There isn't a lot that hot and dry is good for. Colorado dove hunting may be the exception.

At least when it comes to the hot part, anyway. Dry doesn't do doves or any other game birds much good in the quantities eastern Colorado has been seeing over the past couple of years. But that won't keep trigger-itchy hunters from heading out to the plains Sunday in search of those darting doves that kick-start the season.

"I wouldn't expect it to (keep hunters away)," said Ed Gorman, small game manager for Colorado Parks and Wildlife. "The late August cold front is the bane of dove hunting, but I don't think we have to worry about that this year. Looking at the forecast, it looks like it will stay in the 90s through the weekend."

That's about as far as Gorman is willing to go in terms of a forecast. When it comes to dove counts, CPW's upland bird expert knows better than to go out on a limb with predictions. Especially in a drought year.

"It's pretty variable, depending on the landscape," Gorman said. "I haven't done a dove forecast for a while, but the same rules as always apply. The season in the northeast portion of the state is a lot shorter than the southeast. So, get them for the first couple weeks there, then move south."

Although there have been field reports of dove flights in places such as Logan, Sedgwick and Phillips counties, pinpointing the birds can be difficult. The defining characteristic is drought, and it comes down to the luck of the draw about where rain fell and food grew.

"It's spotty everywhere," Gorman said. "I can't pick one county over another. It just depends on whether an area got rain or not. Between Sterling and Yuma, you can pick four or five different places that might be terrible or wonderful depending on what the weather was."

As always, hunters need to pay attention to the key habitat characteristics of roosting sites, food and water. If you're not finding doves in your favorite spot, there's a reason. Just bear in mind that the concentration of birds can be just a few miles away.

"About the end of July, some rain started falling. But I wouldn't say it's been widespread rain. More isolated rainstorms," Sterling-based Gorman said. "As long as they have plenty of food sources, it should keep them around until it starts to get cooler. Then they'll move to somewhere that conditions are better."

Doves aren't the only game in town, though. Sunday marks the season opener for several game birds, including chukar partridge, Wilson's snipe, Sora and Virginia rail, band-tailed pigeon, mountain sharp-tailed grouse and dusky grouse (formerly known as blue).

The two-day greater sage grouse season opens in limited units in North Park on Sept. 14 along with the nine-day teal season that sees the bag limit increased to six teal from four and possession limit rising to 18 from eight.

Dove possession limits also have increased, going to 45 of each species of mourning and white-winged doves. The band-tailed pigeon possession limit is now 15, and Wilson's snipe possession limit is 24.

As far as the state's most popular upland game bird go, Gorman says it's simply too early to tell what the pheasant season beginning Nov. 9 may hold. But he does hold out a sliver of optimism.

"Hot and dry is not good for growing pheasants," Gorman said. "Right now I'd say we're about the same as last year or slightly better. Even though we're starting to see some different weather patterns, there's just not enough time to recover from the drought pattern until next year, if then."

Scott Willoughby: or