Bad dove hunt
 

I had 3 brothers and my dad join me for a guided dove hunt in southeast Texas on opening morning. We met our guide to settle up ($150) and made our way to the fields. When we got to our hunting location we quickly realized something was not right. We were dropped off on a tree line in a pasture without a grain or plowed field in sight. After an hour of listening to gunfire in surrounding areas without seeing a bird our guide returned to take us down the road to another location to scout. Again, there was nothing plowed or planted in any area he brought us to. We finally found a few birds in some thick grass, but it was already 10:30 and the flight was over. We went eat lunch and came back to the field around 2 hoping to get on the birds we found late morning. The storms messed us up and there were very few birds even when the rain cleared.

Before you book a guide I suggest you get more info than in did and not just assume all guides work fields, etc..... I have been on guided dove hunts in the same area and had great success, but this was a joke. There were probably 25 hunters with less than 20 doves killed.

That's sad... At least you realize where you screwed up and won't let it happen again but I can see how easy it is to get caught up in the moment and not ask the right questions.

I can't see how a guide would even keep the full payment after that. I would feel bad. I understand a bad day, but not putting any effort into bringing dove in isn't right at all.

Same thing happened to us years ago. 12 guys traveled to Uvalde Texas- 9 hour drive. Hauled trailers, 4 wheelers and beer. Met guide at store early, noticed there were 4,000 other people waiting at store. Guide dropped 12 of us off at a field before sunrise. Once sun came up we noticed the field was horse pasture with fence surrounding it. Only about 2 acres big- I could have pissed across it, definitely did not need 4 wheelers. You could see hunters as far as the eye could see, we called guide whom of course did not answer and wanted to be moved. Got different field next day but same thing- tons of hunters around and just had to deal with it. Had birds but not worth the drive. Hard to find a good field now days.

If you book a trip a little west of Beaumont and the guy is named Scott, you better think twice or it will be an expensive scouting trip. It would be hard for me to charge $150 knowing they don't have a shot at killing doves.... But we had good group so I still had a good time.

I kinda had the same experience yesterday. Buddy invited me to hunt his club. I paid 50 we pulled up to a huge weed field and I said "***" is this. Anyway, didn't fire a shot and buddy killed two. Guide said field was full of Goat Weed and doves love it.
Today, my buddy went on another hunt and sent me a pic of his field....goat weed again. This time he said there was thousands of doves, but they were all Whitewings and they didn't start flying really good till after 5:30. He said they were trying to light in the goat weed. I would have never have believed it if he hadn't sent me pics. Apparently the white wings don't mind dropping down in a weed choked field to feed, unlike a Mourning dove.

Would never pay for a hunt before seeing the field(s)

Goat weed is croton if you ever look at ldwf website. That is typically what comes up in new cutovers. Its an early invader of disturbed sites. When those seed pods bust open, prolly best place to be for doves in a field full of them. Doves love it. Jumped a few on clear creek yesterday in spots with a good bit of croutons.

Feel bad for yalls hunt though man. Seems pretty f'd up for a Guy to drop paying customers in a field that clearly is not gonna produce. Sounds like Texas is not the place to go for guided dove hunts.

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thats why I never pay for a guided dove hunt. I guess a few questions to ask is 1. can I see the field I'm hunting? 2. how many people will be hunting this field at the same time I am? 3. how many fields you have available and what is planted in them?

These days if you don't pay to hunt doves you don't hunt much. I grew up hunting a friends farm for doves over the years but those days are over. I wouldn't mind being in a dove club where everyone worked and planted for the whole group. I think that would be rewarding.

I am sure there are lots of great dove hunts out there, but it sure would be nice if you could visit the field first to check it out.

X 2...

This "$150"...is that per gun?

I sure hope not....

Wasn't tryin' to be an azz. Never been on a dove hunt, but, that does sound high per person. But, sounds awful low for 3-4 peeps.

Last paid dove hunt I went on was $50 per persons. Hell that was 15 years ago though.

I have hunted with a guy named Jim West in this area for $70/gun and had
great success on several occasions, but he did not have room opening morning. He will tell you when you book a hunt if he has birds, Scott Hickman did not.

Its not often we get all of us together so we didn't mind paying $150/gun for what we thought was going to be a good dove hunt. If this guy would have jumped on the tractor sitting on the side of the field it would have been a lot easier to take. He blamed our lack of success on north winds, baited fields and wet wings from the rain in the area. Wet wings was a first for us.

Wet wings???

Never heard of that either.

Sounds like he was just trying to collect!
Snake he never offered to knock down the price?!?!?!

Wet wings? What an idiot!!!

The wet wings thing is true. Y'all never seen doves drying their wings? After every rain then hold their wings open like cormorant

It may be true but it's not a reason to not kill birds on a paid hunt.

I was joking. I have no clue what doves do. I have only hunted them a handful of times

I have seen them flying in downpours and right after, soooooo

Paid 300 this weekend in west Texas, but it included 3 awesome meals a day. Been going for bout 18 years with the same guy, and it is always awesome. Reputation is everything, ask around before you go with someone you've never heard of. If worse comes to worse, you can always drink a lot of beer.

It is unbelievable that some people don't feel bad for basically stealing money like that.

Not at all Dave. It was pretty obvious this was a money maker for him. All he did was make excuses and tell us how many ranches they have.

I looked him up and he had good reviews. The area we hunted was a prime dove
location judging by all the gunshots around us. The lack of effort is what I didn't understand.

The ldwl has 4 fields this year all planted for dove at $10 per gun although I do not know how they produced , hope this can be a help and save you guys a few $ ...

They only do it for opening day

I have a hunting lease, but it is in the south zone so this was just a head start. The money was not the issue, it was the lack of preparation that stunned me. He made around $4,000 and didn't do a thing.

What you mean "head start"? It opened same day here.

I normally wait until it opens at my lease which is in the south zone. This was an early start for me.

When does your lease open?

September 21, its the south Texas zone. Teal in the morning and doves in the afternoon.

Hell yeah!!!!

We hunted Monday evening in the China Texas area. It sounds like the same setup as you had, except this was an invite from a buddy. A field full of goat weed. We showed up around 3pm, and birds were everywhere. They were lighting in the field to eat. Very fun hunt. We shot about half our birds on the wing, and walked up the other half after we saw them land. They would flush like quail. A lot of walking, but the 3 of us limited and it was a fun hunt. I wonder if the doves would hold tight if a dog pointed them like quail? Anyway, the goatweed definitely was what was drawing the birds in.

I work in Beaumont and have been seeing a ton of birds down hwy 90. Glad y'all had a good hunt. I can't wait to smash some teal in a few weeks

We hunt in ballinger and had a pretty good hunt. Attachment 39926Attachment 39927

We saw those birds on the way back. We rode down that gravel road and watched them pile in that field. That's what a dove field should look like. It took everything to convince Riki not to shoot them.

I was out there yesterday an they were still hunting them morning and afternoon. Probably had 20 or so birds in the air when I passed by. The farmer said it cost him $2,000 to get the field right. Not alot of money if you can make $4,000/day.

never heard of the drying the wings thing before, but like you said jude i've killed many of doves in the rain.