BIRD COUNT DROPPING IN DESERT.

Byline: Jim Matthews Special to the Daily News

Hunters will find fewer doves in the high desert areas from Lancaster to Barstow, according to field reports on the eve of Monday's dove-season opener.

But the good news is that more birds are expected in the Indio-Palm Springs region of Riverside County and the lower Colorado River, meaning hunters may opt to travel to the extreme southeastern corner of the state - and even into Arizona - to target their tiny quarry.

``There are doves everywhere right now, and if you scout out a corn or safflower stubble field adjacent to a citrus grove, you should have excellent shooting,'' said Rusty McBride, a California Department of Fish and Game warden in the Winterhaven-Bard area of Imperial County. He expects the forecast for the opener to be similar for the entire lower Colorado River valley.

John Herbert with the Arizona Game and Fish Department said the mesas bordering the Gila and Colorado river valleys, on both sides of the state line, are holding great amounts of game.

``There seems to be a good number of birds spread throughout the lower river,'' Herbert said. ``There's a lot of grain around - corn, wheat and safflower - (in which) there's greater dispersal of the doves because quite a few fields have not been turned.''

McBride cautioned that hunters who get licenses for both sides of the Colorado River can still only shoot a single limit opening day.

Arizona's dove season runs only until noon daily. So, some hunters come to the California side (where hunting hours runs till sunset) to hunt in the afternoon. But bi-state hunters are only allowed to finish out a 10-bird daily bag limit and can't take an additional limit. Hunters also need to know the Colorado River is not the state boundary everywhere along it course. There is an area known as ``The Island,'' which is west of the current Colorado River channel and part of Arizona.

Also enjoying a strong forecast is the Riverside County region northwest of the Salton Sea, where healthy amounts of rain in the desert and the citrus groves - which are closed to hunting - are attracting good numbers of birds for roost areas.

Kevin Brennan, a DFG biologist for western Riverside and San Bernardino counties, said the desert washes on the outside edges of these groves and along the Coachella Canal should provide excellent shooting this year.

``Here's the advantage hunters have this year: They can go down a day early and scout because of the Monday opener. Scouting is always the key to dove hunting success,'' Brennan said.

He added that most farmers don't mind hunters working harvested fields. But, he pointed out, citrus, date and row crow crops still under cultivation are always off limits to hunters, unless they have special permission from the land owner.

The prospects are not as hot for the Lancaster, Victorville and Barstow areas.

The Mojave Desert enjoys less agriculture and relies on good desert feed to attract and hold birds. A dry spring has made for slim pickings for birds, and their numbers are about the same or down slightly in comparison to recent years.

Andy Pauli, a DFG biologist in the high desert, said he was seeing fewer doves at desert springs and guzzlers than in earlier years, but recent thunderstorms have not restricted the birds to these permanent water sources.

In the Blythe-Palo Verde areas of Riverside County, traditionally an excellent spot for the opener, most of the reports are similar: far fewer birds than normal.

``It's about as sorry as I've ever seen it on this side of the river,'' said Wayne Pinkerton of B&B Bait in Blythe. ``There are some good spots on the other side of the river on the (Colorado River Indian Tribes) Reservation, but the north end of the valley over here is looking real poor.''

Gerald Mulcahy, a DFG biologist in Blythe, echoed the sentiments.

``It's very bad. The birds just never stayed this year,'' he said. ``What few birds there are in the valley are on corn stubble, and those fields are being plowed under and irrigated. And as soon as they do that, the birds are gone.''

In the Imperial Valley south of the Salton Sea, the numbers of birds - both white-winged and mourning doves - appear well below average.

``I don't think many guys are going to come in and get a limit before 8 a.m.,'' said Nancy Andrew, a DFG biologist in the Imperial Valley. ``Some will, but for most guys who've been hunting here the last 10 years, they will notice the difference. They'll say, `Where's the birds?'

``There's just very few birds in the valley relative to good years, but no one's going to go home empty-handed if they're persistent,'' said Andrew, who blames the poor forecast on a lack of rain in the adjacent desert areas for the past 2-1/2 years, resulting in little desert feed.

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Photo

Photo: (color) Bo Matthews, son of San Bernardino-based outdoors writer Jim Matthews shows off a white-winged dove from his first hunting trip two years ago.

Jim Matthews/Special to the Daily News