September 1st is my favorite day of the year. Not necessarily because dove our my absolute favorite thing to hunt (although they’re up there), but because it kicks off the best time of the year. The tradition of spending that day with friends and family (both two and four legged) in a corn or sunflower field is simply unbeatable.

Texas Parks and Wildlife Dove Program Leader Owen Fitzsimmons makes his return to the show this week to give us our fearless dove forecast for the 2022 season. We also hit on population trends for both mourning and white wings, harvest rates nationally vs Texas, the plight of the passenger pigeon and how mourning dove may have benefitted from it’s unfortunate extinction, Owen’s favorite dove recipe and much more!

Then we head over to the Orvis Fly Shop in Plano, TX to check in with an old pal in Fishing Manager Steven Palmer. Orvis recently decked me out in some top of the line gear for a New Mexico trout trip. We’ll talk about fishing the Rio Castillo, the gear I used, different presentations and techniques, the history of catch and release and whether or not Orvis (founded in 1856) used to sell fillet knives lol!

We also get into some of the other services Orvis offers the fly fisherman, from fly casting classes, fishing reports and destination fly trips. Plus, Steven reflects on some of his favorite fishing destinations (both domestically and internationally). We wrap it up with some carping talk, a trash fish to most anglers but a sought after fight and trophy for the die hard fly fisherman.