Fishing Forum

[cool]You guys must have been throwing some lead at the doves over the weekend. I have a lot of doves showing up in my backyard down here with Jazz stickers on their traveling bags. My 85 year old mother scatters wild bird seed a couple of times a day and the doves flock in. There are three species here...mourning doves, Inca doves (small ones) and the big whitewings.





As soon as she walks away from dumping the seed there are a couple of hundred doves at some times.

The answer is NO, she does not allow hunting in our backyard. And, NO, she does not hire out as a dove guide. You wouldn't want her retrieving your birds anyway. With those dentures, she just does not have a soft enough mouth for doves. Chews them up a bit.

Sadly, shortly after I took those pics from my second floor balcony, my mom took a bad spill in the gravel and we have restricted her to staying out of the backyard now.
[signature]

Looks like my mothers back yard!!! She has 3 bird feeders and the birds like to remove the seed from the feeders and scatter it on the ground. The other day when I pulled in to her driveway there must have been 50 morning doves in her drive way!!! If anyone has any ideas on how to hunt them in the middle of suburbia SLC, please let me know. S.L. county sheriffs dept. frowns highly on the use of a 20 guage in city limits!!! [] ANd also how to keep mom away long enough to get a dinners worth. The morning doves and those crazy quail are her pets. But I look at it differently, so does my black lab!!! [cool]
[signature]

[cool]I think there is a "mother" gene that makes them want to attract and feed birds. All we can do is keep the safety on and watch which way they go when they fly out of the yard. Our hunterholic son from Salt Lake gets the nervous twitches every time he visits and sees the feathery hordes.

By the way, I do have a 22 pellet rifle, with a scope, that can shoot the eyes out of the pesky pigeons that roost on the two story homes in the area. I also have two blowguns...but they tend to fly off with my expensive darts. At one time I was a world class slingshot shooter, but BBs and steel balls tend to ricochet around the yard and the neighborhood more than the soft pellets from the pellet gun. My insurance company frowns on having to replace glass broken by errant missiles.

A good story on my mom. I came home one day and she pointed out in the back yard and said "There's a peacock out there." Since her identification on bird species sometimes strays a bit, I thought "Sure. Probably just a a big old grackle or something." But, when I looked at the size of the bird she pointed to, I knew it was something in between. It was partially concealed by one of the bushes in my backyard, so I ran up to my office and tackletorium and got my binocs for a better view.

What I saw got me excited. It was a golden pheasant, in full and beautiful plumage. As a fly tyer, I immediately went "Ka-ching". There were several dollars worth of tippets and other useable feathers on that "peacock". So, since I was upstairs, and out of sight of the "game warden", I cranked up my pellet gun, put the crosshairs on the pheasant's head and squeezed off. It went over like a gallery target and did not move. SCORE.

I had a tough time explaining to my mom how the bird had mysteriously died in our back yard. I'm sure she realized that it had died of "lead poisoning", but didn't want to risk a confrontation and jeopardize our scheduled trip to Dairy Queen for a hot fudge sundae. Those are either number one or two on her list of remaining pleasures in life.

I skinned it out and boraxed it and now have some absolutely beautiful feathers. My guess was that one of the folks from the horse properties nearby were missing a bird from their pens. I did not conduct a door to door survey to determine who the former owner might be.
[signature]

BB guns are the only way to bag a few birds in town but I don't think they are a legal way to get them. I'd check the proclamation or call the DWR about this first. Don't want to get a stupid ticket for something like this.
[signature]

[cool][font "Comic Sans MS"][#ff0000][size 5]DISCLAIMER!!!!!!![/size][/#ff0000][/font]

[font "Arial"][#400040][size 3]I would NEVER advocate that anybody violate the laws. With the exception of the "non game" golden pheasant, I have not popped any birds within city limits, nor do I suggest that anyone else do so. It ain't only agin the law, it is common safety to avoid shooting any projectile in a populated area. The rule I learned from my hunting elders is to never send anything "downrange" unless you know what you are shooting at and where the missile is going. If in doubt, don't shoot.[/size][/#400040][/font]

[font "Arial"][#400040][size 3]Down there in southern Utah, you probably heard about the two California hunters that were just blazing away at anything that moved. One of them shot his buddy. Later, at the hospital, the doctor came out and said "Your friend would have had a better chance if you hadn't gutted him out and tied him to the fender before you brought him in to town."[/size][/#400040][/font]
[signature]

[font "Arial"][size 4]LOL[/size][/font]
[signature]

[cool] THAT IS A VERY GOOD DISCLAIMER. [laugh][laugh]
[signature]

[cool]Just try to get that across to Mikey. His motto is always "Blast first...take care of damage control later."

There are a lot of hunters who have the philosophy that it is always easier to talk your way out of a confrontation than to ask for permission. They are the guys who ruin in for those who try to do it right.

Check out the joke attached at the bottom.
[signature]

Who hasn't wanted to do that to a lawyer at some point? Great story!
[signature]

[cool] THAT ONE WOULD WORK IN CALIFORNIA ALSO. HEE HEE
[signature]

That is great!!! My first emphesis in college was to get a law degree, declared my pre-law major, things were great!!! Went to work for a attorneys office and I learned quick to run from that!!!
[signature]

[cool]They call that "Survival of the fastest" And, just remember, if it weren't for lawyers...we wouldn't need 'em.
[signature]

Sorry Tubedude I never thought you would break a law until you said that about non game birds or golden pheasants, which become the property of the state once they get away. The sure are beautiful birds but the pain to get a raising permit almost makes it not worth it.
[signature]