I have a dove hunt at the hailey ranch out side of abilene set for Oct. 8-9. Is anyone from that area? and are you seeing any birds?

Plenty south of town.....where is the Hailey?? Just got another limit today.

North east of Abilene 10 min.
I work for a heating and a/c company that is sponsering the hunt. Love to dove hunt but have made two long trips the year for very few birds.
Thanks for the info.

I hunted with Hailey last weekend. Tons of birds (when apparantly other places had none). Easy limits both days but some guys said they had a slow go in the morning. Maybe they were moving too slow themselves. Mojo's are magnets. Most were local birds but I did have a few from up north. I could have been done on the morn hunt in 20 minutes if I could shoot straight. Friend killed a giant rattler not 10 feet from my stool. 13 rattles, over 60 inches! I am still having nightmares even though I have had plenty of other encounters. I killed another one the next morning about 2 feet from my shell I was about to pick up. Hailey killed one at the bathroom when we got there. Be careful!

I am going to check on Hailey doing some father/child group hunts for me in the upcoming years. Very reasonable and he can smoke one heck of a hog.

I'd have to cancel, can't risk my dogs.

Good luck, and don't get bit

Yeah, luckly the only dog out there was snake trained. We were the only ones who saw a snake out there. Just like my opener hunt, the guys I am with have killed about 5 snakes a year for the past 2 and I have seen zero. That is west Texas for you. Nothing you can do about it so either watch out or just stay home. Dogs don't belong in the dove field unless you are prepared with tons of water and they are snake proofed and have the vaccine. You can hunt not an hour from Dallas and find plenty of rattlers.

Hay Thanks Txduckman
You just never know about bird hunting but is sounds like it will be worth atleast making the drive over.

Yes, it is considered one of the premier bird ranches in Texas so check it out. If they aren't there then they have left Texas. His only drawback is he only runs hunts on his own ranch which is 2,500 acres but he only does a total of 2 hunts a week and then it rests for 5 days. There are a couple other outfitters more equiped than him but they have 20+ fields spread over several counties in the area but you pay a heck of a lot more too to be sort of guarenteed a limit if you can shoot. He is a ranch owner and operator and does almost all of his own work. He serves the dinner himself.

I got a limit before dark yesterday in about an hour and a half. It's weird the first few weeks they were flying in the morning good
and now it's slow in the morning and heavy before dark.

What is this place? What town is it close to? Is it the place out by Hodges/Noodle?

Just east of Fort Phantom Hill lake. It stradles the county lines.

Never heard of it....

Those birds would die of old age with all those snakes!

I hunted there several times super great place . And Bill is a nice guy too. You'll enjoy yourself and wanna go back

A buddy of mine is working in the area and said they have been tearing them up after work along a railroad track

Ranch has been around in the same family for over 100 years. It is strictly a wildlife ranch and has been since the 80's. He has a couple longhorns on it he said but that is the only livestock.

http://agnewsarchive.tamu.edu/dailynews/stories/WFSC/Jul0504a.htm

http://magissues.farmprogress.com/TFS/FS10Oct08/tfs006.pdf

http://www.quailresearch.org/publications/North_Region_Quail_Stewards_July_2009.pdf

Thanks guy! I am looking forward to it.