Hunting the Georgia Dove Opener at Berry College WMA
Eugene L. 10.24.24
It feels like every year, September sneaks up on me. The summer always ends quicker than I expect, leaving me almost unprepared for the start of the Fall hunting season. That was certainly the case this year, when I realized that I had only five days until the first Saturday of September and the Georgia Dove Opener at Berry College. I had no plan and no shotgun, so I made a mad dash around town trying to find a decent shotgun around town for nothing too crazy. I like hunting doves, but I don’t $1000 like hunting doves. Lucky for me I did find a nice 1994 production Remington 870 in good condition at the local pawn shop, so at least the shotgun problem was fixed. Next was planning out a hunt, which was a much easier task. I texted my buddy Jack, who I hunted the dove opener with last year, and started about planning our hunt and figuring out where we were gonna set up. With that all squared away all that was left was to preload the truck so we could just get in and drive up to the WMA to get there as quick as possible.
While the year before there was a sign put up saying no one was allowed on the fields before 6:30 am I guess they pushed the start time back this year. We arrived at the parking lot at 6 am and got everything loaded into my beach cart by 6:10 am and saw that everyone was already moving towards the gate. So we started walking too, if we were slow we wouldn’t get the spot we wanted. Luckily the beach cart I brought this year was a much better choice than the pier cart I used last year.
Soft beach tires glide over the gravel, rock, and grass compared to hard wagon wheels. I even had some guys asking if the cart was motorized with how fast we could pull the thing. We were making great time, being able to get ahead of most of the pack. We got to the spot we wanted, near a couple of big oaks and the creek, and started setting up. Putting a spread of decoys with a couple of mojos. Once set it was just time to wait till shooting light. We hung a headlamp amongst the sunflowers to act as a beacon so no one set up too close.
And we waited, shooting light came and went. We did hear a few shots up a little north of us near the powerlines, but still no birds over us. Then maybe 15 minutes after sunrise, Jack finally got the first dove. Unfortunately, it was a bit lower than we had thought, the shot slammed into the dove hard enough to make the feathers blow off and fall like snow. The bird was a bit chewed up, but on the bright side, Violet finally got to retrieve a bird so she was happy. After that first bird, it was a trickle of doves coming over the field. Though most of them were following the powerlines, where a ton of hunters had set up. It sounded like a firing line, just shot after shot going off. Even if you aren’t the one shooting, just being out there is enough to get the blood pumping and energy up.
Eventually, though the trickle of birds became a steady stream, with doves coming down left and right. Then all of a sudden it was a frenzy of doves coming through. Shots were going off everywhere as they came in. People who weren’t shooting were yelling instructions to others who had dove near them. We got into the doves as well at this point, dropping a few. Violet was loving it, she wanted to retrieve every dove she saw a drop, even if it wasn’t one of ours. You could tell everyone was having a great time, lots of laughing and excited yells all over the fields. Exactly what you want from a dove opener, a great social experience where everyone gets to have a good time outdoors.
After that big frenzy though, the doves suddenly stopped flying through in big numbers. It went back to a trickle of a dove or two every 20 minutes-ish. Just enough action to keep us out in the field but putting a time limit on when we should head out. At this point, we had maybe 4 or 5 doves in the YETI Roadie 15, while you can leave doves out for a bit I prefer to bring a small cooler like the Roadie to put them on ice. It also keeps the ants off the doves too. So now we wanted to get at least another one or two doves to even out the count and be enough meat for an appetizer each.
So we stuck it out for the next hour, putting out a time limit on when we would leave if we didn’t get another shot at a dove. However things changed pretty quick after, the clouds started rolling in and with them, the doves started flying through as well. We had a trio fly right over and got one out of that, then a duo right after from which we picked off another. We were at 7 doves so just needed one more to get 4 doves a piece to make our “dove appetizer”. But right around the 1:00 pm mark we finally got number 8, right on time too. The sun was coming back out and it started cooking us. Violet was happy again with a dove in her mouth so we started packing everything up to call it a day.
Once loaded up we did the walk back out to the parking lot, again the beach cart did amazing though going uphill with a cart no matter what tires you got. Where for the first time in the dozen or so times I’ve been out there for doves got checked by the game warden. Just a quick peek at our doves and our licenses was all he needed, though make sure that even if you have a GA Sportsman license to have the free migratory bird license applied for as well. I thought it was all rolled together but it’s not. After that we just picked up the whole beach cart and put it in the truck bed, refilled Violets bucket of water and head back home.
While we didn’t even get close to a single limit of doves, we still had a great time. Because let’s be real, you’re not going to get full from doves. The dove opener is more than just getting meat for the table. It’s about being outside with good company and having fun. It can be fast-paced action or just some downtime shooting the shit, either way it’s gonna probably be a good time.
