GUNS Magazine December 1958 - Jeffersonian

Mourning doves held by Curtisare our " most ava ilable" bird butoften escape shotgun patterns.DOVESARE THEWINGSHOT'SBEST EGO-DEFLATER.,..,. ., ~"'LEAD 'EM ALL YOU DARE-THEN DOUBLE IT!"' EVEN THEN ,YOU'LL OFTEN SHOOT BEHIND THESE FEATHERED PHANTOMSBy WILLIAM CURTISMANY HUNTERS AREsurprised when theycheck the migratory birdtake to find the mourningdove topping the lists . Therea son actually is simplethey'reour most availablebird. Chan ces are you canreach good dove shoo tingwith out long or expensivejunkets. My biggest expenseis usuall y ammunition, andthat's the reason these speedstersar e one of my favoritetargets. I like to shoot, and doves give me a lot of action.I enjoy the change of pa ce in shirtsleeve dove -shooting.Our season here on the west coast falls between the black.tail ed deer season and duck hunting. Ducks can lead youon a cold, cramped tr ek. Blacktails ar e a muscle-straining,sweat producing business in August.Ju st last year I was chasing bucks over one brushy ridgeafter another. Deer seem to be getting smarter every yearand the ridges steeper. Then came the first of Septemberand dove season. I blew the dust off my pet Model 12Winchester, dug out an old box of 7%'s, and headed fora stubble field a few miles from where I live near Arbuckle,California.I parked the pickup und er a giant white oak and had towalk only a hundred yards to reach a gravelly wash deepenough to br eak my outline. Early in the season you don' tneed much of a blind to hood wink a dove. After beingwork ed over for a week or two, they can get war y as gunshymallards.I barely got the rocks rak ed comfortably out fr om und ermy rumb le seat before hearing the welcome whirr of dovewings. A pair of them came tearing by ju st out of rangeand pitched int o the wheat stubble a hundred yards awa y.Almost as if in response to some signal, other speedingform s began to materialize out of the late afternoon heatwaves. I heard a rapid ba ng-bang from the opposite end