In the early morning darkness, a warm, dry breeze blew across the open fields and vineyards of Carneros.

The night had been clear with no visit from the coastal marine layer, offering us an early taste of autumn.

Restless hunters took their positions in anticipation of first light.

Dove season was about to begin.

Unlike most hunting seasons that begin on a given Saturday, dove season always opens on Sept. 1, regardless of on what day of the week it falls.

This year it happened to be the Monday of Labor Day weekend — a holiday for us working folk, and a perfect opportunity to kick off fall bird hunting.

Hunting partner Matt Schwanebeck and I, along with our bird dogs, arrived at the “secret” spot about an hour before sunrise — or 30 minutes ahead of legal shoot time.

We were not the first to arrive, as more than a dozen cars were parked in front of us. We later found the earliest arrivals had beaten us there by a good two hours to claim the prime spots.

This dove hunting is serious stuff!

The familiar whistle of wings could be heard as doves whizzed by just before shoot time.

Finally it was time, so we loaded up our No. 8 shot and set our sights on the horizon to watch for the distinctive shape and wing-beats of our quarry.

Doves can fly at speeds of up to 70 miles per hour, and their flight patterns tend to alternate randomly between dashes of speed and erratic darting back and forth.

This makes for a challenging target. Most hunters are fortunate to connect on more than one-third of their shots.

The daily limit is 10 doves per hunter. Matt and I came home around 10:30 a.m., happy with our combined seven birds.

We were also very pleased with our dogs, as they made several nice retrieves on our birds as well as a few of our neighbors who didn’t bring dogs.

This was all the more impressive, given that the dogs had not used these skills on a real bird since last winter.

Dove season in California is split in two segments. The first segment lasts only until Sept. 15. The second part opens Nov. 8 and runs through Dec. 22.

DFG on why state has no doe hunts

Many U.S. states offer managed doe hunt programs.

California Department of Fish & Game biologist Carrie Wilson explains why our state does not have a similar program:

The Busch Bill was passed in 1958, giving the authority to have antlerless deer hunts to the County Boards of Supervisors in 37 of California’s 58 counties — and many of those 37 counties identified contain some of the state’s best deer hunting.

DFG is required to notify the Boards of Supervisors of any planned antlerless hunts by Dec. 15 of each year.

At this point, the Boards of Supervisors of each county are then required to hold a public hearing to receive the information from DFG justifying the hunt, and to receive testimony from the public regarding the proposal.

The process often ends at this point due to negative public perceptions and expressed opinions requesting that no antlerless hunts be allowed.

While good science supports the use of doe or antlerless hunts as a valid deer population management tool, and although these hunts provide for additional hunting opportunities, they can also be highly controversial.

In many counties, emotions on the subject run high and popular public opinion will often not support the hunts.

Thus, since the County Boards of Supervisors are elected public officials who must answer to their constituents, when the public sentiment is negative and in the majority, the Supervisors will often reject any proposed antlerless hunts.

According to Senior Wildlife Biologist and Deer Management Supervisor Craig Stowers, “Sound data and scientific justifications support holding such hunts. California’s deer population is now heavily skewed toward the female portion of the population, and amongst that group it is skewed toward older females.

Until the time comes when DFG receives authority to offer these doe or antlerless hunts again, we will continue to see the pattern that has developed over the last 50 years.”

Guy Carl is a CPA and partner with BDCo Accountants and Advisors in St. Helena (www.bdco

cpa.com). Contact Guy at GC.outdoors@sbcglobal.net.