Posted on Thu, Aug. 31, 2006

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Doves are unpredictable

By BRENT FRAZEE

The Kansas City Star

Kevin Slates is resisting the urge to predict big things for the Missouri dove-hunting opener Friday.

Oh, it’s not that birds aren’t starting to flock to public hunting areas such as the Platte Falls Conservation Area, which Slates manages for the Missouri Department of Conservation.

Or that the food supply isn’t there to attract plenty more.

It’s just that Slates has been through enough of these openers to know that doves can be mighty unpredictable.

“I have had many years when I was calling my friends, telling them to drop everything and come out here for the opener because I was convinced it was going to be so good,” he said. “Then we went out and the hunting was terrible. Then last year I was a little pessimistic, thinking the weather had chased some birds out of this area, and we had a real strong opener.

“So, you never know.”

But Slates can tell you one thing: The table is set at Kansas City-area hunting hot spots such as Platte Falls near Platte City and the James A. Reed Memorial Wildlife Area near Lee’s Summit.

Both areas have plenty of cut sunflowers waiting for the doves.

And the birds have showed up on schedule, starting to hone in on the fields with each mowing.

Now if they just show up Friday …

“Some years, the doves have a way of disappearing once the hunting season starts,” Slates said with a laugh. “But other years, they’ll show up out of nowhere.”

Rick Bredesen, manager of the Reed Area, agreed.

“With doves, things can change day to day,” he said. “We thought the rain and cooler temperatures we’ve been having might move some birds out of here. But that doesn’t appear to be the case.

“As of today (Wednesday), we still have doves. But that doesn’t mean they’ll be here Friday when the hunters get here.”

Many are still talking about the 2005 opener at the Reed Area, when 562 hunters took 4,850 doves — a record. That surpassed the former mark of 3,940, taken on the 2003 opener.

Hunters also enjoyed a day to remember at Platte Falls, where 322 hunters took 1,350 doves.

Those totals justify the Kansas City area’s reputation as one of the best regions in the state for dove hunting. Each year, workers plant sunflowers and wheat on the conservation areas and mow or disk a portion of those crops in late summer — just in time to start attracting doves a week or two before the hunting opener.

The strategy often works — unless a major weather front chases doves out of the area before hunters can get a shot at them.

“We can set the table for them, but that doesn’t mean they’ll always show up to eat,” Bredesen said. “But right now, we’re optimistic.

“I don’t know if we’re seeing as many doves as we did last year before the opener, but we have birds.”