Hunting Washington Forum
Other Hunting => Upland Birds => Topic started by: Rock206 on July 17, 2019, 04:15:42 PM
-
Headed to Grant County for Labor Day weekend. I'd like to do some Dove hunting but not bringing my Dog. Anyone know of any guides in the area that do take folks out for Dove hunting as well? Can't find much with a Google Search for that particular one. Thanks!
On a side note if I head back out there with my Dog sometime is there a lot of public access where I can bring my dog and do it on my own or mostly held up on private fields?
-
Plenty of public land in Grant County; do your internet scouting on the WDFW website:
https://wdfw.wa.gov/places-to-go/wildlife-areas
-
No dog needed unless you like to watch them retrieve. You can always target resting areas next to feed. Usually the resting areas are on public land.
-
if you don't have it, get onx maps and drive around looking for public land that have power lines. There will be doves
-
Find some eurasains and get some preseason practice, no shortage
-
We have always found the best hunting is where the Doves are flying between water and the fields they are feeding in. Place yourself in the middle and you should find some great pass shooting (a few Dove Decoys perched in plain sight will help draw in and slow the little rockets down.)
As the birds move with the Farmers, keep your eyes out for any birds perched on power-lines or on the move, (a sure give away that they are harvesting a new field since your last scouting trip in the area
One of our favorite spots has Royal City to the North, Othello to the East, Lower Crab Creek to the West and The Saddle Mountains to the South. Here there is a lot of sagebrush for cover growing taller than your head and Morning Doves will still be nesting in it even after Labor Day (if the weather holds.)
Watch out for Ticks if you push through the Sage as this has been a bad year for them.
(I think you will find that Land Owners are more accepting of Hunters during Dove Season, compared to the Droves of Hunters descending on them later during The General Season.) Good Luck Hunting. :tup:
Doug
-
Didn't a big chunk of Lower Crab Creek burn pretty bad a few weeks back?
@Rock206 Mardon Resort/Meseburg used to offer guided dove hunts in private fields. I haven't kept up, not sure if they still do. Worth a look.
-
That's right Mfowl, I would love to see an updated map of the burned out area.
If so the" Evacuated" Doves could be pretty thick up on the Royal Slope proper. :yeah:
(But it looks like it may have burned just to the West of our Dove Hunting spot.)
Doug