Nineteen people (three officers, seven members, one guest, six sons, one daughter, and one youth guest) had a great time at the 12th Annual Winter Dove Retreat on 1/6/05 - 1/9/05 at Lee Ewald's properties near Dilley. The hunting was good is some spots on Friday and Saturday mornings and poor in others. The evening hunts were poor everywhere. Jim McGee, my wife (Chris Rowley), and I (Randy Rowley) hunted the windmill property on Friday morning. After we had only seen seven birds, Ron Denison called me and said that he had five birds in his bag (he was hunting south of the vineyard, by the road). By the time that we got to my truck Ron was seeing flocks of 20+ birds. He limited out in short order. We got there in time for me to get eight, Jim to get seven and a quail, and Chris to get two. Allen Snoddy and his son Justice also got some birds. Jim was the only hunter to get a dove on Friday night. Most of us didn't pull a trigger. On Saturday morning the birds weren't quite as prominent as they were on Friday morning but Ron, Jim, and Derrich Pollock got their limits. Derrich shot a double and a triple! Several more hunters came close to getting their limits. Ron and Kenneth Kidd also got a quail each. Saturday night was also a poor hunt. On Sunday morning Jim got four dove and three quail. Ron and him got into at least two coveys. There was heavy cloud cover on Friday morning. Saturday morning was very foggy. Sunday morning was overcast. The mornings were cool, except for Sunday (which was warm). Most of us wore short sleeved shirts in the afternoons. We had our usual group breakfasts and had more food than we could eat. Derrich Pollock shared his Ruger .270, Bushmaster .223, and a .22. Ken Miller shared his Browning .30-06 and another rifle (I didn't catch the make of it). Ron Denison shared two .22's and a Smith & Wesson 9 mm pistol. I shared my Remington .25-06, two .22's, and Springfield Armory .40 S&W pistol. We shot rifles and handguns safely into the dry tank by the Ewald's home. Thanks to Jim McGee for teaching a Bible study on Friday morning and Derrich Pollock for teaching one Saturday morning.