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Vintage Hunting Photos: Texas White-Winged Dove Hunting Circa 1961
Vintage Hunting Photos: Texas White-Winged Dove Hunting Circa 1961
In the fall of 1961 LIFE magazine sent a writer and photographer to the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas to record the phenomenon of the state’s hugely popular three-day special white-winged dove season. A big dove that flies in large flocks, white-wings brought hunters from all over to their home range in the brush country of south Texas for the brief hunting season.
Although the special white-winged dove season does still exist in the tip of Texas, the birds have expanded widely over the last 20 years to spread throughout Texas and even into bordering states. Like geese, they have moved to the cities in many cases, flying to feed en masse just outside town, where they still offer the kind of winghsooting excitement you can sense in these pictures. White-wings now make up close to half of the overall bag of Texas dove hunters. Here’s a look back at the way it was.
White-wing hunting was a family affair for a lot of the participants. Note the conspicuous lack of hunting clothes, boots, 4x4 trucks, and all the other gear we assume is essential for hunting today. On the other hand, hunter safety classes weren’t mandatory in 1961, either. Can you tell?
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Visit Life.com to see the rest of the classic photos from this gallery.
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Comments (8)
That's too cool. How 'bout the guy on the ladder?!
so whats the problem with that?! :)
Great Memories of South Texas !! I've seen most of the pictures in real life... the cars lining the road, the guy in the lawn chair, ducking down when my mother swept the sky (and the cars) with her 410, etc but Never saw the guy in the ladder !. And we had to field clean our own birds - leaving one wing on for identification - man and boy, because that was part of the "hunter's rules" back then. Mom had it easy!
In 1961, I would have been 6 years old, so I was the "bird boy" back then, chasing the downed birds for my father and older brother in my uncle's fields outside of San Benito, Tx. It would be 1965 before I would start my hunting life with a Western Field 410 bolt gun (3 shot, 2 in a blind magazine). Birds were plentiful then, with several dozen Flights of 15 to 30 birds at a time, and I limited out my second day of the season.
My father shot a Win Model 12 12ga with a 30in full choke barrel, and could kill a dove at (what was to me, at least) incredible ranges of 40-50+ yards with one shot, using Peters HiBrass # 9s. I could get off 3 shots at a WWing with the 410- incoming, passing, and outbound - then my father would raise up the Win 12 and drop them clean and easy at the 40+ yard mark. Or take the high flyers that no-one else would try to claim as "their bird" - he was always generous about giving up birds, especially if a kid was hunting anywhere nearby and took the shot, too. Occasionally, he would forgo a shot at a single, and line up two birds in a flight of 20, for a one shot double, a practice that he said was common in His father's day.
After 3 years on the 410, I would work up to the Remington 20 gauge, mod choke A-5 Copy (?Sportsman, or Mod 11?), and when I was 16, I was allowed to shoot the revered Winchester. I'll never be the shooter my father was with the Model 12, but I work at it every year, though its been 20+ years since I hunted the homelands of South Texas.
BTW, we were taught Not to take a shot a Morning Doves back then - smaller and less tasty than a WW dove ! A "wasted shell" according to my father, but there's been many years here in North Texas where I've begged for just a few more "smaller and less tasty" doves in my hunting fields !
As Bob Hope would say:, "Thanks for the memories!"
Reminds me of hunting doves in west Texas with my girl friend back in the 50's out at a lonesome pond and hundreds of doves coming in. After 54 years we are still hunting together and she was always the best shot at dove or deer. Great pictures, thanks...Waymon and Jean Hughen
I guess I'm gonna need to buy a car with fins now. Sure looks handy for laying out a limit of doves.
Shoulder to shoulder, and bumper to bumper. Who would know who all shot what?
Bounty1, It looks like you just shoot as many as you can and claim as many as dare!
That's either a 1961 Plymouth Valiant or Dodge Lancer in the photo--a distinctive car, indeed. Where are the expensive camo clothing and high-tech hunting of today? How could they possibly have been successful? B^)
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Great Memories of South Texas !! I've seen most of the pictures in real life... the cars lining the road, the guy in the lawn chair, ducking down when my mother swept the sky (and the cars) with her 410, etc but Never saw the guy in the ladder !. And we had to field clean our own birds - leaving one wing on for identification - man and boy, because that was part of the "hunter's rules" back then. Mom had it easy!
In 1961, I would have been 6 years old, so I was the "bird boy" back then, chasing the downed birds for my father and older brother in my uncle's fields outside of San Benito, Tx. It would be 1965 before I would start my hunting life with a Western Field 410 bolt gun (3 shot, 2 in a blind magazine). Birds were plentiful then, with several dozen Flights of 15 to 30 birds at a time, and I limited out my second day of the season.
My father shot a Win Model 12 12ga with a 30in full choke barrel, and could kill a dove at (what was to me, at least) incredible ranges of 40-50+ yards with one shot, using Peters HiBrass # 9s. I could get off 3 shots at a WWing with the 410- incoming, passing, and outbound - then my father would raise up the Win 12 and drop them clean and easy at the 40+ yard mark. Or take the high flyers that no-one else would try to claim as "their bird" - he was always generous about giving up birds, especially if a kid was hunting anywhere nearby and took the shot, too. Occasionally, he would forgo a shot at a single, and line up two birds in a flight of 20, for a one shot double, a practice that he said was common in His father's day.
After 3 years on the 410, I would work up to the Remington 20 gauge, mod choke A-5 Copy (?Sportsman, or Mod 11?), and when I was 16, I was allowed to shoot the revered Winchester. I'll never be the shooter my father was with the Model 12, but I work at it every year, though its been 20+ years since I hunted the homelands of South Texas.
BTW, we were taught Not to take a shot a Morning Doves back then - smaller and less tasty than a WW dove ! A "wasted shell" according to my father, but there's been many years here in North Texas where I've begged for just a few more "smaller and less tasty" doves in my hunting fields !
As Bob Hope would say:, "Thanks for the memories!"
Reminds me of hunting doves in west Texas with my girl friend back in the 50's out at a lonesome pond and hundreds of doves coming in. After 54 years we are still hunting together and she was always the best shot at dove or deer. Great pictures, thanks...Waymon and Jean Hughen
That's too cool. How 'bout the guy on the ladder?!
so whats the problem with that?! :)
I guess I'm gonna need to buy a car with fins now. Sure looks handy for laying out a limit of doves.
Shoulder to shoulder, and bumper to bumper. Who would know who all shot what?
Bounty1, It looks like you just shoot as many as you can and claim as many as dare!
That's either a 1961 Plymouth Valiant or Dodge Lancer in the photo--a distinctive car, indeed. Where are the expensive camo clothing and high-tech hunting of today? How could they possibly have been successful? B^)
Post a Comment