Some safflower has been planted on the Oroville SWA, but the majority of hunting is for passing birds looking to roost or working small patches of turkey mullion hidden among the oaks and dredger tailings along the Feather River. This area has not been staffed since 2003, so reporting on last year's harvest did not occur. But, this year, safflower has been planted in portions of the Thermalito Afterbay section. Maps are available at all of the main entrance signs.

On the 11,000-acre Spenceville SWA east of Wheatland in the Sierra Nevada foothills, 200 hunters bagged almost 1,000 birds for a 4.7 birds/hunter average on opening day last year. This was a significant improvement over the 2.2 bird/hunter average for the previous year, reports area manager, Tim Caldwell.

This year the area has more than 100 acres of safflower/sunflower planted, and though the sunflower may not help with the doves, it sure helps with the scouting. Sunflower is much easier to spot and helps to locate this year's crop of safflower. Look for plots on both sides of Waldo Road, south of Spenceville Road, and around Horseshoe Pond. Caldwell says that an additional 180 acres of fall crop had some safflower mixed in and a portion of this acreage will also be cut before the opener.

If the weather holds and the foothills are your choice, Spenceville could be a good bet. Don't forget to pick up a map at the information board kiosk, because finding all of the plots is never easy.

Just across the Yolo Causeway from Sacramento, the Yolo Bypass SWA had an estimated 100 hunters bag just fewer than 200 birds for a 1.9 bird/hunter average on opening day in 2004. This year, area manager Dave Feliz reports that almost 150 acres of safflower were planted on the 16,000-acre area.

Look for small plots next to Putah Creek south of parking lot G and just east of the spaced waterfowl blinds, north of parking lot F. The largest planting, 100 acres, is scattered around the 2,000-acre Tule Ranch section. Accessed out of parking lot G or I, it's a long walk out there -- at least a mile and a half -- unless they get the new parking lot finished -- and don't count on that by dove season. A map of the area is available at the front entrance, or at the checking station during registration.

DON'T GIVE UP

The traditional Sept. 1 opening day of dove season attracts more hunter -- 100,000 plus -- than any other single hunting day of the year. Two days later, many good fields are empty and no one is hunting. Folklore has it that doves leave after the first day of hunting. But folklore can be wrong. The birds may have just changed their habits. For sure, a severs cold snap sends a lot of birds south, but birds from points farther north come in behind them, at least that seems to be the consensus of managers California Game & Fish has talked to over the past few years. Most believe that there are still birds on their areas for most of the early season, even in the Central Valley. Steve Myamoto at North Grasslands notes that huntig after opening day requires a different approach. "Walk around," he suggests. "See where the birds are coming in, and hunt the treelines where they get out of the sun." For years I was one the hunters who gave up after the second day of the season. But three years ago, after a miserable shoot o opening day, I tried a different shooting area the second day. There I bagged some birds in the morning, took some more in the afternoon and still more on thethird day. Now I hunt well into the second week of dove season. If the birds are not on one wildlife area, I try another. It takes work and scouting to figure it out, and it is different kind of hunt, but for those who preserve doves can still be found long after opening day. If all else fails, you can always follow the birds south. Leon Lesoika of Desert Wildlife Unlimited claims that both seasons were good in the Imperial Valley last year, noting that one hunter, who happens to be a game warden, shot a limit of doves on the season's last day. -- Marvin D. Bibby

SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY
Although a reservation system with an Aug. 12 deadline for application (see July California Game & Fish) is used for the opening day(s) of dove season on special hunt properties in the San Joaquin Valley, several are open to walk-on hunters for the balance of the early season, according to Douglas Bowman, San Joaquin Valley coordinator of the Game Bird Heritage Program.

Maps to the areas can be obtained by accessing the DFG Web site www.dfg.ca.gov, calling Wing Beat News at (559) 243-4005, ex. 132 or 133, or by writing: San Joaquin Valley Dove Hunts, Department of Fish & Game, 1234 East Shaw Avenue, Fresno, CA, 93710.

Forty-five acres of safflower are planted near the town of Huron on land managed by the DWR. Restricted to reservations on opening day, it shot an 8.1 bird/hunter average in the morning and a 5.5 average in the afternoon in 2004.

Another 45 acres of safflower is planted on Bureau of Reclamation land three miles northwest of the town of Tranquility. Accommodating 40 hunters selected by draw on opening day, the hunt posted a 4.7 bird/hunter average in the morning and 4.9 average in the afternoon.

Sixty acres of safflower are planted 12 miles west of Mendota at Pilibos. Limited to reservations on both Sept. 1 and Sept. 2, last year's opener shot a 10.0 bird/hunter average in the morning and 9.3 in the afternoon. On the second day it was still hot, shooting 8.0 in the morning and 8.5 in the afternoon. So if you don't hunt until the weekend, this may be the place to try.