Over the years a few changes have occurred when it comes to hunting these birds, however the one thing that has not is that this is the most social of all hunts available.

Story and photography by Bob Zaiglin

It seems like it was just yesterday that my teenage daughter Beth and I would load up our dove-retrieving Catahoula Rowdy in the back of our pickup and drive to an isolated water hole on one of the ranches I managed for her to drop a few doves.  I say drop because she was quite adept with a shotgun and had no problem collecting her share of birds.
Today things are quite different because she is now a mom living on her own ranch and calling me up whenever birds are flying.  It is amazing how things have changed, but for the better, as I now have two granddaughters who add another dimension to my time in the field.  And although they are a little too young to handle a shotgun, they are more than willing to retrieve Pappy’s downed birds, making the whole hunt an exhilarating and memorable event.

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