Becan and birds... YUM !!!!

It all started Saturday morning when the dove began to fly. At noon when the season opened we were in the field and ready. I got 12 and my son-in-law split his between my and another guy. I ended up with 19. We all eneded up dehydrated. PJ (SIL) lost the keys to the vehicle until later in the day and it was HOT. We were in Section, Alabama. About 4:00 Wes, the other guy got sick but they got some water in him and he got better. Around 6:00 or so I started to get leg cramps, I could barely walk. They would come and go. On the drive home I had to sit sideways in the back of a GMC SUV to try to get my legs straight. I had really bad cramps. I got a 32 oz Powerade and drank that, took a potassium tablet when i got home. Cleaned the birds about midnight. Jumped out of bed at 2:30 AM and coulcn't straighten my legs, was like walking on my toes... weird and painful. I ate a three finger pinch of salt and took three TUMs EX to get some sodium and calcium. Then I took one of my wifes muscle relaxers... then managed to sleep, didn't have any more cramps but the muscles in my legs are still really sore from cramping... So.. all is well that ends well. I will carry my own water and Gatorade from now on!
J
 
19 dove:
 
Cleaning at midnight with some help from the cat:
 
Wrapped and ready to grill:
 
Okra from the Earthbox garden, ready to fry:
 
Beginning to cook:

 
The cook: (miracles DO happen) 

 
On the plate, couldn't wait...

 
My little meatatarian:

 
This one prefers hamburgers and hot peppers (from the garden):

 
I can't wait to get some more. I will never fry a dove again....
 
J
 
 

Beagle
all that pain and wrenching seems to me like it's not worth it!!!
 
Hope you're feeling better!

No wretching, just pain... muscles are still sore from cramping. I'll make sure I have fluids from now on. I was going to get them when I found out he had lost the keys.. uhhh. It is still worth it!! I seem to get dehydrated much easier as I age. About a month or so ago I got dehydrated while cutting the lawn. My index finger and thumb on each hand bent hard toward my palm, toward the little finger and I could not move them without using the other hand to pry them back out. Then they would fold in again. It didn't hurt, it was just weird... some Gatorade fixed it right up. I'll be more careful in the future. I've really never had this sort of problem before. Oh... you said wrenching... well, in any case you can be sure that will not happen again.
Julien

I enjoyed shooting every one of them and will do it again ASAP... and it cost more than that.
 
Going on a quota deer hunt in December but dove hunting has been my favorite hunting since I was 16. The thing is this... with all the pain and cost... it was still worth it, well worth it. If you don't like it... well, I don't much care. I do and will be at it again soon.
 
J

mike_mccue
You might be considerate enough to refrain from posting your photos of things you killed on a music discussion web site.
 
That is just common decency.
 
Maybe get a Facebook page or something.
 
Just saying.
 
best regards,
mike

Why should I ? I see no reason. The sound of a shotgun killing a dove is music to my ears... and the only prohibition is politics and religion. As far as I know people have always hunted. Don't keep coming back and commenting if it bothers you.
J 

Sometimes you are a strange one Mike but I still like you...
 
I posted it because I was really proud of it. I haven't been to a dove shoot in over 30 years and was not sure if I could still do it. I am really excited to have done well, except for not getting my drinks out of the truck and then not having access to them. That's all, proud of an accomplisment and surprised at your reaction but that is OK.
 
I went to a lot of trouble to touch up and crop the pictures as well as I know how... As far as the part about the cramps, well.. I just have a tendency to ramble a bit and say what I think. I would think that you know that by now. Other than that I am not going to take the bait.
 
BTW, thanks for keeping the post bumped!! I think I did a good job and am proud of it!!
 
J

I like you too Julien!!!
 
I'd just ignore someone I didn't like enough to offer some comment.
 
I enjoyed seeing the photos of your food on the grill and the happy faces of your family.
 
You may or may not know I am a 30 year plus vegetarian. :-) I also have a hand full of skeet contest awards from when I was a young 'un but I don't think I have ever mentioned that. Last time I shot skeet I was double dared by a U.S. Senator from Alabama who had found out I was a vegetarian at lunch. Let's just say I was treated with a bit more respect than they accord most vegetarians after I called "pull".
 
Glad you are living life to the fullest... I just don't enjoy the trophy pictures very much. :-(
 
all the best,
mike

Very cool Julian! It brought back memories of when I was 12. My mother used to take me hunting with my 410 for red winged black birds. She wrapped them in becan too. With fried okra and black eyed peas and salt water corn bread. Yummy

I remember when you posted those photos last time Herb.
 
I think I mustered up something nice to say on that occasion, but it seemed gut wrenching at the time to see the photos of the dead pheasants as trophies and it still does.
 
I get the comradery part... and the outdoors part... and the tradition part. So how about some photos of that great outdoors we all seem to enjoy or photos of people gathered together and smiling in friendship instead of the static displays of death trophies?
 
best regards,
mike 

 
I shoot cabbages.
 
They're even easier to hit.
 
 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LOrAXwNd1g&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Mike.... I posted that video as well..... I hope this works since I'm on my phone and not a computer.

I don't shoot living critters as trophies. .... they will be meals if I shoot them.

I respect that you are vegan. .... but most folks are not. Critters from the woods and fields are better eating than the factory farms mass produced animals.

Jbow, the hunt for the pheasant was on a private hunting preserve. The guy had about 450 acres of wooded and a number of cleared/overgrown fields. Some were planted with soybeans and others were chest high weeds and briars.
 
He provided the birds and the dogs.  He was quite proud, and rightly so, of both the birds, and how they reacted to the dogs as well as the dog's ability to find those birds in those overgrown fields and flush them.
 
As we walked the woods between the fields, he was pointing out his deer stands and told us about the deer he had taken at each of the stands. I don't know if he offers deer hunting or not.
 
One of the big kick in the pants here in NC is the rules for hunting on land you don't own.  Back in the past, you could simply pull off the road and if the land was not posted or fenced, you could walk into the woods and hunt freely.  Knocking on a farmer's door and getting is OK to hunt his land was all that was needed. Now, you are required to have written permission specifying the dates you are allowed on the land and that document must be with you at all times along with  your license. There are public game lands in the state, but each of them is subject to have their own restrictions and rules. In addition, none of them are close by to me. But as far as deer hunting, if I get no permissions from the farmers to hunt, I will only have the public game lands as my option.  I still have a few farmers yet to contact. I've gotten one "no" and some "let me get back to you" replies so far. Maybe next year I'll start thinking about it further back in the year before everyone gets dibs on the land.
 
There is a preserve here that offers deer hunting, but the costs are over $1000 to harvest a deer on that preserve. Yikes....!!!  People obviously pay it because they have lots of pictures on their web site...... but I'll set home before I pay that cost to hunt.
 
So, I know I have the bird hunt coming in December.....and if I care to, my brother always invites me to another hunt he takes..... last year was wild boar in Tennessee, I think it's Deep Sea Gulf of Mexico fishing...... I'll have to think about that one a bit.