Day Hunts west of Houston (Dove)

I'm looking at two places near Monaville, TX, (in between Brookshire and Hempstead) for day hunts in late Sep. I've been searching all over and can't find many reviews or comments on how good the hunting is in this area.

Any comments?

It can be hit and miss. Opening week lots of local birds get shot out. If some good cool front comes in will move some birds in.

I think you need to look west of there. Over the years with all of the development it seems like the migratory paths have moved west.

VERY hit & miss in that area. LOTS of misses!

Back in the day.

Those albino doves?

Thanks for the feedback. I have some evening hunts booked, we'll see what happens. I know it will not be as good as some areas, but it's not a lot of money, and it's 45 min from my house in Cypress, so it will be fun just to get out there.

Most hunts sucked after opening day the last 3 years, I went out to hunt with a buddy. He leased a place in Katy too. We saw 3 birds in 5 hunts.

There's a outfitter called Coastal Prairie Outdoors that has lands in that area, Waller, Monaville, Brookshire ect.
Believe it's $300 for the season.
There's another dove club called Arryo Pavo dove club, he has 1 Brookshire property in central zone and many in the south zone.
Waller/ Monaville area was lights out whitewing hunting from about 2008-2013, then I guess flight pattern changed, been pretty dead the past 5 or 6 years. But there's always a couple days that they fly really good, if your lucky enough to be there when they show.

I've hunted with both and they are usually good. Last year was bad with Coastal as Sealy changed their city limits hunting ordinance, so we went further out and they were all way too high. Before that they had the sweetest little white wing spot I went to every year. Progress!

Biggest dove ever!

This is my first time getting on a dove club. Got on the Arryo Pavo one, will see how it goes. Most of his properties are in the south zone, hoping his central zone property pans out.

I,d steer clear of that guy who plasters Houston craigslist with dove hunts in Monaville. Heard lots of bad things.

Interesting. He's a very good communicator via txt, so I've been impressed so far, but would like to hear more of what you have heard. He does have a CL ad, and a guarantee, but I guess the guarantee is only worth so much if the birds never fly, why would you want to go back.

Thanks for all the other input.

I was on a lease near Waller 2 years ago and it sucked bad (3 different properties). I hunted 3-4 times a week after work and killed 3 birds all season. Saw very few birds anywhere in the area.

I base nothing in life on "Heard lots of bad things". Utter nonsense, unless from a good friend of course. I personally don't do season dove leases anymore, just shot day shoots lots of times with Coastal and always a good guy and good shoots (except last year). And same goes with Poya They have been arround awhile and work hard.. I was on a Waller lease once and it was very spotty...they just are not there up by Kickapoo and 290 anymore, so I did not go back...but the 5 or 6 times I went out with my dog and had a few shots was worth the money. These dove leases have birds, but you have to work a bit...scout them etc...good luck.

Reputable outfitters don,t put 10 ads on craigslist in 2 days. I,m not talking about Coastal or any other "outfitters". Big difference between them and a private landowner that wants to make money off of his pasture.

Snogeese,

You may be right about the Monaville hunt, we'll see, but I don't think posting lots of CL ads, or owning and living on the hunting property automatically means it won't be a good hunt. I PM'ed you several days ago for specifics, but I haven't seen a reply yet.

Since it's easy from Houston, me and a buddy are going to give it a try late Sep and I'll report back to this thread how it goes. I think we're also going to try some public land as well.

A buddy and I did one of the guaranteed hunts near Monaville about 3 years ago and have still not seen enough birds to get a limit. Don't know if it's the same guy but I'm sure it is.

hook_n_line,

Thanks, sounds like the same place. So you are still going back using the guarantee? How many birds have you normally killed in one evening hunt? i'd actually be ok not getting a limit, but I don't want to leave empty handed.

We went 3 times. We saw one bird. Guys we talked to said they had been there a few times and saw nothing. The field wasn't all that great, Harvey was the storm that year. Maybe could have been the problem but can't say for sure. We hunted about 10 miles east of that place and were covered up with white wings.

The place we hunt in brookshire, one pasture or at times multiple are trash but there’s usually one thats always promising.

Living in Houston is killing my enjoyment for dove hunting. I had a great time on a few fields run by Grey Feather Adventures out of Rosenberg or Beasley before Harvey, but I never saw the guy that ran it since. He had 15 fields, but 2 would be like a warzone (in the good way) for a few weekends. The last 3-4 years I've hunted around Waller/Brookshire in a mix of public and dove clubs and I've not shot more than a few birds total between them. I just never see any.
Im considering working the Public Land on the East side of Houston this year just for a change of pace.

Seems as though all the doves from Houston to Huntsville have found the feeders in Subdivisions.
None out in the country where you can shoot em

Based on input in this thread, and finding some public land near our property in Lee County, I've decided to cancel the Monaville hunt, so I won't be able to report back on how it went, but I'll post an update on the public land hunt which is about 50 miles to the NW.