THEY SAY DOVE IS A WONDERFUL THING NEW ORGANIZATION HELPS KEEP `EM FLYING.

Byline: Nevin Barich Staff Writer

Bruce Kenyon knows how popular dove hunting is.

Having pursued the sport for almost 50 years, Kenyon has been one of thousands across the country who get out their shotguns at the beginning of every September for the opening of dove hunting season.

``There's more people that dove hunt on the opening of dove season than probably all of the other hunting put together,'' Kenyon said. ``There are more shotgun shells (on opening weekend) expended than all other hunting shotgun shells put together.''

Because of the popularity of the sport, Kenyon wanted to make sure doves would still be around to hunt in the years to come. With that in mind, he started Doves Unlimited, a nonprofit organization striving to preserve the dove population by putting in water devices and growing food for areas with high dove populations.

``I don't want to preserve doves, but I want to do my darnedest to make sure they're around,'' Kenyon said.

Doves Unlimited is actually an extension of Quail Unlimited, which helps preserve the natural habitat of quails. Kenyon is the state chairman for the Southern California chapters.

Quail Unlimited, which has been in existence for 18 years, has about 60,000 members nationwide, including 1,500 in Southern California. Kenyon hopes to eventually attract the same amount of interest for doves.

``Basically, Doves Unlimited will be an outreach program to dove hunters to give them the feeling of belonging to something that they have in common,'' Kenyon said. ``We're going to start having articles on habitat and management in our organization's magazine. As the membership grows, we'll be publishing dual magazines every two months.''

Dick Haldeman, the regional director for Quail Unlimited, thinks the new organization will be successful.

``In terms of sheer participation, I think it will,'' Haldeman said. ``I think that, just from the people I know, a good 35 percent of them don't hunt anything but dove. There's potential for a lot of growth.''

For current and future members of Quail Unlimited, three different types of memberships are offered: A quail membership, a dove membership or a dual membership.

``It's basically the same type of work,'' said Kenyon of the restoration work of the two organizations. ``Everything goes hand in hand. We'll be putting in watering devices and working in food plots.''

For more information on either organization, call Bruce Kenyon at [phone].

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Photo: Bruce Kenyon of Simi Valley is state chairman of Doves Unlimited, a nonprofit organization geared toward restoring the habitat of doves in order to preserve them for hunting.

Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer