Have you got the action of your pump and semi-autos oiled up? Located your camo T-shirt, cushion-topped bucket and figured out a new way to snooker your buddy into having to carry all those heavy boxes of shells you take out to the field for you? It's time to think dove hunting, and in Kentucky that generates a lot of excitement -- and fun.

Kentucky landowners spend a good bit of time and effort across the Commonwealth developing food plots for dove hunts each year. The preparation starts way before the season arrives, with plantings of various seed-bearers like millet, sunflowers, milo, sorghum and (for later in the season) corn in some cases. Even natural weed fields bush-hogged at the right time can really set the table for some excellent dove action at the onset of fall.

As with any migratory game bird species, the numbers of doves will fluctuate from year to year, but because doves are such prolific breeders, it is rare that a huge drop in population occurs one season to the next. This helps keep a continuous and renewable supply of birds available, and generally means good hunts, especially during the first month of the season.

As fall progresses, the chances increase that cold fronts may come through that sometimes push the migrating portion of the population farther south. Homegrown birds, though, mostly ride it out unless the front is severe. However, in some years, when spring nesting isn't plagued by winds or unusually wet weather, or an ill-timed storm, and the birds get off a good late nesting in midsummer as well, the number of doves may jump up a good bit. Those are the seasons when you enter the field and find thousands of birds swarming in all directions. That's when the shooting action really gets hot -- literally.

Many Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources (KDFWR) wildlife management area (WMA) managers, who serve as the on-site "landowners" of the state's public hunting areas, also spend a lot of time and effort dressing up fields in anticipation of hosting good dove hunts each season. Though about every field that they work up will attract birds, there are some WMAs, by virtue of location, that will have a better chance of pulling in more birds than others. We don't think about it as much as we do for turkeys or deer, but doves have a preferred habitat as well. Some regions of Kentucky are better suited for these game birds than others -- just like they are for big-game species.

"We don't keep harvest records for hunters who use our WMA fields, but we know from observation where some of the better spots usually are," said Rocky Pritchert. Pritchert is the biologist who coordinates the migratory game bird program for the KDFWR, including for doves, ducks, geese, snipe, woodcock and the like.

"The agency recognized some time ago that dove hunting is very popular, but not everyone who wanted to get in on the action had an invitation to hunt a private field; so we have attempted to offer that opportunity as best we can through our public field program on WMAs, and the private field lease program," explained Pritchert.

"Our funds and staff are limited to what we can devote to this type of hunting, but when conditions are right during the growing season, and if the birds are available in their usual abundance, there is some good quality action on several of our fields early in the season," said the biologist.