Opening weekend of dove season brought hundreds of hunters into fields across Oglethorpe County on Saturday, but for Tony DeMarco, the morning took an unexpected turn when his hunt became a rescue mission.
At the Nation family farm, more than 250 people gathered for a tradition that has grown over more than 30 years. The annual opening-day event combines a dove hunt with a barbecue prepared by the family.
“It’s a lot of good friendships. It’s good fellowship being together, but it is a ton of work,” Beverly Nation said. “It’s just great for everybody to be together and have some good food.”
That work includes cooking through the night. This year, the family prepared two hogs, four Boston butts, about 20 gallons of stew and 10 gallons of slaw.
On another Oglethorpe County farm, DeMarco had been hunting for only about 20-30 minutes when hunters nearby spotted a great-horned owl caught in a barbed-wire fence.
DeMarco, an Athens ophthalmologist and avid hunter, had gloves in his gear and joined several other hunters in working to free the bird.
Its wing was injured and DeMarco said the owl appeared to be in shock. After about 20 minutes, they freed it from the fence. DeMarco wrapped the owl, found a crate and began trying to find somewhere that could care for it.
The owl ultimately died from its injuries.
“I felt badly that I wasn’t able to save it,” DeMarco said. “It’s such a beautiful animal. It was amazing to actually hold this magnificent bird.”
What struck DeMarco most was how the other hunters responded. There was something remarkable about hunters arriving that morning prepared to take the lives of game birds, only to abandon their hunt when another animal needed help.
“These guys forgot about shooting, forgot about everything else, and went to help the bird,” he said. “Here’s a bunch of hunters that are there to hunt, but see this other creature in distress, and they totally just came to it to help it.”
DeMarco had shot two doves before finding the owl, but gave them to another hunter when he left the field.
Although his hunt ended without any doves, DeMarco said the experience fit with what draws him to hunting in the first place.
“I love being out there. I love being out watching the sunrise,” he said. “I love being in the nature, and I guess it kind of made sense that when I saw the owl, that I wanted to save it.”
For DeMarco, though, what happens after a successful hunt is just as important as the hunt itself. He said taking an animal’s life comes with a responsibility to make use of it.
“I like cooking the food as much as hunting the animals,” DeMarco said. “It’s bittersweet when you take another animal’s life. But I'm a meat eater. I'm not a vegetarian, and so somebody has to take the life of that animal.”
That philosophy is also why DeMarco prepares his doves differently than most hunters. Instead of removing only the breast, he plucks and cooks the entire bird.
“I think being a hunter, the biggest thing I take from it is don’t waste,” he said.
Recipe: Grilled doves a la Mancha
Athens ophthalmologist Tony DeMarco’s favorite way to prepare dove comes from wild game chef and author Hank Shaw’s Grilled Doves a la Mancha (go to honest-food.net and search for mancha). Unlike the more common method of removing the breast, the recipe uses the whole plucked bird. The doves are seasoned with salt and stuffed with fresh herbs before being grilled over high heat. As they cook, the birds are brushed with olive oil or bacon fat and finished with smoked paprika. DeMarco said he particularly likes putting sage inside the bird and grilling it until the outside becomes crispy.