It’s almost the weekend, friends! Anyone have some fun plans? It’s apparently supposed to rain here all weekend… Boo. At least the weather held up the past few days, as I was able to go on my first dove hunt of the season this week. With every season opener, I remember how much I really love dove hunting. Usually…
Did you see the SCNDR News update about this year’s SC dove season? We officially get an extra 20 days of hunting! This is exciting news to me – particularly since this fall is filled to the brim with engagement/wedding festivities. [Side note – we have 5 weddings in October alone, including our own… Exactly.]
What a happy Friday, indeed, friends! Perusing the calendar earlier this week, I realized that today marks the one-year “birthday” of the bright side of the road! My mind is torn – I can’t decide if I feel like it has been much longer than one year, or just a few short months. But, with 87 posts, nearly 15,000 {just looked again we – are at nearly 17,000!!!} views, and a whole bunch of happy, happy news in between, I guess a year really makes sense! Didn’t we just reach 10,000? Gahh I feel like that was just last week, and that was the end of September! Well, let me just throw in another big THANK YOU to all of you readers! This has really been such a fun experience for me, and I look forward to delivering more stories and more recipes in the upcoming months. {Duck season is oh-so-close…!!!!}
Happy weekend, friends! Anyone teal hunting tomorrow for the early season? I am still up in the air… It is so hot and buggy, the thought of waders seems a bit daunting. Could I just wear shorts underneath them? What if there is an alligator in the pond and what if he decides I look like a tasty breakfast? Is there such a thing as too much bug spray? I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS. I will keep you posted though as to whether or not we venture into the ponds to take a whack at some early season teal. I could really go for one of these sandwiches, now that I am thinking about it…
Wow. I can get carried away, huh? Back to the story at hand. Wednesday’s hunt started off slow. Real slow. Like, “Dad what are we doing out here?””Bear, I have no idea it is so hot outside and WHERE ARE THE BIRDS?”
But… Like I said. Wait. It. Out. One minute I busying myself taking silly snapchats of myself literally melting into my dove stool while my dad was just laughing at me, and the next – boom. Literally, boom. That’s the sound the shotgun makes, right? We were getting bombed by doves and we were shooting back. The next hour or so was pretty busy, between shooting [at] doves and running to pick them up, and shooting another while we were out searching for the first one. Ok… I am sure I am making it sound like we both limited out in an hour. And I am making it sound like my dad didn’t go pick up my birds for me since we didn’t take Dixie. Not the case, unfortunately. But I did knock down 8 or so, and my dad makes a pretty good bird dog if I do say so myself! He bagged a few, himself as well. You’re the best, Otis!
What’s the moral of the story? Just when you think you should pack up your bag and call it a day, wait. Just a fewwwww more minutes. It was completely worth the wait, and mmm mmm mmm are those doves going to taste good.
That’s what I almost did on Wednesday’s hunt near Camden, SC. As hot as we thought it was on the coast on Monday’s hunt, it was balmy and breezy compared to inland. Even though it only reached the mid 90’s, the heat index was at least 135*. No? Is that too high? Well, maybe I exaggerate a tad, but damn it was a hot one!
But… I have to admit… I would rather be about to monkey in the dove field than be in cool a/c at work. Am I right? Like my dad always says, “You don’t know if you don’t go.” Agreed, dude. It was hot. I missed some easy-as-pie shots. I made some “Wow, did he really just go down?” shots. You know what kind of shots I am talking about? Sometimes, the dove flies by you in such a way that you know he must be asking for you knock him down. And then you miss. Twice, no less. Where’s my automatic with the 3rd shell when I need it?! Alas, I love my over/under too much to not use it every chance I get… Then you make a ridiculously difficult shot, based on instinct, and you realize you don’t actually need that 3rd shot. Completely worth the 4 gallons of water lost because you’re sweating so badly you can’t see out of your sunglasses or remember your own name.
