This makes the "dove opener" the largest participatory outdoor event staged in the nation each year -- probably the whole world. In California alone, some 60,000 to 70,000 hunters will take to the field, and nationwide the number is around 2 1/2 million.

 Think about those numbers. The majority of television shows don't draw that many viewers each episode. Not that many people attend any professional football teams' games in any given season, even if they make the Super Bowl.

     You know someone who will be going out next week. They are likely going with friends or family because dove hunting is a social event that, for a brief moment, brings this little slice of mankind back to their ancient roots as hunters/gatherers.

     It is also the event that kicks off the fall hunting seasons, and for those of us who wish these three or four months of fall were really six or seven months long, it is a relief to finally be able to put the dog in the truck with a weekend's worth of food and gear and meet hunting buddies around campfires glowing in the night and stare into the coals, hear stories, and anticipate the next morning's hunt. It's been too long.

     The phone has been ringing all week in hunter's houses like mine, and we are all getting more excited by the day. My wife went to the store to make sure we had the marinade makings for our doves, and I was in the garage today checking the shotgun shell inventory. I know my boys won't think to buy shells, so I'd better make sure there's plenty. Do they have their hunting licenses, yet? That goes on the to-do list.

     It's less than a week away.

     BLYTHE-NEEDLES REGION UPDATES: In last week's column, Leon Lessica said it was going to be one of the best dove seasons in a long time in the Imperial Valley. But since I wrote that, I started thinking back. I believe Lessica says that every hunting season -- and he's right every year. Doves are one of the most common and populous birds in the country, the nationwide harvest of around 20 million birds each year doesn't put a dent in the population that numbers in the billions.

     While there have been thunderstorms flickering across the deserts at mid-week, the severity hasn't been enough to run off many birds, like thunderstorms have done in the past. At least Lessica didn't think so. Everyone else seems to agree.

     Further north, the reports from the Blythe and Needles regions were still pretty glowing, matching those from the Imperial Valley.

     Wayne Pinkerton, the new, old owner of B&B Bait in Blythe and dove hunting central in this region, is back managing his shop starting Sept. 1. He told me he was putting up a sign, "Under Old Management."

     While we were talking Thursday afternoon, he kept interrupting himself when a dove would fly past the bait shop. "There are two more coming down 8th Avenue," he'd say. Then four more would fly past, then a whitewing, and it would be "six more going in the other direction."

     Finally he summed it all up by saying, "I think it's going to be a good hunt."

     One of B&B's regular customers and an avid dove hunter, Bilroy Phipps has been scouting since the weekend. He said he though the dove numbers in the valley were about the same as last year, but the birds weren't concentrated in a few "super honey holes" this year, making the birds scattered.

     "Guys are going to have to hunt this year," said Phipps.

     The popular spots on the Palo Verde Ecological Reserve, a public hunting area north of town off 2nd Avenue, will be excellent, but mobbed as usual. Phipps joked that this spot "will be great. Just take your flack jacket, protective glasses, and helmet."

     Phipps reminded hunters coming to Blythe that the American Legion Hall will be having a hunters' breakfast opening morning, and there will a free barbecue at B&B Bait, where they will even cook up your doves for you.

     In the Needles region, Cliff McDonald said there had been very few thunderstorms in the east Mojave desert and none along this stretch of the Colorado River.

     "If it stays like this, there's going to be good hunting in the Needles area and Mojave Preserve," said McDonald, who heads up the volunteer crew that keeps wildlife water sources functioning in this part of the world. "I'm seeing lots of doves on every guzzler and desert spring I've visited in the last month, and I don't think that's going to change a whole lot before the opener."

     Then he added this clincher about one desert spring he refused to name. "There were so many doves there, you could get a limit with a single toss of a throw net."

     It was illustrative. I don't need to remind hunters that throw nets are not a legal method, do I?

     DOVE NOTES: The limit on doves is again 10 per day, 20 in possession after the first day. That means you can only shoot 10 doves opening day -- even if you eat all 10 of your opening day birds for lunch, and even if you have Arizona, Indian Reservation, and California licenses. The limit is 10 per day. Period. Hunters must leave a feathered wing on their doves when transporting them home. Eurasian collared doves can still only be hunted during the dove season, but there is no limit again this year.

     To download the current version of the map to the public hunting fields in the Imperial Valley, go to www.DesertWildlifeUnlimited.com.

     You can read and comment on my "On Eating Doves (and liking them)" post on the "Discussion" portion of my Western Birds Facebook page, and you can also post your own recipes there.

     For information on dove seminars and tune-up shoots, see my outdoor package from last week, available on line at this direct link: http://www.outdoornewsservice.com/odpkg/news/News_08-19-10.html.

     Dove hunting reports and photos from next week's opener should be e-mailed to Jim Matthews at odwriter@verizon.net or odwriter@aol.com. Or you can post them to the Western Birds Facebook page. We'll have a roundup in next week's outdoor package on opening day that will include some of the information from your updates.

The impressive display of testosterone run amuck is viewed easily from the Elk Meadow Cabins, six remodeled mill worker's cabins near U.S. Highway 101 that are offering a special rate for elk rut viewers.  Stay one night at the discounted off-season rate of $199 and each additional night (up to four nights) is $150.  This special rate can be obtained only in advance by calling (866) 733-9637 and asking for the Elk Rut Rate.

During elk rut, the powerful bull elk are seen posturing and rising dramatically to lock antlers as they push one another back and forth to exhaustion in order to assert their dominance and gain breeding access to the cows (female elk).