Off and on the showers would come as well. One minute you’d take cover from a shower, and the next touched by a glimmer of sunshine. However, the northeast breeze whispered a change was coming somewhere off in the distance.
If you looked close enough, you could find a few other hints. The American goldfinches were gathering together in large flocks. So were the swallows. These birds species were following their instincts in anticipation for their seasonal migration south. All of the birds were getting their affairs in order before the first true blast of cold weather arrives.
Mostly, though,canada goose sale it was the calendar that showed just how close autumn was to arriving. August was very nearly over when I visited the groomed dove hunting fields at the Ohio Division of Wildlife’s Mosquito Creek Wildlife Area in Trumbull County. In fact, as this story is being read, all that remains of August are today’s few lingering hours.
Wednesday not only flips the calendar to September, it heralds the beginning of Ohio’s hunting year which won’t conclude until the last day in February.
Up for grabs Wednesday is the start of Ohio’s dove hunting season. Along with it, the beginning of the early Canada goose only hunting season and the opening of the marathon squirrel hunting season.
That’s a lot to chew on until the state’s archery deer hunting season kicks off Sept. 25.
I, for one, will be glad to see an end to August, too. It’s been a particularly discouraging summer, what with some major back surgery and thus no subsequent plans for an exotic fishing trip somewhere west or north.
So on a day last week I walked two of Mosquito’s dove hunting fields. I was not particularly impressed with what I saw.
I knew, though, the area’s technicians would be working up until opening day to get everything ready for the expected crush of dove hunters. The strips of wheat had been treated to kill the plants.
Not done, however, is any burning of the grain fields. This is because of a snafu in which the Wildlife Division’s Northeast Ohio District Three office failed to put in a request in time to burn Mosquito’s wheat fields.
This request is handled by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.
«It won’t affect the number of birds. It’s not a necessity,» said Allen Lea, the Wildlife Division District Three biologist who processes burn permit applications.
Lea said the Ohio EPA requires a 10 day waiting period between the time the application is received and when a burn can begin.
There was too much rain early in the planting cycle as well, delaying the seeding of field corn and wheat. Planted instead of sunflowers this year were buckwheat and millet grain crops.
«We went with millet because we wanted a food source other than sunflowers, which are typically hit real hard by deer. They demolish the sunflower’s heads and leave just the useless stalks,» said Lou Orosz, the area’s manager.
At least the field corn has begun to show tassels and even cobs. But you could easily find bare spots in the rows of corn that were maturing. Trying to locate a place that would provide enough cover for Wednesday’s dove opener was tough.
Over at the dove hunting field off Route 45 the Horvath site one corn patch stood a paced 40 yards from the edge of the still untorched wheat field. That’s a good stretch to shoot at any bird, much less take aim at a fast flying dove.
In other cases, the weeds and grasses were still unmowed, though that chore was taken care of later in the week as was the burning. Drop a dove in thick stuff and even with a bird dog, trying to fetch up a dead dove would prove a challenge.
Then, too, the controlled dove hunting field utilized last year is fallow this year. Partially because of the wet weather but compounded by the equally poor drainage found at Mosquito. The clay soil just had a hard time drying out. Mostly, this one year experiment failed due to a lack of hunter interest.
«Really, it wasn’t used very much last year,» said Orosz.
On top of all this Wednesday’s high temperature is forecasted to be a sizzling 94 degrees. That’s way too hot for a dog to be rummaging around in field after a downed dove. I’m not going to let my Blackberry risk heat stroke or worse by retrieving doves in such heat.
With all of that being said, though, you’re still going to find me hunkered down along one some corn strip or weed line. After all, Sept. 1 comes around only once a year. I’m not about to waste one by letting my mind fidget by complaining all is not perfect.