There I go exaggerating again. I think it’s becoming a thing I do. Oh, well. We still had a great time despite the heat. Even though only 1 hunter got his limit, we had some fantastic shots and opportunities. I ended up bagging only 6 or 7, and completely forgot to snap a photo. Still, Dixie was one tough cookie, and never lost her excitement at every retrieve.
Until next time – Happy Hunting!
Happy dove season, friends! If you hunted opening day, I hope your hunt was a success! We had a great day in Georgetown, full of riding 4-wheelers and shooting at doves.
John took Prine in the field for his first real dove hunt (he was just a little puppy during last season), and it was a lot of fun to watch his excitement as he was figuring everything out. Another friend had his new German Short-Hair, Maggie, out with us as well. She is still too little to really see beyond playing right now, but it was still great to watch. Boy, was it a hot day, too. There was a big storm on the coast that barely missed us, but the clouds and breeze from it was a nice reprieve. We ended up bagging around 70 birds in total – not too shabby for a group of friends hanging out having fun!
I am heading back out this afternoon to hunt with my dad, so stay tuned for another hunting update in the near future! Shoot straight!
Question- Have any of these posts made you just think “Gahh I want to {dove hunt, duck hunt, fish, travel} like right now?” Girls (and non-hunting guys), has the bright side of the road inspired you to get into hunting? For some, it may mean just grabbing a camouflage shirt, throwing on some boots, and walking out of the door straight to the stand. You lucky ducks. For others, it takes a bit more planning and preparation. And as far as planning and preparation go, have any of these posts made you realize something you typically forget, or would like to have, when heading out for your adventures? Anyone who knows me knows that I have an obsession with enjoy making lists… Lots and lots of lists. Sometimes, they’re even color coded. But that is beside the point.
With dove season just around the corner, it’s my dove hunting essentials in a convenient list. Hope it helps!
I ran across this article from Field & Stream while I was pretending to fold laundry, and I was instantly hooked. No pun intended- You’ll see what I mean. Given the amount of fun and successful hunting my dad and I had while in Argentina, both in 2010 and 2013, it is safe to say that we will definitely be going back. Hopefully several more times (hint hint, Dad..!). Both previous trips were spent only dove hunting, and we know there is a lot more that Argentina has to offer. Between dove hunting, duck hunting, big game hunting, and fishing, the country is a world-class playground for the outdoorsmen/women. Dad and I have primarily talked about adding a few days of duck hunting to our adventure, despite my constant efforts at begging him to let me go after a monster red stag or axis deer. Those who have met me know that I have an itchy trigger finger. And let’s be honest- I would have to have that thing mounted. Immediately. But, back to the topic at hand… This article sparked a new interested that I previously hadn’t really thought about- adding a few days of fishing on the great Rio Grande to the mix- a Cast & Blast. Ummm WHERE DO I SIGN UP? In this particular instance, the anglers were after the sea run brown trout, but one can also catch rainbow and brown trout, freshwater dorado, pirá pita, and pacu, depending on the region you visit.
With 10 tips and tricks for fishing, along with 5 more for the hunting portion of your trip, the authors provide really good insight as to what you can expect when you are fishing and wingshooting in Argentina.
Click HERE to read the entire article. Enjoy today’s in the news!
At long last- the video I promised! Enjoy the live footage from our Argentina trip a few weeks ago, and let The Band serenade you all the way to South America!
Well hellooooo USA! We are back from our South American adventures, and it was such an amazing trip. We hunted 2 full days and 2 half days, for a total of 6 hunts. As I mentioned before, the amount of doves was absolutely insane, and the first full day I reached my goal of 1000 doves in one day. I was able to do the same thing on the second full day as well… Wooo boy was I excited. When I knew I was getting close to the goal, I found myself doing little dances in the blind or the field, only to be greeting with laughter from my dad and Pep, our bird boy, along with some of the others on the trip. I found myself in constant awe at the quantity of doves constantly flying around us. You really need to see it for yourself to understand and appreciate it. You’ll get a taste of it in the pictures below! In total, my dad and I shot 5000 doves in 300 boxes of shells. No exaggeration- legitimate numbers. That’s some serious shooting!