JUST DOVELY; DOVE HUNTERS CAN HARDLY WAIT FOR THIS TIME OF YEAR.Byline: Brett Pauly Daily News Staff Writer There is a certain gleam in the eyes of bird hunters when September approaches. As shotguns are retrieved from storage and barrels polished, they hark back hark intr.v. harked, hark·ing, harks To listen attentively. Idiom: hark back To return to a previous point, as in a narrative. to bygone days of camaraderie in the field. With a zeal fueled by the romance of the impending im·pend intr.v. im·pend·ed, im·pend·ing, im·pends 1. To be about to occur: Her retirement is impending. 2. hunt, shells are selected and chokes adjusted to match the quarry. The object of their passion is clear: Dove is in the air. ``One thing about dove hunting, more than any other form of hunting, is that it's social. It's an event that happens every year at the same time, like the opening of trout season, so you always see the same guys at your favorite spot,'' Valenica hunter Derek Fong said of the traditional Sept. 1 dove opener. Unlike deer hunting, for example, which is more solitary due to the nature of silently stalking prey over hill and dale, dove hunting attracts large groups of friends and relatives because it usually takes place in wide-open areas where shooting by large parties can be safely executed, there is little walking involved and you can be as loud as you want without disturbing the targets. ``I'm 38, and it's been like this since I was 10 - second, third, fourth generations of hunters,'' said Fong, who grew up in the dove-hunting mecca of Yuma, Ariz., and for Monday's opener is leading an assembly of 30 hunters to California's dove equivalent - the Bard Valley of Southeastern Imperial County. ``There were hunters my grandfather's age out for the dove opener when I was young, and now they're 80, 90 or gone.'' ``Those old guys, you can just park them (in the hunting grounds),'' Fong said. ``The 90-year-old may not be able to go out in the field and retrieve his own birds. But because doves don't care
"Don't Care" is a 1994 (see 1994 in music) single by American death metal band Obituary. how much noise you make, you can definitely back him up: `Hey, one's coming over your head, one's coming in behind you.' '' And you can yelp your lungs out after the wrinkly old-timer downs one. Fellowship aside, hunters flock to mourning dove mourning dove Species (Zenaida macroura) of pigeon (family Columbidae), the common wild pigeon of North America. They have long, pointed tails, and the sides of the neck are violet and pink. Their name comes from their call's haunting, mournful tone. habitats in impressive numbers because the bird is among the most abundant and widely distributed Adj. 1. widely distributed - growing or occurring in many parts of the world; "a cosmopolitan herb"; "cosmopolitan in distribution" cosmopolitan bionomics, environmental science, ecology - the branch of biology concerned with the relations between organisms in North America North America, third largest continent (1990 est. pop. 365,000,000), c.9,400,000 sq mi (24,346,000 sq km), the northern of the two continents of the Western Hemisphere. , it is a sporty species and its meat is considered a delicacy. ``It's a difficult bird to hit because it has a fast, erratic flight pattern. It darts and zigs and zags,'' said David Dolton, a dove biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Lakewood, Colo. ``It's also a very delicious bird to eat. It's cooked in rice dishes Here is a list of rice dishes from all over the world, divided alphabetically. A
The mourning dove - Zenaida macroura, named for its sorrowful sor·row·ful adj. Affected with, marked by, causing, or expressing sorrow. See Synonyms at sad. sor  row·ful·ly adv. coo heard most often in the 30 minutes before and after sunrise, provides more than 10 million hunting-recreation days annually, based on state surveys. An estimated 2.3 million hunters harvest 41.3 million birds each year out of a nationwide dove population of 475 million. Since Sept. 1 was established as the earliest dove-hunting date allowed by a 1918 migratory bird treaty between the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. , Canada and Mexico, it has become the nation's single most popular hunting day, said Dolton, who is in charge of Western and Central migratory, shore and upland game for the Office of Migratory Bird Management. Thirty-six of the contiguous states recognize Sept. 1 as the dove-season opener. ``That is the one date that starts all the fall hunting off,'' Dolton said. In California, the dove opener is followed by grouse grouse, common name for a game bird of the colder parts of the Northern Hemisphere. There are about 18 species. Grouse are henlike terrestrial birds, protectively plumaged in shades of red, brown, and gray. , chukar chukar Popular small game bird (Alectoris chukar), a species of partridge. Stocked in many countries, it is native from southeastern Europe to India and Manchuria. It has a brown back with strongly barred sides and a black-outlined whitish throat. , quail, snipe snipe, common name for a shore bird of the family Scolopacidae (sandpiper family), native to the Old and New Worlds. The common, or Wilson's snipe (Capella gallinago), also called jacksnipe, is a game bird of marshes and meadows. , coot, moorhen moorhen: see rail. moorhen or common gallinule Bird of the migratory gallinule species (Gallinula chloropus, family Rallidae) of Europe, Africa, and eastern North America. , brant brant or brant goose, common name for a species of wild sea goose. The American brant, Branta bernicla, breeds in the Arctic and winters along the Atlantic coast. , duck and geese seasons. ``It's time It's Time was a successful political campaign run by the Australian Labor Party (ALP) under Gough Whitlam at the 1972 election in