There’s an old and much quoted saying that everything is bigger in Texas, and when it comes to football and dove hunting, that’s no lie.
But for the sake of this story, I’m going to talk dove hunting in Coleman County. It has one of the highest dove populations in the state and bountiful feeding fields.
In Texas, dove season begins the first day of September, and hunters from far and wide are excited to get started. I recently hunted with Executive Outfitters, a top-notch family-owned and operated company based in Coleman, Texas. The Taylor family — Ted, Sonia, Ben, Meredith, Nathan and Meagan, three generations working side-by-side — bring their hospitality and guide service to dove hunters from across the country. On this final dove hunt of the season, they had their annual veteran’s hunt.
A former Marine myself, I enjoyed hunting alongside seven veterans from all branches of the military, almost all of them Purple Heart recipients. These men had all been wounded in combat or service. Each year, Executive Outfitters partners with Patriots and Heroes Outdoors, a non-profit organization, to bring the magic of dove hunting to veterans who often face lifelong challenges because of their injuries. They hunt at no-cost and have way too much fun. It does the soul good to see some of our country’s wounded veterans with shotguns in hand and smiles on their faces, enjoying life just by sitting on a dove bucket under the Texas sun. But when you’ve come so close to sacrificing it all for your country, maybe sitting on a dove bucket with friends takes on a whole different meaning.
For my son Elliott, an Army veteran, and me, the dove hunt feels a lot like a military operation. All the hunters convoy in trucks to the dove field. We board a trailer, guns and ammo in tow; and after a bumpy ride on a dirt road, we spread out and dig in — under a shade tree if possible — lock and load and wait for the birds to fly.
As I’ve said, this is the last hunt of the season, and we don’t have the highest number of birds we might have expected to see earlier in the year. But everyone took a share of the bounty. We all know dove hunting is about the experience, and more often than not, that experience depends on the outfitter and the fields.
Executive Outfitters runs a professional operation with skilled guides who know the area inside and out. They rotate fields, which allows birds to feed and rest because the Taylors believe sustaining the land and wildlife is part of the overall experience. Their team prepares a full schedule, complete with authentic, down home, Texas style cooking, for the hunters to enjoy. I hunted with several men who have been hunting with this team for more than 20 years. Having repeat customers who pay good money to hunt says a lot about an outfitter.
My son and I have found a special place that offers so much more than bagging the limit of doves on one hunt. It’s about the memories we’ve made spending quality time together and meeting new people who love dove hunting as much as we do. We are already planning our next year’s adventure.
If dove hunting is not your thing, Coleman County has some of the best deer, wild boar, turkey and exotics hunting in Texas, not to mention six lakes in the area offer great fishing. So, grab your favorite shotgun, rifle or fishing pole and come on down to the heart of Texas.
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