On Thursday morning I left for a long weekend of dove hunting with my dad, uncle, and friends in Crowel, TX. My dad has been going for a number of years now but this was my first time. In fact it was the first time I picked up a gun since I was probably 8 or 9. Needless to say it was going to be an interesting couple days.

As dad was driving down from IL we met in Springfield, MO and I left the truck at an office the company I work for has there. It was a nice drive through MO on route 60, I didn’t realize they grew cotton ???? We drove to Chickasaw, OK stayed the night and went on to Crowel, TX Firday morning. After checking in to the motel and getting some lunch we headed out to where we were going to hunt, about 15 minutes away. When I use to travel for work I’d hit some rural areas every once in I while, it brought back the memories !!!

Thanks to my uncle who provided the gun and the box of clay pigeons for practice I got in a few shots before we went out. Weather was good but the birds weren’t flying that much, by 6:30pm I had shot about a dozen rounds but only pegged two. The two were questionable since one was wounded fluttering my way which made for an eazy shot. We headed back to camp for dinner that was deep fried fish, fries, hush puppies, a few dove, and apple cobler…. excellent.

Saturday morning it was up at 5:30am and out to the grounds by 6:00am. As we drove out on the property it started to rain so most of us came back to camp accept for a few die hards. Once the rain let up we headed back out about 8:00 but their wasn’t much action. We all came in for a late breakfast of eggs and ham, eggs and sausage and hashbrounds again food was really good. After drying out and new socks we went back out in the early afternoon. The rain in the morning did nothing to cool things off as it got very warm. Sitting in the field with little shade made for a roasting afternoon. So much so at about 3:00pm I headed back to the truck to cool off in the shade for about a half an hour. What made it worse was I maybe saw two or three dove the whole afternoon. By 5:00pm things started to pick back up and my dad got two late and I again hit a wonded bird fluttering by so maybe that was half a bird for me.

As we sat on the truck watching the sun set we had a visit from the game worden, very nice guy, and the dinner horn sounded. We headed back in for steak, veggies, and apple cobler… need I say it again. The birds may not have been flying, of course I really wouldn’t know as this was my first time, but spending time with my dad and the others was great. Everyone had to get back Sunday so we left for home about 6:30am. I was back in Nashville at 11:30pm, a long day driving but worth it.

In the end I probably watched them fly by more than actually hunting but you’ve got to start somewhere.