Tomorrow is opening day of dove season 2026. Dove season opening day isn’t just the first day of dove season, it’s the opening of hunting season. First seasons to open are dove and alligator, then teal, then deer and squirrel, then big ducks. We were raised to be chasing something from September thru January. Chores slack, wives’ patiences are tested and men’s necks swell. We’ve waited, worked and anticipated for this day.
I can only hope this year’s dove opener is as good as last year!!!
The day finally arrived Saturday, September 6, 2025. My party of six, met up with the rest of the guys right at daylight at the duck camp we call Wing Nuts. We lined the trees around a sunflower field; three generations of my clan from 8 to 78 years old were hunting together. We were ready to let some lead fly and bring home the main ingredient for a big dove gravy. A couple of years ago we had a great opening day and killed several limits of birds. We hoped for the same this day.
Just as we began to unload the dogs, decoys, guns and grandpas, the bottom fell out of the sky. We knew the rain was coming but that didn’t stop us…especially John Darrell Peddy and Thomas Kirby Smith, my dad and father-in-law (my son’s namesakes). I unloaded paw-in-law, drove across the field, unloaded Pop Pop (my dad) and started getting his gear out. I looked behind dad and saw a sheet of rain coming toward him. Big drops of rain started pouring from the sky. We hurriedly loaded back into the buggy, zipped across the field to grab paw-in-law, then headed toward the old A-frame duck camp to wait it out. So did the rest of the hunters. We pulled up and met the rest of the men with their sons and daughters at the camp. Everyone was soaked. But no one was upset. Everyone was smiling, laughing, telling stories and cutting up. Sure we wanted to kill birds but we had something better going on. We had fellowship. It was another day the Lord had made. And we were there to enjoy it.
Later the rain subsided and we headed back out to the dove field. We killed six birds and were caught in the rain again. I got some great pictures of my dad and daughters. My idiot yellow lab ran for two solid hours in the mud and loved it. Austyn Marie, my eight year old daughter shot about one hundred BB’s from her Daisy BB gun at decoys and cans. She’s my fourth child to wear my own childhood dove/squirrel vest hunting. The day ended with no limits of doves and no limits of God’s blessings. And I couldn’t be more thankful.
Thank you Father for just being you. Thank you for fellowship with friends and family. Thank you for making Saturday a special day for not only us, but for the many other hunters that went out Saturday and enjoyed your creation.
“This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”
Psalm 118:24 ESV