Thursday, September 1, 2011

A Primer for dove season

 Gambel's Quail
September 1st. 
Dove season opens today in Arizona.
Gambel's quail are not doves.
Nor are sparrows, love birds, finches, hummingbirds or bees.



Some urban hunters seem to think any bird is a dove. Some hunters awake at dawn, dress in camouflage, hit the land just past the freeway, set up their rifle and coffee cup, and spend the next hours shooting.  "Plunk plunk plunk".

During this dove season, the game is mourning dove and white dove. 
Nothing more. 
Please shoot wisely. We hear you at dawn, we see the debris later. A discarded coffee cup. The scrunched up Egg Sandwich wrapper. The abandoned box of donuts from the local grocery store... a few cigarette butts. The empty shotgun shells.. sure, this debris we will pick up.  A shot hummingbird, finch, love bird, or sparrow is not acceptable.
Not a dove. 

Yesterday I came across a poem on 'The day before Opening Day".
Texas, Arizona. It is hot. It is September 1. It is opening day.

"The heat is impossible
Cooling bills are high
Fires are raging..."

9 comments:

Kathy said...

Yes, it's still hot, with hot winds blowing. But surely the cool will come soon to both of us. My father was a dove and quail hunter. When he was a boy it was a large staple of their diet, along with squirrels and fish they caught in the streams. I always hated it when he came home from hunting, deposited his dead birds in the kitchen for my mother to clean and fry up. I can still smell the odor of blood and feathers and entrails. Wonder why I eat so much chicken?

Julie Ferguson said...

Lovely pictures. I like the gnome swinging.

How Sam Sees It said...

This is the time of year I dislike - I don't mind the hunters hunting, but for the same reason's you listed. Plus, it is hard to ride in the desert because I'm not sure which direction they are shooting!

Sam

MadSnapper said...

when I was 16 which is 50 years ago, my dad loved to hunt dove and quail. he brought home what he called a mess of them and mother fried them whole and put them on the kitchen table. i burst into tears, which caused my 11 year old brother to cry and moaned HOW CAN YOU EAT THOSE SWEET TINY LITTLE BIRDS? they are sooo cute. after that, daddy hunted with his cousins and nephews, but what he got went home with them.
your quail is not like the ones in Ga, it is beautiful

Anonymous said...

I mind hunter's hunting, greatly, greatly. Why would anyone's response to a beautiful bit of nature be to shoot and kill it.

Your bird photos are excellent.

Banjo52 said...

My instincts are like AH's, but I figure as long as I'm a carnivore, I better shut up.

However, I do appreciate your noting the hunters who litter, not to mention the finch killers. I bet they also talk a good game about what super conservationists they are--and how they hate Commie Libs, who might restrict their freedoms.

Thérèse said...

These pictures are lovely especially the quail on one leg on the dead tree, not afraid of anything.
Fond memories of quails hunting... time changes everything except that I am still a carnivore like Banjo.

Pasadena Adjacent said...

Yeah, what is it with hunters and the litter they leave behind? I think I ran into Rambo a few years back. Weird vibe around that one.

Saija said...

i didn't even know there was a dove season ... ? ... go figure ... kind of ironic - dove being associated with anything peaceful ...

lovely pictures, by the way!!!