CityView Magazine

CityViewNC.com | 13 A year later, I took Uncle Reg on his fi- nal dove hunt. He sat with his back against a pole on the edge of a corn field at the Hub- bard's River Farm. I watched from across the way in fascination as the near-90-year- old man dropped a half-dozen birds with his side-by-side 20 gauge. When I came to fetch him, he was grumbling about how many he missed and how he had lost his touch as a marksman. I once heard a Duck Dynasty brother say that dove was the filet mignon of the sky. I don't know about all that. I further concede that there is a reason Man domesticated the chicken instead of the dove. Well, two reasons maybe. Chickens are far less apt to explore the wild blue yonder. More impor- tantly, a chicken breast is more tender and way more sustaining than that of the dove. What, though, is the glory in harvesting a chicken from the Piggly Wiggly? Some- times, the palatability of the food is directly proportionate to the method by which it was obtained and the company you kept while obtaining. Our favorite way to eat dove is to fillet the two halves of meat off the breast, dab it with cream cheese and a slice of raw jalapeño pepper and toothpick a half a slice of bacon around it. When the bacon is char-grilled, almost crispy, the whole thing (except the toothpick) can be popped into your mouth for a flavorful explosion. us, we call them dove poppers. is year, on the opening day of dove season, I called the Hubbard brothers ask- ing if, for old times sake, I might intrude upon their field of cut corn along with my Remington 28 gauge. ey, for old times sake, consented. I sat with my back to that same telephone pole where Uncle Reg had sat a few years before. I shot more birds than he did, but I missed more than he did too. As Bill and Johnny le for the day, they pulled their trucks up to Uncle Reg's pole and got out for a goodbye, a goodbye comprised of old-time stories of what we had shared and of the lives now past. ey le me alone on that vast expanse of river bottom and told me to lock the gate on my way out. I never fired another shot, choosing only to gaze across the acreage at a sky full of lessening light, pondering all the good for- tune I have had in this world as a result of the people I have known. And, I wondered if my wife's garden still produced enough jala- peño peppers to make those dove poppers one more time. CV Extra Bold Bold Medium Because Everything Across from Best Buy & Target M-F 8a-10p | S 8a-8p | Su 10a-6p (910) 864-1500 2043 Skibo Road, Ste. 101 Fayetteville 55 Extra Bold Bold Medium Because Everything Across from Best Buy & Target M-F 8a-10p | S 8a-8p | Su 10a-6p (910) 864-1500 2043 Skibo Road, Ste. 101 Fayetteville 55 Extra Bold Bold Medium Because Everything Across from Best Buy & Target M-F 8a-10p | S 8a-8p | Su 10a-6p (910) 864-1500 2043 Skibo Road, Ste. 101 Fayetteville 55 What, though, is the glory in harvesting a chicken from the Piggly Wiggly? Sometimes, the palatability of the food is directly proportionate to the method by which it was obtained and the company you kept while obtaining.

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