Dove Season Brings Sounds Of The Hunt To M.V. Mornings

By STEPHANIE BUNKER

The Progress

The sharp sounds of shotgun fire were heard all over Moapa Valley last week. These sounds are heard every year on Sept. 1, the opening day of the dove hunting season. Bird hunters wake up before dawn to be in their hunting areas just as the sun comes up and the doves start flying.

Many local hunters have their “secret locations” scattered around Moapa Valley. They know by experience where the doves like to congregate. Sometimes they hit jackpot, and sometimes getting skunked; depending on the year and how many dove are in the area at the time.

But every year, September 1 sneaks up on the non-hunting residents of Moapa Valley, causing them to question why they suddenly live inside a war zone. A Logandale resident had been wondering all day what was going on outside her home. Finally she reached out to a neighbor saying, “Do you know who has been shooting all day?” The response was, “It’s Dove Season!” That is just one of many similar incidents of the day.

There are also plenty of nonlocals that love to take advantage of the ideal hunting areas inside the Overton Wildlife Management Area (OWMA). They had good things to say about the fields, blinds, and overall beauty of the land within the OWMA.

Out of 49 hunters that came to hunt that morning, only 4 of them were locals. There were hunters that came from northern Nevada such as Fallon, Sparks, and Winnemucca, others from Geyserville and Turlock California, and some closer such as the Las Vegas area and St. George.

Baxter Baker, the Wildlife Technician at the OWMA, was a part of the bird count held just the day before, on August 31. They counted 100 birds in the OWMA.

The OWMA also tracks how many birds and the maturity of the birds as the hunters are finished with their hunt. Benny Vann, the Manager of the OWMA, reported that on Wednesday there were about 150 birds harvested from the area. They had 49 hunters and it averaged out to be about three birds per hunter. Vann said that the numbers have looked about the same for the last 3 or 4 years and this year wasn’t much different.

Ivan Snider was able to harvest one bird but he wasn’t finished with his hunt.
“It could be better,” Snider said. “But I still have a couple hours left to hunt so I hope to get half of what we are allowed.”
The hunters have a limit of harvesting 15 birds in one day.

Other hunters happened to locate themselves in the sweet spots around the valley and came out very successful. Logandale resident Ron Stoker and his Labrador named Rock, knew where to find some birds and walked out with eight birds.

The OWMA received attention from more than our local newspaper. A journalist, Dean Fitzgerald, affiliated with the Western Outdoor News, a hunting and fishing publication, came and enjoyed the morning hunt as well as gathered information to feature the hunt in their weekly newspaper.

That morning Fitzgerald harvested two birds and fired his shotgun eight times. He reported that he personally saw very few birds.

Fitzgerald also chuckled at himself for a time when he loaded his gun as the dove flew in. In the rush, he habitually put the safety on so when he pulled the trigger nothing happened. It’s safe to say he let those dove live to fly another day.

David and John Zwahlen who are brothers enjoyed the morning hunting with their sons Logan who is 10 and Lex who is 11. They harvested 2 mature birds.
“We shot at more than two,” said David Zwahlen. “But the weather has been great and has stayed cooler so we could hunt longer.”

This was the first time the Zwahlens had been to the OWMA and they really enjoyed their time there,
“It’s beautiful and amazing!” David said. “We plan on coming back.”