficiency in the field. We will have several smaller gauge guns with 30 and 32 inch barrels for people to try in our dove clinics.
The subject of choke and load always comes up this time of year. If your gun has screw chokes, take your chokes into the field with you. The ability to change your choke based on what the birds are doing where you are hunting is a great advantage. A change in wind direction or velocity could make the birds fly higher or lower. As the sun gets lower in the sky, we’ve seen birds fly higher or lower than they were earlier. The point is you never know what these birds are going to do. Having the ability to change chokes when conditions change is a great advantage.
Which choke is best? The best answer is the right one for the conditions. If you are shooting a pump or semi-auto at incoming doves flying 15-20 yards high, improved cylinder is hard to beat. If the birds are higher, modified or full would be our choice.
If you are walking and flushing birds with a single barrel gun, full would be our choice. The reason for this is that the first shot on a flushing dove will be at 25-30 yards and the second shot if needed would be at 35-45 yards. A flushing dove flying away from you presents a much smaller target (50 percent less) than an incoming or crossing bird 15 to 20 yards high. The distance combined with the smaller target requires more choke to cleanly kill a dove.
An over and under shotgun has some advantages over a semi-auto or pump in that it has two chokes. If you are shooting incoming birds with an over/under, shoot the tighter choke first and the more open choke second because the birds are coming to you.
If you are walking and flushing birds, we would recommend modified on the first shot and full on the second because the birds are going away from you. Hunting with an over/under allows you to use the optimum choke at two different distances. The same holds true for side-by-side shotguns as well.
If you plan to shoot doves with a 20-gauge, be careful what shot shell you buy. Bigger or more is not always better!
We recommend a 20-gauge shell with 7/8oz. of 7 ½’s. Some of the promotional loads will have 1 oz. of shot in a 20-gauge shell. The only thing that extra 1/8 oz of shot will do for you is increase recoil. If you are going to shoot a 20-gauge, use 7/8 oz. of shot, and if you are going to shoot a 12-gauge, 1 oz. of shot is plenty.
If you are not an avid shotgunner and you are going to shoot a 12-gauge, look for a 7/8 oz. 12-gauge load. This load is ideal for high volume shooting because it has very little recoil. It is surprising how efficiently it performs, and it will kill a dove just as far as a 12-gauge with 1 1/8 oz. of shot.
It’s been our experience that dove hunting is very social. It’s a great time to introduce anyone and everyone to the sport of wing shooting — especially kids. Take the time and make the commitment to help your kids learn to shoot safely and proficiently. They deserve it and so do the birds!
