Henry Rifle Forums

I look forward to hunting. It's something I have never done, though I've got a firearms hunting license and I hope to have the opportunity to hunt squirrel and rabbit in the near future. Regardless, in CT, Mourning Doves are protected, so I will never hunt them here. I'm not inclined to, anyway. I relate to them. They're monogamous and so am I. In forty-four years of marriage, I was never even tempted to betray the trust given to me by my dear departed wife. She meant the world to me. Now, whenever I see a Mourning Dove without a mate, I can understand it's loneliness.

This morning, sadly, a Mourning Dove broke its neck flying into my living room window. I heard the loud thud and knew a bird had likely died. I looked up in time to see the feathers falling and then went outside to find the bird, dead. I picked up its warm body, put it in a ziploc bag, and then into the fridge while I considered that they're reportedly quite tasty and good to eat. After I watched a YouTube video about how to pluck it and dress it, I gave it a try. It only took a few minutes to complete the entire process. The video was great.

I gave it a rub with EVO and kosher salt and some fresh ground pepper and let it sit for a few hours in the fridge, then I roasted it in a convection oven at 275* for an hour.

It was the tastiest bird I have ever eaten!

Excellent, we'll be seeing you in the next round, young man

CT, back in my hunting days out on the prairies, we eagerly looked forward to dove season. Made for some truly great meals in September and October, not to mention some fast and furious shotgunning. Not much for dove hunting in our north woods where we are, now, even if we still hunted. We're at the northern edge of their range and by September, what we do have for a local population are mostly long gone.

Tastes like chicken?

Nope. Much better.

CT_Shooter wrote:I relate to them. They're monogamous and so am I. In forty-four years of marriage, I was never even tempted to betray the trust given to me by my dear departed wife. She meant the world to me. Now, whenever I see a Mourning Dove without a mate, I can understand it's loneliness.

CT, although I don't share your depth of emotion, I feel the same way about squirrels. It's possible I may hunt them again, but not around the house.

The funny thing is, now the property is inundated with squirrels; big fat ones. I mean it looks like "Night of the Lepus" or something, borders on scary.

As far as I can tell, they're not doing any damage though........

Cofisher wrote:Nope. Much better.

I agree. Dove has a taste all its own. Closest you might come in a domestic bird is pigeon, since they're in the same family of birds.

That was a tasty treat you got my friend. A very delicious bird.

Around here most people just take out the breast meat.

clovishound wrote:Around here most people just take out the breast meat.

That was one of two ways presented in the Arizona Game And Fish video, but it also removed the skin in the process. The other way was to pluck the whole bird, leaving the skin intact. It was delicious.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DDRZGPzJDI

Well generally, cooking poultry skin on is more flavorful that skinless.

When my buddy and his son go dove hunting, they always breast them, and I always joke about getting a chicken nugget from each dove.