Did you do anything special to pluck them, or just commence pulling feathers?
Tipmoose's 2021 Season Thread
- Thread starter Tipmoose
- Start date
For the most part, just pull feathers. They come out really easy. Here's the video I found that got me started on the idea of plucking instead of breasting. After you do a few, it gets faster. It helps if you can keep your hands dry.
This morning I got up around 4 to take my gf to the airport. She's going down to Orlando to spend the long weekend with her 8 year old nephew and family at Disney and Universal. This, of course, is the outer ring of hell for me because I hate Florida and I hate being hot and I really don't like people that much. So...I was not required to attend.
After dropping her off at the airport, I ran back to the house, changed into my hunting clothes, fed and walked the dog, loaded up and headed out. Picked up breakfast on the way and by 6:30, was parked at what I thought was the closest parking lot to my assigned dove field Around 645, nobody else had shown up, so I shouldered my pack, grabbed my shotgun and bucket, and headed out.
Walked around the pond and past the first field when I discovered there wasn't a mowed path back to where I needed to go...oh well. Followed the tramped down path that was made yesterday by others. By the time I got to my field, my pants were soaked and a little chilly. I still haven't seen another soul and am starting to wonder if its just gonna be me trying to keep em flying for the whole field. Finally see a guy walking up from a different direction...introduced myself and we walked out to our spots. Saw several birds and managed to get 3 before another guy walked down the path with a chocolate lab and took his place. That was it...only 3 people for a gigantic field.
There were plenty of birds flying again, just not enough people to keep em circling. Decided to be serious and pay attention this time and not blow through shells because I could. Ended up limiting out 3 hrs later. 15 birds on 35 shells.
I retraced my path back to the truck and was soaked again with beggar lice (or whatever you call them) all over me when it was all said and done. Lesson learned. Just because it looks like there's a path on OnX, doesn't mean there is. Heck, I even went down there yesterday after my morning hunt. Just didn't walk all the way back because I didn't want to disturb the other guys there.
Looking forward to seeing how to cook em now. I think the first five will be fried with a nashville hot chicken dredge. Might try to BBQ/smoke the second five. Will post up what I find!
After dropping her off at the airport, I ran back to the house, changed into my hunting clothes, fed and walked the dog, loaded up and headed out. Picked up breakfast on the way and by 6:30, was parked at what I thought was the closest parking lot to my assigned dove field Around 645, nobody else had shown up, so I shouldered my pack, grabbed my shotgun and bucket, and headed out.
Walked around the pond and past the first field when I discovered there wasn't a mowed path back to where I needed to go...oh well. Followed the tramped down path that was made yesterday by others. By the time I got to my field, my pants were soaked and a little chilly. I still haven't seen another soul and am starting to wonder if its just gonna be me trying to keep em flying for the whole field. Finally see a guy walking up from a different direction...introduced myself and we walked out to our spots. Saw several birds and managed to get 3 before another guy walked down the path with a chocolate lab and took his place. That was it...only 3 people for a gigantic field.
There were plenty of birds flying again, just not enough people to keep em circling. Decided to be serious and pay attention this time and not blow through shells because I could. Ended up limiting out 3 hrs later. 15 birds on 35 shells.
I retraced my path back to the truck and was soaked again with beggar lice (or whatever you call them) all over me when it was all said and done. Lesson learned. Just because it looks like there's a path on OnX, doesn't mean there is. Heck, I even went down there yesterday after my morning hunt. Just didn't walk all the way back because I didn't want to disturb the other guys there.
Looking forward to seeing how to cook em now. I think the first five will be fried with a nashville hot chicken dredge. Might try to BBQ/smoke the second five. Will post up what I find!
This may push a few of you girls over the edge, but they were damn tasty!
lasttombstone
Kinder, Gentler LTS
Tip..... was that a draw hunt on gamelands? Don't understand the permit thing if there were no more hunters than that.
Yea they were both draw hunts on public land here in Ohio. The first one was Spring Valley and the second was Fallsville. Not many people showed up for the Sept 2nd hunt. Guess they just took the 1st off.
Here are the last two pics of dove for this year. The smoked BBQ version turned out delicious. It took way longer than it should, but they were good.
Smoked for 1hr at 200 F, then moved inside to finish in the oven. Same temp. Took about 3 hrs for the breast meat to read 150. But that's probably because I kept opening the stove to baste em with BBQ sauce.
Smoked for 1hr at 200 F, then moved inside to finish in the oven. Same temp. Took about 3 hrs for the breast meat to read 150. But that's probably because I kept opening the stove to baste em with BBQ sauce.
And I breasted a few of the whole birds so I could make the neighbors some bacon wrapped poppers. Figured if they didn't like em that way, then they just don't like em.
The rest got vacuum sealed and put in the freezer. Have 17 in there now.
The rest got vacuum sealed and put in the freezer. Have 17 in there now.
lasttombstone
Kinder, Gentler LTS
I'll put you up for a week if you'll come down here and cook for me.
JoeH
Six Pointer
Excuse my ignorance: do those doves taste like chicken?
They must be easier to pluck than chicken. Nothing I hated worse as a boy than plucking chicken. If I had to pluck my own chicken now, I wouldn’t eat chicken.
They must be easier to pluck than chicken. Nothing I hated worse as a boy than plucking chicken. If I had to pluck my own chicken now, I wouldn’t eat chicken.
Well...the BBQ smoked ones are pretty close to dark meat chicken. However, its still 'different'. Not sure how to describe it. The longer you cook it the more pronounced it gets. Its really tender...even the fried hearts I posted above were easy on the teeth.
As for plucking...it doesn't really get much easier than a dove. Feathers come right out.
