Outdoor Life
Related: About this forumAnyone getting ready for dove season?
I'm hunting S. Texas in late Sept. Last year's opening weekend was a bust with storms and a cold front moving the doves south. I'm hoping for better luck in 2014!
Scuba
(53,475 posts)dixiegrrrrl
(60,011 posts)Do you mind if I ask you, in all seriousness, what is the attraction of shooting them, and do you eat them?
They are so rather small, I wince at the idea of dressing them out.
Paladin
(28,717 posts)White wings used to be found south of the Rio Grande in Mexico, but they're all over the place in Texas, now. Very intrusive species; the native mourning doves have shrunk to the size of sparrows. White wings are tasty, like the dark meat of a chicken, only better. If I still hunted, I could limit out every day with one ground shot under my bird feeder (yes it would be illegal, and yes my neighbors would be upset). As it is, I just keep the greedy bastards nourished. The cardinals and scrub jays manage to get a beak-full of expensive seed when the white wings take flight.
dixiegrrrrl
(60,011 posts)We have mourning doves around our place.Not many, just enough to make a nice sound.
I did not know about white wings, and their size.
sounds as if they are the same problem as starlings.
Paladin
(28,717 posts)meathead
(63 posts)The dove are tasty, but you need a few to make a main course. I usually the stuff the breast with cream cheese and jalapeño, wrap in bacon and grill them. Makes a great appetizer!
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I also make fine furniture as an avocation. There is much to be said for being capable in many diverse endeavors.
Eleanors38
(18,318 posts)Less than an hour. Most hunters just peel back the skin & feathers in one operation, after snipping off the wings. Here's something counter-intuitive: I put them in the fridge for a week first, feathers, guts and all. They age wonderfully, and taste better!
Eleanors38
(18,318 posts)in a field blooming with sunflowers, and fed by a spring out of the mesa. The fellow who owns the little ranch reports both species of native doves -- mourning & whitewing -- are thick in numbers. We usually have 4 - 5 in the field. Should be a great time.
I make my doves just the way pictured, and also by cast iron skillet browning (after dredging in flower), then adding milk, cutting back the heat & covering. I cook them down to a thick gravy/crust, and serve over grits. Hot tea rounds out a wonderful deep-south breakfast!