The plan was simple; meet in Wilson Creek at 5:30 a.m. and head north to our hunt area. My hunting buddy, Bill Green, was waiting when I arrived 20 minutes late. My usual goal is to be early when planning to meet a partner such as this, but, even though I was up and preparing for the hunt early, time slipped away before my Ram headed north on Stratford Road.

Profuse apologies flowed from my mouth, but Bill wasn't mad in any way.

"I'm just glad we're going huntin'," he said.

My excitement was high also, as shooting time on the opening day of the mourning dove season neared.

We loaded Bill's equipment into my vehicle and sipped coffee and visited as the ram headed north on Road 3 NE, which becomes Road R, toward Hartline.

Patti and Dave Goodwin had invited us to thin their pigeon population. Plus they have a few Eurasian collared doves around the place, along with some mourning doves.

The directions were simple, as given by Patti, "We are the last place before Hartline."

We tried to guess which place belonged to the Goodwin's as we covered mile after mile. One house with outbuildings looked promising, but as soon as we turned into the yard, the name of Thomas was evident on top of the mailbox.

The Ram again headed north. The Town of Hartline came into view along with another farmstead. It was the Bar 45 Ranch, owned by Patti and Dave.

"When you said your place was the last one before Hartline, I didn't think it was in Hartline," I said.

"Hey, we're a mile from town," Dave said. "We are in the country."

We visited a bit in the house, before heading toward the barn with Dave.

"After you have hunted a bit, come on back in for a piece of pie," Patti called after us and pointing to fresh-baked strawberry-rhubarb and apple pies.

Dave explained the layout of the ranch, "It won't matter if shot rains down on these buildings. The birds usually fly from this old barn to the hay barn out there and back."

He suggested positioning one of us at the front door of the barn and the other at the backside. Dave then opened the door and pigeons came out in droves, flying every which way.

Bill dropped two and I scored one. The birds regrouped and flew to the hay barn. Dave headed back to the house, leaving Bill and I to continue hunting.

Our pattern was just as Dave suggested; from the old barn to the hay barn and back. Along the way we scared up a mourning dove or two and shot a few of these. After five trips lasting a total of around three hours, the shooting slowed considerably.

The pigeons settled on the telephone wires along the road, becoming shy of their home in the barn. We walked to the road, to spook them back toward the barn and give the hunting a rest. After a water break, we repeated the pattern a few more times.

My shotgun was the Circuit Judge in .410 and Bill was shooting his 12 gauge auto. The only shells I had contained 6 shot, but I actually dropped a few birds.

The Judge is a pleasure to shoot, but different from any shotgun put in my hands. This firearm holds the shells in a cylinder and it fires either in single-action or double-action form. This means it can be fired by cocking the hammer manually before firing, single action, or by pulling the trigger, double action. I could fire it three times by pulling the trigger three times.

Two holes in the cylinder are plugged to make it hold only three shells, as required by regulations. Next we figured it was time for pie.

"Do you want the strawberry-rhubarb or the apple or a piece of both?" Patti asked.

We opted for one piece of each and she wasn't stingy with the size. Both were delicious. It was a special treat for helping thin the bird population.

Later I switched to my 20 gauge and 8 shot. Several of the pigeons were back in the old barn and we chased them out again. My hitting ability improved a bit, but Bill continued to out-gun me.

We ended up with seven pigeons and five mourning doves. Yes, we should have dropped more, as the misses were frequent. There was plenty of action, keeping us alert and watching for more birds. The collared doves were seen a few times, but didn't present themselves as a safe target.

This was a perfect first-hunt of the season. I enjoyed a great visit with a hunting partner and a great visit with long-time friends.

The team of Green and Clay is available for pigeon thinning at other farmsteads. Our fee is reasonable; a piece of pie is sufficient.