Hey from California Upland.
Sixteen days to September 1. The blue oak country of the Sacramento Sierra foothills — the El Dorado and Amador county savanna where we run spring scouting loops — should be fully crisped out by now, annual grassland gone to straw and holding its breath until the first fall rain. That same heat is the story everywhere we’re planning to stand on opening morning, and it shaped this whole week of posts: the two-week clays countdown started Tuesday, the vest piece is half about water capacity, and Friday’s conditioning piece is entirely about the thermometer. Peter’s August log with Alan is that piece’s anchor: short early sessions, real rest days, and the discipline to end a workout while the cocker still wants more, because the dog never casts the deciding vote on heat. Matt, still dogless until spring, contributed the section nobody likes writing: how to know when the right call is leaving the dog home — and why the hunters who make that call early are the ones whose dogs are still hunting in November.
From the field. This morning’s post argues for a coastline: Central Coast Dove: An Underrated Opener — Peter’s planning case for the grain valleys behind the fog line, where opening morning can run twenty degrees cooler than the Sacramento Valley floor and the crowds thin to almost nothing. It’s a planning piece and says so; consider it a research file handed over, not a guarantee. Read → And a heads-up for Tuesday: the piece to actually act on this week is California Dove Regulations 2026-27: HIP, Limits, Lead-Free Zones — license, HIP validation, upland stamp, limits, shooting hours, and the statewide nonlead requirement, all in one place, two full weeks before you need any of it at a check station. Watch your inbox Tuesday, then handle the paperwork the same day. Future-you, standing in a parking area at 5:15 a.m., says thanks.
What we published this week:
→ Wing-Shooting Drills for Dove: A 14-Day Tune-Up — the clays program that starts exactly two weeks out, built around the crossing and quartering shots dove actually offer, not the going-away birds most range sessions default to. If you started Tuesday, you’re on schedule. Read →
→ Strap Vest Setup for the Dove Opener — shells, water, birds, sunscreen, and where each one rides so you’re not digging through pockets while doves are trading overhead. The water-capacity section doubles as heat prep. Read →
→ San Diego County Valley Quail: Cleveland NF Planning — the October homework, filed early: access, elevation bands, and the chaparral country of the Cleveland National Forest, for the SoCal hunters we keep promising more of. Read →
→ Dog Conditioning for Early-September Heat — the four-week ramp compressed honestly into two, what a conditioning session should look like this week specifically, and the quit-early math that keeps September 1 from becoming a vet story. Built on Peter’s August log with Alan. Read →
What we’re working on:
· Tuesday — California Dove Regulations 2026-27: HIP, Limits, Lead-Free Zones (the act-on-it piece of the month — read it, then do the paperwork the same day).
· Wednesday — Opener Morning Loadout: Vest, Shells, Water, Dog (the truck-bed manifest, item by item, with the shell-and-water math a real opener burns).
· Friday — Where to Camp Opener Weekend: Sac Valley CDFW Areas (for everyone turning opener into a weekend — rules, shade honesty, and the early-arrival math).
Also Wednesday: Matt takes the Field Notes slot, from the Glenn-Colusa side of the valley — conditions only, the way the Wednesday notes work.
Sixteen days is the sweet spot: close enough that the work is real, far enough that all of it still fits. If a piece lands, hit reply.
Out the door, — Matt & Peter
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