Here we are again. It is August. It is the month of dreams. Soon it will be September 1st, and dove season will start. It will be a weekend of shooting dove and shooting at dove. It will be a weekend of excuse of why we missed. It will be the weekend of filling the feeders. It will be looking at the pictures from game cameras. It will be clearing shooting lanes and thinking of new setups and strategies. It will be stories told and retold as they have been.

But the best part is that it will be a dove weekend with my Dad. This will be the 1st time my dad and I have dove hunted together since I was in college? Maybe since I was in high school. I know it has been well over 20 years. Probably closer to 30.

Every year we go down, I try and get him to go. He was usually working or had plans with Mom, but this year, FINALLY, I got a maybe out of him. And that maybe finally became a probably. We are at 90% go now. I do hope it happens. And I also hope to be able to take my son with us.

I am beginning to realize that lease trips with Dad are going to be come rarer and rarer. I remember growing up and going hunting with him. As a child, it was always great. But as I got older the trip got tough. I became a teenager. The trip down was great. The hunts were fun. But it always seemed that the drive home was going to be lecture time. And I always dreaded it. I knew it was coming. I was a teenager doing teenager things and needing my butt kicked back into line. And I guess in his way, he always waited until the drive home not to ruin my hunt. Unfortunately, I ruined the hunt because i always KNEW the lecture was coming. As I reached adulthood, the trips became fewer and fewer. I had my own life. Living in different cities. Living different lives. Having my own family. Just going different directions.

But now, I realize that old man time catches us all. I now try and get as many hunts in with him as I can. And this one is going to be special. Why? Because I am going Hunting with Dad. And that is always special.

Make use of every trip you can do. I lost my Dad last June. Hunting season just wasn’t the same! Enjoy them while you can!

Dad and I fought (verbally) like cats and dogs, but he was a loving father. He's been gone over 32 years. There's rarely a day I don't think about him and miss him. I hope you two, and your son, have a blast.

Dad no longer has the desire to hunt. And much like his dad did for him, he brought me up hunting. And the tradition continues for my daughters and now and my grandchildren. Now my dad listens to the hunting stories and enjoys the pictures with a huge smile, knowing he did his job.
Enjoy your time while you can.

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