The nation's No. 1 migratory game bird is the mourning dove. And since doves are migratory, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service manages them primarily.

But at the same time, state fish and wildlife agencies do a good bit of groundwork that, collectively, helps the federal agency make decisions about the dove population as a whole.

About 10 years ago, Kentucky and other states initiated a mandatory requirement for dove hunters to report their harvest numbers. Initially, this was accomplished through a permit system that first, identified who was hunting for doves, and second, asked them to report how many they were taking each season.

"To say the least, our first few years of trying to collect this new data -- and to get hunters and license vendors to get in the groove of reporting -- were less successful than we had hoped," said Rocky Pritchert, the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources' (KDFWR) lead migratory bird biologist.

"The idea behind the reporting requirement was to look at information on a regional level, and not so much state by state; to take a more comprehensive approach to managing the dove resource. But we weren't getting as much information that we could use with full confidence to make management recommendations.

"It's been only in the last year or so that a better system has been in place for getting harvest numbers from hunters," said Pritchert.

"I'm feeling much more comfortable that the data we're collecting now is closer to the true picture."

Last year, and again this year, hunters may have noticed that filling out their harvest information from the previous season is required before a migratory game bird permit -- or any license that includes that permit -- will be issued.

Having solid numbers to monitor how well the dove population is doing will help biologists like Pritchert keep a better eye on what's happening in the Bluegrass State.

Pritchert says that Kentucky's overall harvest numbers will probably be pretty close to what historical estimates have been thought to be. But he hesitates to say that's an absolute given, until a few more years of more accurate data is received.

This past year, he reports, the harvest wasn't quite as high as projected, but there could be several reasons for that. One may be last summer's serious drought conditions. And one single year's numbers are not enough to make a definitive call.

However, Pritchert does say that high-quality dove hunting can be found throughout Kentucky, in each of the five wildlife regions into which the Commonwealth is divided.

Enjoying a successful hunt largely depends on hunter legwork to find the spots that doves are using.

"For some time now," Pritchert said, "we've been taking part of a national dove banding study.

"We're trapping and putting leg bands on about 1,500 birds a year. Nationally, about 33,000 doves are being banded to help us learn more about their patterns and the harvest.

"This study seems to be indicating is that not as many of our Kentucky birds are leaving the state as we once believed. Almost all the bands put on in Kentucky are reported back from Kentucky. That tells us that even when we get a hard cold snap, more of our birds are staying here than heading south out of the state," said the biologist.

"They may vacate the field they were using and scatter, but most of them are still around somewhere, and are probably moving some, but they are not altogether gone."