Anybody else out there describe what dove tastes like?
lasttombstone
Kinder, Gentler LTS
And some people actually throw them away. Remarkable.
Regardless, you absolutely want to soak them in water/salt water for a few days. Otherwise they will taste a bit stronger like waterfowl.
@Tipmoose you ready for tomorrow??
Probably not...I won't be out in the woods until central muzzle season 10/30. Also have time for a trip to Missouri in mid Nov.
You hunting in Missouri. Headed out later in November
Yep. I will be hunting the family farm from the 13-15th. of Nov. Just outside Tipton.
YanceyGreenhorn
Still Not a Moderator
Hard to describe. To me it’s more of a red meat taste than a poultry taste
Cool ill be over closer to the mighty Mississippi. I like it out there. Went last year.
Here are the pics and stories from my NC Central Muzzle Loader hunt from last week.
First up are pics from camp. A buddy of mine (JrFan from the old NCDeer days) and I camped out together and got a nice place set up for a long weekend.
First up are pics from camp. A buddy of mine (JrFan from the old NCDeer days) and I camped out together and got a nice place set up for a long weekend.
On Friday afternoon and evening we decided to set up two pop up blinds and corn them. One of those blinds was at a corner known as Triple D. Here's the view from that blind.
I didn't see anything all morning, but after a quick bleat/grunt sequence I noticed something poke his head out of the tree line to the left of the pine on the far left of the pic. Of course, I was not ready. My gun was vertical against the blind and my shooting stick was laying against my knee. So I had to quickly retrieve my muzzle loader, shakily get it mounted on the shooting stick, and then find the buck. He had decided to move on along because the doe he was looking for couldn't be found. As he trotted across the lane in the pic above, he kept turning more and more to his left, offering me a sharper and sharper quartering away shot. My brain was screaming to my finger to pull the trigger and send it....and as I finally got the crosshairs lined up, I yanked on that trigger. The gun went boom and the deer took of running, tail down, hunched up, straight away from me. My last flash image of the shot was of the crosshairs being in the center of the body. I knew it was a gut shot. So, I got out of the blind and walked down to where the deer had gone into the woods. Looked for blood. Found none. Walked all the way back to the blind and found blood at the impact site. It quickly dried up as the deer ran.
It was 940 AM and I called Jeff and Cooper. They got to me at around 430. By 5PM they had found my deer.
I didn't see anything all morning, but after a quick bleat/grunt sequence I noticed something poke his head out of the tree line to the left of the pine on the far left of the pic. Of course, I was not ready. My gun was vertical against the blind and my shooting stick was laying against my knee. So I had to quickly retrieve my muzzle loader, shakily get it mounted on the shooting stick, and then find the buck. He had decided to move on along because the doe he was looking for couldn't be found. As he trotted across the lane in the pic above, he kept turning more and more to his left, offering me a sharper and sharper quartering away shot. My brain was screaming to my finger to pull the trigger and send it....and as I finally got the crosshairs lined up, I yanked on that trigger. The gun went boom and the deer took of running, tail down, hunched up, straight away from me. My last flash image of the shot was of the crosshairs being in the center of the body. I knew it was a gut shot. So, I got out of the blind and walked down to where the deer had gone into the woods. Looked for blood. Found none. Walked all the way back to the blind and found blood at the impact site. It quickly dried up as the deer ran.
It was 940 AM and I called Jeff and Cooper. They got to me at around 430. By 5PM they had found my deer.
The pic above does not do justice to the place where they found him. It was on the far side of the nastiest logging platform I've seen. There was no way I was going to drag him out. So, I went back to camp and co-opted the camp quad and used it. Tied the head as high as I could above the ground and dragged him out. Probably over 300 yards total drag.
After getting all that done and the deer dragged back to the skinning rack...caped and processed I was done. Slept in the next morning while Dan tried his luck at a stand called 2nd Barn. He didn't see anything, much to my surprise. That stand is always good in the morning. So we made the decision that I would hunt 2nd Barn that evening and he would hunt Quad Pod.
Here are my views from 2nd Barn. Its a short platform stand built inside an old tobacco barn. I love this stand.
Here are my views from 2nd Barn. Its a short platform stand built inside an old tobacco barn. I love this stand.
Dan ended up harvesting one doe and I saw a couple of long nosed does but didn't shoot any. I'd already gotten my buck and wasn't interested in doubling our work load for that evening.
The thing about 2nd Barn is that its back in the woods a little ways. Tons and TONS of tree rats. Always running and scurrying. Noise all day. When sunset arrives, the wind dies down and the rats all scurry back to their trees and the woods become deathly silent. Its really freakin eerie. And it gets dark really fast back there. One second you're seeing sunbeams through the trees and watching squirrels fight for acorns, and the next, its almost black and white...silent. And that's when the deer appear like ghosts from every direction.
Really freakin creepy sometimes.
The thing about 2nd Barn is that its back in the woods a little ways. Tons and TONS of tree rats. Always running and scurrying. Noise all day. When sunset arrives, the wind dies down and the rats all scurry back to their trees and the woods become deathly silent. Its really freakin eerie. And it gets dark really fast back there. One second you're seeing sunbeams through the trees and watching squirrels fight for acorns, and the next, its almost black and white...silent. And that's when the deer appear like ghosts from every direction.
Really freakin creepy sometimes.
Next on my calendar is a trip to hunt my family farm in Missouri for their rifle season. I will be looking for a nice buck on Saturday. Failing that, a doe on Sunday. More pics to come.
MJ74
Old Mossy Horns
Just out of curiosty are you on a lease, family land or just invited to hunt someones place when yiu camped out?
Nice pics!
Nice pics!
For the campsite hunt, its on a lease/club in Granville Cty.