Your hunts are more about being with your dog than shooting and cooking the birds. Am I right?
For sure the biggest part of it is the dog, at my age and where I am in life, the dog makes me get out there all the time, and she makes it fun.
My girl Molly, she was not good with dove hunting... She started out good her first season with dove (Sep-Oct), then duck season started (Nov) and she did great there as well, but the next season dove hunting she did not transition from duck hunting (where dog can be more aggressive on the bird holding it) back to dove hunting (where dog needs to be gentle on the bird) very well. We talked a lot on the other small game hunting thread about dogs getting dove pin feathers stuck in their mouth, that happends when dog is too aggressive on the bird, and not holding it gently. Well those dove pin feather made Molly mad at dove, she would not just pick them up, but she would ponce on them, and bite holes in them... then she ate one, after that there was no fixing her.. As a result, I stopped taking her dove hunting, and I myself stopped dove hunting. I would dove hunt for the opener (Sep 1), and after that trip I would be done with dove hunting for the season, just not that fun without a dog.
Tara made dove hunting fun again, I never thought I would like dove hunting so much. Tara will hold them dove so gently, but after Molly, I worked hard on training Tara on the "soft" hold, it is not natural form them, they have to be taught this, and you have to constantly stay on them on how to hold correctly, because what is natural for them is to chomp on the bird, and squeeze it, I mean those dove are so soft and irresistible...