Does FCS have assigned spots for dove hunts?

FCS has never assigned spots and instead we figure out where we’re going to hunt when we get to the ranch.  Conditions at ranches often vary from week to week – for one week birds may be coming to the tanks and not coming into the field.  For another week, it may be the opposite – birds often do the unexpected.

For example, dove often like coming to the tanks in the afternoon.  In September 2023, Burl Fulenwider and I (Randy Rowley) hunted by the main tank on the Carroll Ranch near Holland during an afternoon hunt and had very little action.  We got one bird between us.  But the guys in the field got around nine.  Burl and I didn’t move because we kept saying, “Any minute now, they’ll start coming in.”

We usually have the option to move around – we just ask that guys, when they’re walking up on another hunter with his back to him, announce their presence so that the hunter won’t spin around and shoot at a bird that’s behind him.  We also ask guys to not plop down in front of another hunter (which we’ve had happen before).

Dove hunting is a very social sport – guys will often hunt within a few yards or even feet of each other – of course both parties have to agree to that.  That’s usually not the case for other birds, like ducks (where we’re usually shoulder-to-shoulder in a blind) or upland bird hunting (where we follow the pointing dogs around).  In fact, I wrote a devotional on the tactic of moving around called Move On.

All the above are industry norms.  The only times that was different was when we hunted a large ranch near San Antonio that had several different groups on it and each group was assigned a specific area and a ranch near San Saba, where the owner took guys to different spots (but they were free to move around after the hunt began).