DOVE AFFAIR BIRDS SUCH AS THE SMALL GAME AT IMPRESSIVE ONYX RANCH REPRESENT TRADITIONAL START OF HUNTING SEASON.

Byline: Rochelle Kaplan Special to the Daily News

ONYX - Jerry Scotton became concerned when he counted only 300 doves Saturday. He'd been tallying the birds every single day this past week and had prayed their numbers would be at least at couple of thousand by opening day. But with less than 12 hours until daybreak, Scotton had to yield to Mother Nature and simply hoped for the best.

``It's been cool at night lately and the doves, being migratory birds, move south to keep warm,'' said Scotton, a hunting guide with exclusive rights to 300,000 acres of private land just northeast of Lake Isabella. ``With the cold front that came in, a thousand birds moved out already. It was sad to see them move on me.''

He need not have worried because, on Saturday night, temperatures in the upper Kern River Valley remained mild. So mild, some of the birds complied and returned to the field adjacent to Scotton's ranch house, precisely where he planned to hunt in the morning. In fact, by 8 a.m., nearly all 15 hunters bagged their daily limit of 10 birds.

``At 6:17, I shot my tenth bird and only used one box of ammo,'' Joseph Schlater of Costa Mesa said. ``I was probably the first to limit.''

Scotton, who took the hunters out to the field before dawn, at around 5:45 a.m., remained unimpressed with this year's birds, calling the season ``fair at best but not real good.'' Although others were satisfied with the conditions and their take, they all tended to agree with their guide.

``Last year in Haney (just south of here on the same property), guys couldn't load their guns fast enough to shoot all the birds,'' said Dan Unrue of Lompoc, who eventually limited by mid-morning.

Still, the weather was ideal, cool and dry until late morning, when the heat of the valley increased by more than 30 degrees. But that was all right with the hunters, who relaxed at the lodge before re-energizing and pitching in to clean the birds. A few of the old-timers had some tasty recipes in mind for dove hors d'oeuvres.

For the avid hunter, dove season - open only for two weeks beginning Sept. 1, reopening again for six weeks on Nov. 11 - signifies the beginning of the hunting season in general. As such, many skilled hunters who look forward to taking big game throughout the fall and winter gear up with dove hunting, looking upon it as a cultural, if not family, tradition, especially since the birds offer only about 2 ounces of meat. Even though dove season is open until Sept. 15, most doves are taken within the first two days because numbers decrease dramatically afterward. What birds are left eventually move on to warmer weather, eventually ending up in Mexico.

``Most hunters will just hunt the first day of the opener because the doves get real skittish after that,'' said Dan Bowering of Hesperia, as he shot what he thought was his ninth bird.

Bowering, who brought his 11-year-old daughter, Mandy, along so she could experience the unique camaraderie of the sport, lucked out with his position on the open field, peppered with dove weed - which Scotton said the doves eat like candy - other low-lying bushes and medium-sized trees. Facing south, he avoided the glare of the rising sun and was able to hit nearly all of his birds with the first shot. Mandy, eager to prove an able assistant and looking forward to hunting alongside her father next year, retrieved the doves for him with remarkable deftness. She even was able to locate a bird that had fallen deep within a large carrot field to the west of them. Expertly keeping track of the count, she returned and said, ``That's your limit, dad.''

Bowering and other serious hunters, who will have whetted their appetites for bigger game with the tiny birds, typically prefer to hunt in areas that attract as few people as possible, usually on private land with more shooting opportunities and professional guides to lead the way. Scotton fills a need for those hunters who dislike crowds and unruliness.

Through a mutually agreed-upon contract with the Oscar Rudnick Trust of Bakersfield, Scotton actually manages 67,000 acres of land but has grazing rights to 300,000 acres of property, some of it virtually untapped for hunting. On the acreage, which is located in Onyx (population 400) off Highway 178, there is a hunting lodge - which serves as a base for hunters and their families - a cattle ranch, agricultural fields, open plains full of doves, chukar, quail and turkey, and numerous mountain ranges filled with bears, mountain lions and bobcats. Duck and geese season runs from October through January, with the fowl migrating to temporary ponds created by the rainfall on the open fields. Onyx Ranch also offers special pheasant hunts - considered released birds - November through March, as well as deer and bear hunts from late September through late October. Scotton expects quail season, opening Oct. 19, to be especially good.

Since signing on as manager of Onyx Ranch nearly two years ago, Scotton has worked hard to create the best environment for his guests, from sustaining a homey ranch house with home-cooked food to constantly scouting the area for wildlife. Doing business as Scotton Guide Services, he offers memberships - both bird club and big game - as well as single-day hunting prices. ``I've been in the guiding business since 1979 and this is the hardest project I've ever taken on,'' said Scotton, who used to guide wild-boar hunts throughout the Central Coast mountains of California. ``It is so big here, it's gigantic. It takes two and a half days just to cruise the ranch.''

Bowering, a member of Onyx Ranch since February, likes the personalized attention of a private hunt as well as the opportunity to see unusually large game lurking in the mountains. He and Scotton have spotted a 400-pound black bear with a blond streak down his back on a couple of occasions, yet the great beast remains elusive.

``We just like coming up here because it's private property and you don't get bothered by a lot of people,'' Bowering said. ``I've seen more deer and bear here than anywhere else in the last five years.''

Scotton believes Onyx Ranch is one of the best-kept secrets of Southern California but doesn't want it to remain so. He'd like to make the public aware that, although it's only an hour's drive from Bakersfield, it's a wild country in the upper Kern River Valley, teeming with wildlife.

``It really takes your breath away,'' he said, surveying the panoramic view of the valley. ``Tell me, who's been hunting that mountain? I mean nobody has. You know, I got a little ace here, and I feel I have to share it with everyone. And the only benefit I get is when someone comes up to me and says, 'Thank you, thank you, thank you.' ''

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) A quartet of doves rest on a barbed-wire fence at Onyx Ranch. The two-week dove season marks the traditional beginning of the hunting year.

(2 -- color) Dan Unrue of Lompoc waits for dawn to break and the doves to appear at Onyx Ranch, a 300,000-acre spread of private land near Bakersfield.

(3) Dan Bowering of Hesperia and his 11-year-old daughter Mandy return from an early-morning dove hunt near a carrot field at Onyx Ranch.

Rochelle Kaplan/Special to the Daily News