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| A Very Loud GONetwork Dove Shoot at RoseAllen Plantation Launches Hunter-Access Program |
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| By Brad Gill |
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Originally published in the October 2005 issue of GON
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Here are some of the adult/child pairs who won a dove hunt at RoseAllen Plantation, an event that took place under GONetwork’s hunter-access program. Shane Rogers (far right), owner of RoseAllen, donated the trip to the GONetwork.
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Shotguns began to boom about three o’clock, and the steady roar didn’t stop until the sun was low in the sky. Groups of four and five doves were constant as they flew in to land in freshly burnt sunflower seeds. A few made it, but many of them were intercepted by shotgun shell pellets. The shots were coming from 10 adult/child pairs who were having a grand time on a well-prepared dove field in Toombs County — more specifically at RoseAllen Plantation outside of Lyons. Shane Rogers owns RoseAllen.
Shane is a GONetwork member and is excited about how the non-profit organization is trying to network sportsmen. He called us earlier in the summer wanting to host an adult/child dove hunt for GONetwork members. It just so happened we had recently launched our hunter-access program, so Shane agreed to include his field in the new program. His only condition was that the hunt include kids.
We agreed to randomly pick 10 pairs from coupons that members filled out and mailed in. For the drawing, we had about 75 coupons. All 10 pairs made the trip to RoseAllen on September 17 for a super dove shoot.
Everyone met at RoseAllen’s lodge that morning, myself included. The kids were able to fish for bass, bream and catfish. The best bass I heard about was caught by 13-year-old Ridge Caldwell of Thomaston. He landed a 4-pounder.
“He lost one at least eight pounds,” said Bill Brooks, his uncle. “It may have been bigger than that.”
Then we ate barbeque, which came with the usual Brunswick stew and coleslaw sides. After a safety meeting and a drawing for dove stands, Shane and volunteer Rick Kegley began to shuttle folks to the field.
It took about an hour before the shots began to sound off across the 12-acre sunflower field. Once the doves started to fly, they never really stopped. I sat on Shane’s “Gator” and watched as birds would fly in and the guns would pop. We laughed the whole afternoon. The reaction as kids would hit birds was priceless.
I was close enough to the field to see Rhett Reed, 13, from Jacksonville, Fla. knock down his first-ever dove. When he went to retrieve his dove, the bird was still lively enough that it tried to fly off. After several attempts to scoop up the dove, Rhett made a head-long dive into one of the standing rows of sunflowers. He rose victorious with his dove in hand. On Rhett’s second bird, he ran into the field and immediately dove on the dove. Somebody must have told this boy doves taste good.
I watched Taylor Smith, 14, from Athens take his first dove, too. His grandfather, Jerry, said, “they were happier than a pig in slop.”
Kyle Eck, 10, from Dublin was on his first dove hunt, and he dropped five doves. While shooting with his father, Tom, the pair took home 10 for the grill.
Jennifer Andrews, 17, the oldest and only female on the field, left smiling. This girl from Macon had collected her first two doves — and she had a jammed gun to prove it.
Brian Hendrix from Statesboro deserves a GONetwork “Hats-Off” for entering a kid that wasn’t his own. In other words, he doesn’t have a kid old enough to hunt, so he went out and did some recruiting. Brian brought Cody Cowart, 15, from Reidsville.
Larry Garrison from Bartow County took his grandson, Seth Rogers from Adairsville, and he said they both couldn’t have been happier with the shoot.
“We really enjoyed it,” said Larry. “I enjoy that part of the country.”
Stephen Robertson, 11, took his dad, John, to school after waxing him 12 birds to six. Stephen, from Warner Robins, was high shooter on the field, being the only one to take a limit.
Hunter Pignato, 13, from Union Point never quit smiling. He approached me about 4:30.
“Can you take me back to the truck to get more shells?” he asked.
Hunter and his father Lance left with eight birds.
Gary Wright from Waleska started his day off early with a call in to the O’Neil Williams radio show. He told O’Neil he on his way to a GONetwork dove shoot with his son Zach. The good news of GONetwork is starting to snowball.
A few more highlights: every kid killed a bird, five of the 10 kids killed their first doves and 97 total birds were taken. I won’t even try and recollect how many shots were fired. However, it sure looked like the kids were bringing a few more of those birds down. Great job adults!
GONetwork thanks Shane for a super job in preparing the field and being a host to our first hunter-access hunt. Also, Rick Kegley devoted his time to help the kids, too. The event couldn’t have been any better.
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