Australia. Campaigning on the perceived need for change after 23 years of conservative (Liberal Party of Australia) government, Labor put forward a to get out in the woods again.'' State hunters target the mourning dove, as well as the white-winged dove white-winged dove n. A large gray American dove (Zenaida asiatica) having a patch of white on each wing. - Zenaida asiatica - usually considered the prize among the two species because it is larger - in the Southeastern counties. ``The mourning dove is like the small, nimble fighter plane, whereas the white wing is like the B-17 bomber that is going to come straight through as if to say, `Hit me if you can.' '' If you are considering taking up the recreation, you don't have to motor aFll the way to the Bard Valley. There are plenty of good sites in San Bernardino and Riverside counties (see related story) and several suitable spots closer to home in Los Angeles and Ventura counties and the San Joaquin Valley Noun 1. San Joaquin Valley - a vast valley in central California known for its rich farmland Calif., California, Golden State, CA - a state in the western United States on the Pacific; the 3rd largest state; known for earthquakes . Here are some other dove-hunting tips: Know where to look. Doves feed chiefly on the seeds of wild grasses and weeds, cultivated grains and other agricultural crops. Their habitats are extremely varied, ranging from trees and shrubs to residential areas to open grasslands and croplands. But they prefer woodlands and the edges between forests and grasslands. Fong scours scour, scours 1. the chemical and physical cleaning of fleece wool. 2. diarrhea. dietetic scour see dietary diarrhea. peat scour see secondary nutritional copper deficiency. the fringes of private property and open fields and sets up alongside dirt roads and levees. Look for springs, ponds, canals, gullies, ditches and other likely watering holes, as well as plowed or harvested fields; burned grain fields are veritable candy stores to doves. Determine whether or not the property you want to hunt on is posted. If there is a warning sign, read it carefully. Get written permission to hunt from the property owner if required. Hunting etiquette mandates you clean up all spent shells and other trash at day's end, thank the property owner and offer him or her some of the take. Scout areas well to determine dove flyways - corridors the birds select to wing between roosting, feeding and watering locales. The best times to scout are before dusk and after sunrise. Since Monday's opener falls on Labor Day, you'll have all weekend to prepare. ``Scouting is imperative, especially to find a secondary or tertiary hunting spot in the event someone else gets to your first selection before you, the weather changes and the birds move or the area they are targeting gets too crowded,'' Fong said. You'll want a 12- or 20-gauge shotgun and shells in size 7-1/2 and 8 shot. Study the regulations: A state hunting license ($27.05), upland game-bird stamp ($6.05) and National Migratory Bird Permit stamp (free; helps the state report its number of bird hunters to federal officials) Fare required. (Of course, to procure any of these necessities, you'll first need to complete a state-approved hunter-safety class.) Mourning dove season runs statewide from Monday through Sept. 15 and again from Nov. 8 to Dec. 22. The bag limit is 10 birds; 20 in possession after opening day. During the same periods, white-winged doves may be taken only in San Bernardino, Riverside and Imperial counties, where bag and possession limits are the same totals, whether they be of one species or mixed bags. All doves must have a fully feathered wing left attached while being transported. Shooting hours are 30 minutes before sunrise to sunset. Hunters cannot shoot from public roads or have a loaded gun in a vehicle. Mourning dove: `Twisting zephyr Zephyr or Zephyrus: see Eos. It has been said that the mourning dove is one of the sloppiest housekeepers of all game birds, but none can match its amazing aerobatics aerobatics Sport of performing maneuvers such as rolls, loops, stalls, spins, and dives with an airplane. As an organized sport, rather than as an air show attraction (“stunt flying”), aerobatics began international competition in 1960 under the auspices of the and speed. One hunter put it this way: ``A dove dreaming on a utility wire is one thing; the flashing, twisting zephyr over a dove field is quite another.'' Indeed, the mourning dove might be the most difficult of all winged targets, and, when it spots a hunter, no other game bird has such a dazzling change of pace nor is able to perform such amazing aerobatics in the blink of an eye. Learning more about doves might not improve your shooting skills, but it certainly can help you gain more respect for the little feathered rockets. Here are a few dove facts you might not know: The speed of an alarmed dove has been clocked at 60 mph. The average ``cruising'' speed of a dove is 20 to 30 mph. Doves have been known to travel as far as 150 miles in a day. A healthy adult dove weighs about 4-1/2 ounces. Doves are capable of nesting year-round in some southern states. A female dove will lay six to 10 eggs per year in several nestings, usually two per clutch. A dove egg hatches within 14 days, and the fledgling is out of the nest two weeks later. A dove nest generalFly consists of a few twigs that appear carelessly placed on a horizontal tree limb. The nest looks old the minute it is finished. A dove has exactly 2,635 feathers, most of which go untouched by the average hunter. CAPTION(S): 2 Photos, Box Photo: (1--color) no caption (Doves) Photo Illustration: Daily Nws (2--color) no caption (Dove Hunter) Jim Niemiec Box: Mourning dove: `Twisting zephyr' (see text) |
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