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First off, the hunting trip was a great success. It all started with 5 hunters heading towards the border of Texas & Mexico, with one thing in mind "If it flies, it dies", Don's motto he likes to try and instill in all the hunters! We were actually at first, two distinct parties, Don and Arlan together, and Bruce, Corey , Geoffrey together. After meeting at the border, we all got all our supplies as they are cheaper on the USA side, and headed into Mexico.
With the status of the nation lately, the borders were a bit more stringent, but nothing that impeded this set of dedicated hunters!
After arriving at our hotel around 1:30 pm, getting all the gear unloaded, and checked into our mexican ho(s)tel, the only thing left was to gather the 5 birdboys so we could get an afternoon hunt in! Rounding up 5 mexican birdboys with a single phone call days before is not the easiest thing in the world, but Don seemed to have everything under control. After 15 years experience hunting down in Mexico, I guess you pretty much figure out how everything goes. Alejandro, the lead birdboy, showed up with his 4 "friends"/birdboys, and we were set to go.
The area we were going to be hunting in is in a very large farming area. Sorghum, Sun Flowers?, and Corn are the main crops, and it just so happens, dove love all of them. The first afternoon, we pulled up to a field we had seen some birds at, and got out to hunt. As the 5 hunters, scattered to different parts of the field, i was a little nervous. I was put together with Don on the first hunt so i could get my bearings with shooting, and all the intricacies of dove hunting. After my brief 5 minute training session, birds already started flying over.
At first, I can tell you, hunting in Mexico can definately be overwhelming. The mere volume of birds is so much more than anywhere I have ever seen before. There were flocks between 2-15 birds flying over at varying intervals, and from varying directions. It is extremely exciting trying to keep up with where the birds are coming from, the bird you are aiming at, the next flock about to come over, and all this with the pounding of shotguns from all directions. In the field the hunters talk (yell) various things, Here is a list of a few I can remember:
"Birds headed your way!"
"Shoot the damn Birds!"
"Hold the Line!"
"They are getting through"
"Birds over you"
"I got birds over here, birds over there, Alejandro get with it!"(Don to his birdboy)
"Coming in Low"
"They are in the no-fly zone!"
All these sayings coupled with random, and sometimes lengthy expicatives aimed at either the birds that got away, their bad shooting, or intense excitement! When we were in the field, there would be solid blocks of 10 minutes where you would hear shotguns going off in a maximum of 10 second intervals from all around you.
After hunting the field on the first day, when the doves started to slow down, we headed to a tank, where the birds like to go in the evening. This was when i had the most luck, and my death toll for that hunt was the highest for me all trip. We all setup around a tank, and I don't know about anyone else, but i had no idea where the other hunters were, except for the general direction where their shots were being fired. The dove would come in from just about all angles of the sky, up high, down low, north, south, east and west. They did however tend to stay on common "flight paths" alot of the time, so it made it really intense.
The hunters, would setup facing one direction, and the birdboys would face the other, to cover all angles of visage for a given spot. That way no birds could get through "Don's no-fly zone" without a serious problem on their wings! :)
After that first day of hunting, everyone had for sure killed their limit. I was in a heightened state of something after the intensity of that initial afternoon. It is an amazing experience being in a field of hunters with dove flying over like mosquitoes after a rainstorm in Hong Kong, and shotgun blasts going off like it was the blitzkreig part 2.
After that first Friday hunt, we went on to hunt again Saturday Morning at 0600, and then again that afternoon. The hunting on Saturday was intense all day, and we hunted different fields everytime, and even another tank late saturday afternoon.
Just a note on the second tank: when we pulled up to that second tank late saturday afternoon, I was in utter shock at the quantity of birds in and around that area. They looked liked a horror movie where birds swarm together, and wreak havoc. When we pulled up to the tank there must have been a concentration of at least 500 birds swarming around. Don was the first out of the car, and was not fooling around with any bull. When he sees birds, it is like he is a shark, and his eyes roll back, and he goes into a hunting frenzy. He said to hell with the gate, and ended up jumping the barbed wire fence even before the birdboys could get out of the car. He was screaming at Alejandro in between shotgun blasts to "hurry up and bring him MORE SHELLS pronto!". He must have layed down 20 dove in the first 6 or 7 minutes after pulling up to the field. It was amazing.
After everyone else got their act together, and setup spots all around the tank, the birds kept flying over and around until it got too dark to hunt. For everyone else that was the best hunt, I think that was when the most amount of birds was taken in one day. My shooting was not as keen as the day before, and my spot wasn't the most prolific for bird flight patterns, but I had a great time just being involved in all the action going on everywhere around me. Not to say I didn't kill my own limit birds, but Don and Bruce, must have killed everything that flew over them. They had a setup on either side of the main dove freeway, and Corey and I would watch from our position flocks of birds fly over, and never fly out. It was amazing. On that hunt, Arlan the lone hunter, went to the other side of the tank, and must have shot at least a flat of shells at all the birds around him. It sounded like he was having a good time from the shots he was firing, and the yelling, and hollering he was doing to us, and the birds that got away from him.
During all this melee of shots, and screams, and falling dove, the birdboys are running around getting the fallen birds, and when they have a chance are trying to point birds out to their hunter so they can shoot them.
When people are taking so many shots, and birds are everywhere, we often overlook, or forget about the amazing shots, and distances some of these birds were killed at. Don shoots a Bernelli, which is a serious shotgun. He fired 3 shots before the first casing had even hit the ground. Corey was using a pump, which really made him focus on what he was shooting since he didn't have 4 or 5 shots in a microsecond. I was shooting Don's Remington 1100, and that thing was also gas powered, so I got a little trigger happy sometimes, but firing all 5 shots at the same bird and still not seeing it go down. Everyone hunting this trip, Don, Arlan, Bruce, Corey, and I all had our share of great shots.
After that Saturday hunt, we hunted one more time Sunday morning, and then packed everything up to go home. After the final bird counts, we had all of course shot our limit. Since we were down there hunting 5 people on three licenses, we were only allowed to bring 3 limits back. The other dove went to the birdboys, who I assume had a feast that night.
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After the Hunt, we all crossed the border together in two seperate cars, Coreys Pathfinder, and Don & Arlan's War Wagon. We met at a Circle K on the American side, and divided up the birds, and we all went on our way. Corey and Bruce, were driving back to Corpus Christi, and Arlan, Don, and I were taking Arlan's plane. They ended up dropping me off at the Corpus Christi Airport after the short 45 minute flight from the Zapata Airport. It was a lot of fun being in the air, and flying back to Corpus Christi. Thanks alot to Arlan & Don for going out of their way to take me back to CC via the friendly skies. Below are some pics of the warwagon and the Malibu Plane.
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