Friday November 3, 2006
	Hunting for doves in Florida.
	"I didn't know hunting was so much work," I say. We're hunting for mourning doves on a large piece of land owned by Kathy O'Neil. "I plant dove fields every June," she says and while she's talking we hear gun shots in the distance.   "Are they shooting at us?" I say, then smiling.   She leases the land to a couple of dozen central Florida hunting clubs and when I ask her if someone is shooting at us she says: "It's okay so long as they're paid-up members." O'Neil's father was a farmer but he retired in 1999 (because of diabetes).  It was his intention to sell off the land but Kathy had other plans.      She says: "I worked on my dad for about a month and eventually convinced him into keeping the land a little longer." That was seven years ago. She says: "Doves have weak feet and can't scratch through heavy vegetation when looking for food.  I plant millet, corn, sunflowers and rye in the summer (dove fields) and I mow and disk the crops in the fall and the seed falls onto the ground and that brings the migratory doves." "They come to eat and we shoot them?" I say. "The idea is to plant at just the right time and end up with mature seed when dove season opens." (The season opens in October and closes in January.) She's wearing camouflage clothing and boots (and a cap). "Dove shoots are very popular Norm," she says.  She's loaned me a bucket and a 12-gauge shotgun and plugged both our guns so that they'll hold no more than three shells (That's the rule).  The bucket will be used as a stool for sitting in the field and for transporting the dead birds. She says: "Tomorrow I'll bring the dog and I'll show you how to set the decoys."   I say: "Decoys?" I'm staying with her through the weekend. She says: "Decoys are made to look like real mourning doves.  My dad carves them by hand." I don't want to shoot any birds and I'm thinking about the squirrel I once shot with a bb gun but I'm enjoying her company so I keep my attention on the now and not the then. "Thanks for inviting me, Kathy," I say. She says: "You're welcome, Norman." I walk to where she's standing and I kiss her cheek and while I'm kissing her I hear more gunshots. "Probably paid-up club members," she says. Note: Kathy O'Neil recommends the use of sunglasses when hunting in Florida and small shot sizes when dove hunting such as #7's, #8's, or #9's. PREVIOUS   HOME   NEXT