.....I don't know where to begin. Dam-dest thing I've ever seen.


Lets see..... 1.5 hrs before shooting time. Line at the onsite registration station like your standing in a checkout line at walmart.

Trucks everywhere, place was crawling with Topwaters.....empty doves stools every 50 feet ringing the perimeter of the field with reflective tape and a light attatched to each.....a mojo in front of each stool with a light hanging off the pole.

This is 1.5 hrs before shooting time mind ya.

I just drove on by slowly to soak it all in.... glad I had private to hunt.

Not all of us have that luxury.

yup. I counted about 24 trucks at the lot near where I hunted. It helps to have numbers of people with dove, but 24+ in one section is a little much.

What a fustercluk....have never hunted public for dub and never will. Dam, what a circus that must have been.

Unless you are a young guy that doesnt know many people then what the hell are you doing trying to hunt public on opening day? I've only paid to dove hunt once in my life and that was for a lease. I'm lucky to have people I know that have a lot of land so I can hunt dove whenever. I hunted public when I was in high school and since then only hunted it when I knew of places and times when others would not be there.

My suggestion would be to network and hunt private or sack up and pay for a lease. Dove leases are not exactly expensive as far as hunting leases go.

public can be good, as it gives many places find birds, public lands can be great in late season after the everybody has moved on to better things,

Yeah that's the key point...when everyone has moved on. I have no problem with public I have a problem with hunting places where a bunch of other people are...there are ways to avoid that which I pointed out in my other post.

that's funny... I was supposed to be on a dove lease this year, but opted out and stuck with public. I did better yesterday than all 4 of the guys on said lease put together

Yeah but you didnt drink as much beer.

Also don't get mad...I would put you in the young category still so it's acceptable that you are not to the point where you can pay for a lease. I did a dove lease once and at this point don't see myself doing another one. I'm kind of lucky to live in a smaller city and have lots of contacts that will let me dove hunt for free. What sucks is that doesnt really translate to duck hunting spots.

Yes indeed. Hasd to wait to get off work to head out so was a little late and the shooting had already started. Probobly 100 trucks on the property in krum. 600 acers so plenty of room. Did make it 100 yards when some guy is following a low bird then pulls the trigger. Just happpens that somebody was walking behind that bird about fifty yards out. Sure enough(SHOT) pellots in the hand. I know accidents happen and I play very safe myself. I never shoot below the horizon unless im the ONLY one around. Ive watched many a bird fly because of my rule but have watched many guys including myself get some pepper because they swing on a bird and shoot. Needless to say I walked to the back of the property that was probably a mile walk. Nobody was back there and i got about 12 birds.

I went to Hagerman and we were the only 4 I saw the whole time.

Public hunting is work but it's just as good as private in fact I'm sitting on mt yak with a mojo in front of me on public and have 4 in the bag and haven't heard another shot

Thanks for slowing down an flipping us the bird!!!!

Sounds pretty gay to me.

Wow, I've never hunted public land around opening season. I guess I always figured it would be a cluster!@#$ as you described. However, I have hunted public lands late in the season or second half of dove season and there's usually very few hunters.

Was this on the west side of the North Dallas Tollway in Frisco next to the movie theater? I drove thru there about 9:30 am yesterday after hunting in Prosper and could not believe all the people in that field betweeen all those retail business's.
Wow

Those are paid season/day leases, not state public land... I guess it is worth it to some. I think it is insane. I have been on free hunts too with too many people and left. Luckily not more than 20 minutes from downtown.

Wow that's crazy to see all those people, I hunted 140 acres of corn in town with only 3 people. Can't deal with that, not for me.

it's only going to get worse. More people + less hunting land = fuster cluck of epic proportions

I hunted two fields over from public land and it sounded like ww3, bet you had 15 guys shooting at every dove flying by, unreal cuz there were not that many birds in our area and we laughed and laughed..........damdest thing ive ever seen or heard

Anyone hunt the lake abilene public spot? i didnt even know it was there untill today...

I've heard from a friend that a "certain" public field in your area was actually really hot and had a bunch of birds.

This field was in greenville off of 1570.

I must have gotten lucky. I planned an evening hunt on public land opening day. We showed up at 230 just to make sure we could get the spot we wanted. Not even a single truck in the parking lot. So we roasted for hours waiting for the flight I knew would happen in the last 2 hours of light. It went beautifully. I have already posted picks so I won't keep reposting but al 4 of us got our limit and still had lots of light to make the walk back to the truck.

.....ding, ding, ding! We have a winner!