Imperial County, CA Doves

[Kal-Elk]

Bird newb here, never hunted doves before, looking for info.

I was looking at heading out to the fields in Imperial County for the dove opener September 1st. I'm planning on heading out the two weekends before to get a feel for the area and scout. What makes one field better than another? On google earth, it looks like a whole lot of flat mowed fields, not much in the way of structure.

If you've been out there, are you hunting all day, or are you limiting yourself to mornings/evenings to get out of the 110 degree sun? Are you putting pop-up tents out there and staying all day?

How are the crowds? Is it shoulder-to-shoulder, am I gonna be that FNG getting in everyone's way?

Thanks!

 

[LineandBuck]

It’s pretty crowded, any good public spot will be loaded by mid morning. It’s hot as hell, but there’s birds. Plan on getting peppered by others and park your truck behind some kind of brush so you don’t break a window. Not worth it to me anymore to cook my ass off for em.

Pm me for some spots

 

[W1bowo]

It’s pretty crowded, any good public spot will be loaded by mid morning. It’s hot as hell, but there’s birds. Plan on getting peppered by others and park your truck behind some kind of brush so you don’t break a window. Not worth it to me anymore to cook my ass off for em.

Pm me for some spots

+1

 

[stevie]

Remember steel shot now, no lead. Size 6 or 7.

Crowds on the first (Tuesday) may not be as bad as a weekend. Look for fields not posted.
most will hunt until 9 to 10am at the latest. The birds will usually settle down by then. They will then fly later in the evening. I will head back out around 4 - 5 pm for a couple hours in the evening.

Good idea to check on the area prior to the first. Find a couple likely areas then hit them first thing in the morning.

 

[amassi]

Water
Gravel
Dead tree
Any or all of these will help attract doves

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

 

[Norm555]

I scouted one of the public fields the day before the opener that was loaded with doves. Went there opening day and only shared it with a couple other groups. The fields just West of the 111 near Niland appear to get hammered. Nothing replaces scouting. Sometimes only certain fields get planted so that's where you'll find the doves. Pretty obvious once you stumble across them.

 

[JRMiller]

It’s pretty crowded, any good public spot will be loaded by mid morning. It’s hot as hell, but there’s birds. Plan on getting peppered by others and park your truck behind some kind of brush so you don’t break a window. Not worth it to me anymore to cook my ass off for em.

Pm me for some spots

+1

 

[qwerksc]

Get a spinner and a few decoys, we are heading to Fresno for a family fun shoot, Kick off!

 

[Kal-Elk]

Thanks for the help everyone. I went 10, 1, and limit on days 1, 2, and 3 (respectively).

Sure enough, the field I wanted to set up on had chairs set up every 20 feet by 3am. I was able to set up on a perpendicular road by driving down an embankment and had a lot more breathing room. I did slightly better than the people closest to me, but I was also the only one of those running decoys.

Second day was brutal. Despite the crowds dying down 75%, the volume of birds observed and shots heard tanked. I only saw 3 pass within range, hitting only one.

The third day, I had the whole field to myself. Birds were back, and I hit limits after two hours.

 

[Deer&Ducks527]

Very cool, the biggest thing I learned at the dove opener this year was that I need to shoot some clays soon if I want to eat duck this fall. I had some doves gliding into the mojo that flew away unscathed. I still managed to hit 7, the rest are my dad’s.

 

[Kal-Elk]

Same! I had enough common sense to know my shotgun skills were rusty, spent the 3 weekends leading up doing some Sporting Clays. Would've missed everything otherwise. On the other hand, I also would've limited out on the opener and earlier on the 3rd day had I put more time in.

Definitely gonna spend more time at the range if I actually want to have success with waterfowl later this year.

 

[TheGDog]

They sure do love the Dead Trees don't they! In this spot another hunter was gracious enough to have me come along with him to... he is a master of shooting them in the air, it is very fun and challenging, trying to pop them outta the air when they come in to the MOJO setup, but I suck at that still since I have limited experience with shotguns still. (Example: last time he got 11 to my 4).

But with a rifle I'm deadly so what ends up working better for me in that area (when I went back solo on Sunday, yes I ran it past him first) is creeping around utilizing the Junipers as cover... peeking out from within them at all the other dead Junipers from prior fires and looking for Doves on their branches. Ya really gotta look well and take your time to see them. They blend in super well with the dead grey branches. And for all the pressure the birds in that place get, if they see you step out from behind your cover very overtly, they will bolt and fly farther away, and and around this hillside. And sometimes if the range is getting kinda far... you can put the bead first on them... then raise it up slightly a hair more... since we're talking about only like 1400fps to 1600fps to start with anyway. It gives the shot a chance for the trajectory to fall down a little and still connect. Will say this though... it sure can be tricky looking for them where you saw them fall down by those dead trees with all the tall grasses growing up from around them now that they are dead so no leaves so the sun gets down to the ground and thus the grasses grow all around their bases now. And they don't always die right away from the shot with that steel, so occasionally they'll manage to move themselves a lil bit away from where you initially saw them go down. Just remember to be dogged and relentless when it comes to looking for them when you've shot them down. They do try to give you the slip if they are still able to move. When you grab for them.. grab for the wing at their shoulder. Do not grab for the tail feathers they'll come right off in your hand and they can have an opportunity to get away, fall down a hill, stuff into uber thick brush and hide, only to expire later.