I wanted this to be an article to get in the last-minute planning mode for the upcoming hunting season. But I’ve got to digress because I keep hearing everyone say that summer is over. OK, if you’re a school kid or school teacher your summer may be over, but mine’s not. Maybe I’m just touchy because my wife is a teacher and my daughter started college this week and all that I’m hearing is doom and gloom. But if you stick your head out the window you’ll notice that it is still plenty hot, dry and smoky outside. So summer is still here.
I begrudgingly admit that the end is close. August may be waning — but summer is not yet over. Period. I have to get in at least one more backpacking trip. I have seminars at the Sportsman’s Warehouse in Nampa on Friday so I won’t be able to backpack until at least the next weekend or maybe the next.
I went crappie fishing last weekend just to make sure it was over for the year. It was toast. I only caught 35. Time to move on to the next set of adventures, which is quickly approaching. Bow season is on the immediate horizon. I love bow hunting for elk and deer — but hold on. Don’t make the mistake that I have the last few years and skim over dove season. No sir, I’m going to try to hit them hard this year. I’ve seen a ton of them the last few weeks.
So with the above said, get out and do a little pre-season scouting. Doves provide for a low-key, fast-shooting event plus they make great poppers. Check some of my brother’s cooking videos on ronspomeroutdoors.com.
Depending on how far your shots will be, but I’ll use either an improved cylinder or modified choke. For shells, I’ll grab some Aquila low base 8s. Dove hunting does take some skill but you don’t need a Ph.D. Set up around water holes early and late and set along tree lines or grain fields during the day. If you’re not getting any shooting, move.
Another thing that will help you be successful is using decoys. I’d recommend the Mojo Voodoo decoys (they have rotating wings), Lucky Duck clip-on decoys (they are a plastic decoy that have a clip to clip onto tree branches and fences) and Mojo Dove A Flicker decoys. Decoys will draw in more birds by making them feel more comfortable to come in.
The last couple of years, I’ve pushed my bow hunting back into the second week of September or maybe even the third. Before then the weather is hot and they haven’t started bugling yet. The rut only exists in our memory and hasn’t actually yet started.
I talked briefly above about backpacking. I think the late summer/early fall is the premier time for fly fishing. Water flows have slowed down, making rivers easier to wade, and the fish are more congregated in holes because the rivers are shallower. The fishing is just flat out better.
So once again, we’re in the same dilemma that we’re always in this time of year. There’s just too much going on at once. Fly fishing, backpacking, huckleberry picking, dove hunting, bow hunting for elk and deer, antelope hunting and then that other big competitor: Your job. Everything is competing for our time. Right now it’s not raining so you can ignore the gaping hole in the roof and repair it later, but according to some, the yard must be mowed weekly. Luckily my youngest daughter has been hitting that task since I have been gone the last few weeks. That’s sweet of her. Or maybe she just couldn’t get out of the house
to find her car to go to work. Maybe she’s not being sweet, just had to do it to survive.
With all of these outdoor activities in full season or on the near horizon what’s an outdoorsman to do? There’s just too much fun stuff to do all at once. Oh crud, and then I almost forgot. I write a weekly article ammoland.com. Friends of mine, Fredy Reihl and Brian Johnson own it. We’re trying to throw together plans for a last minute 4-wheeling adventure sometime in September.
But in the meantime. I’m still not admitting that summer is over.
Tom Claycomb lives in Idaho and has outdoors columns in newspapers in Alaska, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Colorado and Louisiana.
He also writes for various outdoors magazines and teaches outdoors seminars at stores like Cabela’s, Sportsman’s Warehouse and Bass Pro Shop.
