re: Doves

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It’s nearly impossible to find pay shoots these days unless it is a hunting club. We burn 5 acres of millet and shoot over it. I have gotten my limit every year on opening day and several times on Labor Day but not this year since it didn’t fall right on the calendar for Georgia

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Until 30 years or so ago you could find pay shoots simply by riding around a likely area or looking in the paper. GON lists pay shoots now but most of them are seasonal shoots. I suspect the risk to landowners is too great when they can lease their place, deal with one or a couple of people instead of 100 and require some insurance.

It also was common in Georgia for there to be fields one could lease listed in the classified ads. I haven't seen that in years either.

Some of the pay shoots were incredibly good. There was one outside Adairsville that had been going on for a long time. It was really good almost every year. There was another one just outside of Griffin at a dairy that was really good. I got on one adjacent to what is now The River Country Club in Duluth and there was a helluva one off Fulton Industrial Blvd for YEARS until someone else took it over, baited it and got everyone arrested and their trucks and guns seized. They got them back but it was a mess. As far as I know none of these exist any more.

I have about 15 acres in Elbert County prepped and its only me and a couple of others. We used to prep 40 acres and have about 40 people, a cook out, CFB games on several TVs outside. No more. No one is really interested. It was a blast, still a great dove field especially after opening day and late in the season, but no one is that interested. I have thought about making it a pay shoot for a very limited group with kids but it is a lot of risk.