Tym Glaser, Associate Editor - Sport
Nicholas Batchelor takes aim on the first weekend of bird shooting at Lazy Ground, St. Elizabeth, last Saturday. - Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer
MANDEVILLE, Manchester:
THE MOST horrid six weekends of the year for Jamaican doves are upon them again.
Starting last Saturday at various sites around the island, it's officially bird-shooting season and that spells nothing but bad news for birds called bald pate, white-winged, long-tailed pea and just simply pea.
More than 1,300 marksmen are expected to turn out in their camouflage gear to fire away at the doves in two roughly four-hour sessions on Saturdays (morning-sunlight to 9:00 a.m. and afternoon-2:00 p.m. to sunset) and one on Sundays (morning) until the season concludes on Sunday, September 24, when 'dove amnesty' returns until next year.
It's hard to describe bird shooting as a sport because there's no direct competition between the shooters, who are allowed a bag limit of 20 birds per session (15 bald pates maximum), and the battle between rifleman and dove is lopsided to say the least.
More than a pastime
However, it's also more than a pastime and the hunters spend a great deal of money and effort on their craft.
A rifle can cost anywhere between $80,000 and $450,000, then there's ammunition and gear to buy, the hunter's licence fee (which was $8,000 this year) and payment to the 'bird boys' - the youngsters who go into the bush and search out downed birds and then pluck and gut them, which can run up to $3,000 a day per boy.
Outside of yachting and car racing, it's probably the island's most expensive recreational activity.
For such a short duration, the hunters also spend a lot of time preparing for the season. Some seek out their 'stands' - places of shooting - and bird boys early while others plough ground months in advance upon which they put the likes of corn, millet and sorghum to attract the birds and make them comfortable with the environment before the shooting begins.
Sixty-eight-year-old Nicholas Batchelor from Clarendon has been hunting birds for 56 years and has a well-seasoned perspective of bird shooting.
"The whole centre of it is to see a bird that you know should be dead and you fire three shots and he's not even disturbed and just goes on his way," Batchelor said.
"You then have to go back to the drawingboard and find out exactly 'what did I do wrong'. It could be just the wind which slowed the bird down so you were in front of it or any number of things, but it's really about the fun of it all, and the best thing is when you are beaten," he said. "When you know you should have got the bird, but you were beaten, you just have to laugh."
Not in it for the eating
Batchelor says he's not in it for the eating, as he does not like game food, but others say it's a treat.
There's scant meat on doves, which average about 31 centimetres in length, but like Forrest Gump's shrimp, the true enthusiasts say they can be fried, barbecued, roasted, curried etc., etc.
Of course, hundreds of men wandering around the countryside with large guns is a situation which needs to be monitored and that is handled by the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) and the local constabulary forces.
They travel in teams which hunt the hunters and make sure they are not committing violations like shooting without a licence, shooting too many birds, shooting the wrong birds or shooting in protected areas.
It's not a particularly comfortable task.
On Saturday morning, the Manchester team headed just over the border into St. Elizabeth to check out various hunting sites including Spring Ground near Alligator Pond.
The squad comprised NEPA's Zadie Neufville, Heckford Thompson, Richard Thompson and Ricardo Miller and Corporal Patrick Reid and Constable Mark Lewis from Williamsfield Police Station. They split into two groups to expedite checks.
Humid conditions
The Spring Ground group walked several hundred metres along a muddy path strewn with prickly plants and about a million and one mosquitoes just to reach the first hunter's stand. Then it was on to another and another, checking papers and making light chat along the way in extremely humid conditions.
In the afternoon session, it was up to Lazy Ground above Spur Tree Hill, also in St. Elizabeth.
This provided even thicker bush and dreaded barb-wire fences to traverse, but less thorny plants and mosquitoes. There had been a report of trouble in the area which turned out to be that a hunter had accidentally shot himself in the foot and had to be taken to hospital where he stayed overnight.
His hunting buddies were back on the hill and not overly distressed by their friend's plight as they merrily popped away at bald pates.
After day one, the Manchester team had no major violations to report, although the bird boys were not leaving one wing fully feathered during plucking which is required so the age of the birds can be gauged.
Basically, it's a case of the younger the better as if the majority of the dead birds are juveniles, that means the more mature breeding birds are not being severely affected.
Still, try telling that to a dove who has to dodge bird-shot for another five weekends.
