Dove Hunting 4B Ranch 2006
The Dove Hunting on the 4B Ranch this year was better than it’s ever been. Opening weekend found 15 people comprised of friends and family at the 4B eagerly awaiting the Saturday morning hunt. We placed hunters in the south and west fields where uncut wheat and sunflowers had been shredded some three weeks before opening day. The birds came into the fields in droves. The Dove limit south of I-20 is 12 birds per day. Most hunters had their limit after only 1 hour of hunting. Others shot their limit of shells. {grin} Even those hunters whose aim may have been off a little got their limit by 9:30 AM. Late breakfast was served in the Pavilion where hunters talked about their hunts while chowing down on some good eats. What a weekend! Every hunt yielded limits for the hunters. It was the best ‘Friends and Family Dove Hunt’ we’ve ever had. It’s always fun just to get together and have great food and fellowship; it’s even better when the bird hunting is awesome.
As the ranch owner and the host of this hunt, I can say that there is nothing more satisfying than seeing a bunch of hunters at the cleaning station cleaning birds and regaling each other with stories of how good the hunting was where they were.
I’m convinced that the key to really good dove hunting in West Texas centers around cultivation and water. The 4B is blessed with great water and typical West Texas cultivation. The wheat couldn’t be harvested due to draught and of course sunflowers are native and grow in the spring no matter what. We shredded the wheat and sunflowers 3 weeks before the seasoned opened. Many tons of grain and seed were put on the ground when we shredded. It wasn’t long before the birds started showing up. Even during mid-season I could drive through the fields in the mule and scare up hundreds of birds. Pretty amazing. Now that we are doing the farming ourselves, I expect next year to be as good as this year.
As hunting goes, good dove hunting ranks at the very top of my list for fun times. Our outfitter brought many hunters from all over the United States and while driving around and visiting with them, many stated that it was the best they’d ever seen.
By my best reckoning, more than 2,000 birds were taken off the 4B during the season and that pales in comparison to how many birds we actually had. We barely put a dent in it!
In my opinion, dove hunting in West Texas is one of the best hunting experiences a person can have. The weather is warm but not brutally hot and the action is intense because everybody gets to shoot. I certainly hope that the 2007 Dove Season will be as good as this one.