2013 Dove Hunt on SCDNR free hunt date

Lady Hunter takes aim

Nick Infinger and his lab

Nice mess of doves

Mike Polk keeps a sharp eye for doves

The New Year was off to a sporting start on January 5 with the state youth deer hunt day, and the SCDNR free hunt day, and the next-to-last Saturday of dove season. Regarding the latter, that means that if you have any doves at all then it is time to hunt them before the season goes out on January 15. Fortunate to be with a great group of outdoorsmen and one lady hunter, we took to the dove field at 1 p.m. to try our luck. There is an old saying that states that late season doves fly high, since they are now keen to stay out of range of shotguns, and it was never truer than on this hunt. While some guns had the range to bring down a few grey birds, others did not have as much luck. Plenty of shotgun shells were fired in a salute to the dodging and tough-to-hit doves, which makes this hunt go down as a big success. It's not always about the harvest, simply having a few doves to shoot at before the long offseason is a bit of a blessing. Cold weather around the New Year helped to gather a few doves to the Lowcountry in 2013, and a winter chill in a wide open dove field is a good feeling to know.

To view past blog entries about dove hunts click here.