ENJOYING THE OUTDOORS: DOVE SEASON DESCENDS ON AREA

Hunters across the land Friday set out for the year's opening volley at the most populous, most shot-at and most frequently missed game birds, mourning doves.

The outlook for the traditional Sept. 1 season opener and the first few days of the season was mixed. On one hand, birds should be plentiful. On the other, there could be some difficulty -- as there frequently is -- in getting together with them.

Biologists say limited survey work indicates a stable dove population in most of the eastern United States. There are so many that a head count is more than a little difficult, but for the sake of round numbers, wildlife authorities speculate that 500 million doves may be on hand to begin their migration through the nation.

With a combination of agricultural practices and land usage agreeable to their lifestyles, doves continue to fare well and their numbers appear to be essentially steady from year to year despite hunters each season swatting down some 50 million, or what would be about 10 percent of them based on wild population guesses. Managers say the hunters' huge harvest is insignificant because mourning doves are so prolific (pairs nest two to six times each year) and they have a mortality rate of 65 to 80 percent annually whether or not they are hunted.

Hot and dry weather is ideal or growing doves, so this summer has had the elements that cater to their numbers. Doves favor the heat, often reacting to late summer cold fronts with early migration. With nothing of the sort in sight before the first shots are fired, it's likely that most resident doves will stay put at least through the opening weekend of hunting.

Where birds will be concentrated could be a sticky wicket for many hunters, however. Because wet conditions earlier in the spring delayed some crop planting, fields that might otherwise serve as magnets for doves are late in maturing. They won't offer much hunting in the early part of dove season.

There could be a shortage of dove concentrations around normal agricultural operations, but the birds have to be somewhere. Likely to benefit are those hunters around fields that have been prepared by the letter of the law specifically as dove food plots. Pure farm crop fields may not be ready to appeal to the birds, but those fields that have been tailored for doves and dove shooters could offer good swarms early in the season.

Dates and times: Kentucky's dove season comes in three parts -- Sept. 1-30, Oct. 7-30 and Nov. 23-28. Shooting hours are 11 a.m. to sunset during the first two phases, sunrise until sunset in November.

In Missouri, dove season runs from Sept. 1 through Oct. 30.

For Illinois, the statewide season is Sept. 1-Oct. 30, with shooting hours of sunrise until sunset.

On 21 public hunting areas in Illinois, shooting hours will be site-specific as part of a three-year experiment. A study by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and the Cooperative Wildlife Research Laboratory of Southern Illinois University will study the results of different shooting hours for doves. The subject is to determine impacts on hunting success and hunter enjoyment as well as to investigate the effect of the different shooting hours on the numbers of doves present at each site.

Some areas will be shot from sunrise to 5 p.m. Others -- Mermet Lake Fish and Wildlife Area and Union County Conservation Area in downstate Illinois, for example -- will have shooting hours of sunrise until noon, while others will allow shooting from noon until 5 p.m. Site offices of the public areas should be checked before hunting to make sure of legal hours during the test.

In Tennessee, dove hunting runs in three segments -- Sept. 1-27, Oct. 14-28 and Dec. 23-Jan. 9. Gunning hours are noon until sunset on opening date, then shift to half an hour before sunrise until sunset on every hunting day thereafter.

The bag limit in each of the four states is 15 doves per day, while the possession limit is 30 birds after two or more days of hunting.

~Steve Vantreese is outdoors editor of The Paducah (Ky.) Sun.