OUTDOOR CORNER: SEPTEMBER BRINGS OPPORTUNITIES FOR SOME EARLY HUNTING

September is a month that has been eagerly awaited by Missouri bird hunters. Mourning dove hunting season opens tomorrow, Sept. 1. Less than two weeks later, Sept. 13, Missouri's special teal season will open.

Both dove and teal provide hunters with "early" hunting opportunities. They also allow hunters to "sharpen up" their shooting skills on the small, fast-flying targets.

If you are a dove hunter, you should be looking for fields of corn or milo (sorghum) that have been harvested. Waste grain acts like a magnet and will attract dove from miles around. Such fields will be "hot spots" for an opening day dove hunt. Watch for numbers of dove perched on telephone lines. It is common for the birds to alight on power lines adjacent to feeding areas before dropping to the ground.

A wet spring planting season in much of southeast Missouri resulted in widespread "late" planting dates. You don't have to be a farmer to figure out that "late" planting will, in general, results in "late" harvest dates. In other words, you will have to hunt a little harder to find harvested fields. The reward for that extra effort could be some excellent hunting because the limited number of fields will tend to concentrate the birds.

When you do locate a promising field, be sure to contact the landowner and obtain permission prior to your hunt. It isn't likely that you will be the only hunter in a particular field so you should take a few moments before you load your shotgun to "check things out." Take notice of the location of other hunters. That way, you will know in what direction you can safely shoot. This is essential when a dove dips down and flies low across a field.

Not only should you know the location of other hunters but also the location of houses, road and vehicles. You want to remember that shot can travel several hundred yards when fired upward at high-flying birds.

The dove population in most of Southeast Missouri is slightly better than last year. As usual, the numbers are highest in the southern-most counties of Dunklin, Pemiscot, New Madrid, Mississippi and Scott. These same counties, because of their southern location, should have more crops harvested by opening day compared to Cape Girardeau and Perry Counties.

We associate dove hunting with Labor Day and warm weather. Many hunters hunt the first week or two of the season and then stop because the birds seem to move out as the weather cools off. To a certain extent this is true, but it doesn't mean that your dove season has to end prematurely.

Most of the dove that are hunted during the first part of the season are "local" birds. They were born and raised in the immediate area. The first blast of cool air will cause those young birds to migrate further south. That same cold air that caused the local birds to migrate will bring migrant birds into the area from further north. Some excellent hunting can be enjoyed well into October on migrant birds.

Dove may be hunted from Sept. 1 through Oct. 30, 1997. Shooting hours are from 1/2 hour before sunrise to sunset. Bag limits are 15 per day and a possession limit of 30. Federal regulations require all hunts, regardless of age, to purchase a Migratory Bird Hunting Permit prior to pursuing migratory birds, including dove.

With teal season just around the corner, Dale Humburg, a wildlife research biologist at the MDC research center in Columbia, has seldom had more to rejoice about in the 21 years he has been keeping tabs on teal populations. With number of blue- and green-winged teal both hovering around record high levels, all the Missouri Department of Conservation's waterfowl specialist has to worry about is whether timely rainfall will enable hunters to make the most of the terrific waterfowl recovery they helped engineer.

Humburg, a wildlife research biologist at the MDC research center in Columbia, says aerial surveys this summer showed 2.5 million green-winged teal on nesting grounds that straddle the United States/Canada border. Blue-winged teal -- always more numerous that their green-winged relatives -- numbered 6.1 million this summer.

Their collective breeding population of 8.6 million represents an increase of 4 million, or 87 percent, from 1990. It is the second-highest number of teal seen in North America since government agencies began monitoring waterfowl numbers in 1955. Other waterfowl, including mallards, redheads, shovelers, gadwalls and snow geese, are enjoying similar population booms.

"It's important to note that these recoveries have been fueled by five years of better-than-average nesting conditions," says Humburg. "Dry years will come again at some point. We can't be complacent about caring for duck habitat, but this certainly is occasion to celebrate the hard work that provided the foundation needed for ducks and geese to rebuild their numbers."

Based on the number of teal hunted in the Mississippi Flyway, the fall flight of teal through Missouri should be one of the most generous in living memory. But Humburg said the perennial imponderable -- weather -- will determine whether Missouri hunters are able to take advantage of booming teal numbers during the early waterfowl hunting season Sept. 13-21.

"This is a springboard for what looks like a very good fall flight," he says. "Hopefully the dry conditions that prevailed in early August won't continue into September. We're in pretty good shape on areas managed for waterfowl. There isn't a lot of opportunistic habitat available at this time, but that could change overnight. One widespread rain of a couple of inches will put sheet water in a lot of spots. My impression from flying Missouri River surveys is that we have a pretty fair start on habitat. We have some good smartweed and millet crops coming on in the Missouri River bottoms. Just a little rain and those acres will flood again."

Humburg noted that teal season falls later than usual this year. That means a better chance of comfortable weather and more opportunity for rain to fill potholes. On the negative side, it also means that more wood ducks, pintails and shovelers will be arriving in the state, making it imperative for teal hunters to identify their targets positively before shooting.

Blue-winged, green-winged and cinnamon teal may be taken from sunrise to sunset with a limit of four (4) teal in the aggregate of species daily and a possession limit of eight.

Shotgun shells possessed and used while hunting teal must be loaded with steel, bismuth or other non-toxic shot that has been approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

As with dove, federal regulations require all teal hunters, regardless of age, to purchase a Migratory Bird Hunting Permit prior to hunting.

Gene Myers is a Missouri Department of Conservation agent in Cape Girardeau County.