Hunting pressure is a non-issue after the first week or so beyond opening day. Some of the most popular sites are full for the opener. But guys hunting "stand-by" after successful hunters fill their limits often fill up, too, because they're moving into a blind with proven action.

This is one hunting activity where having many hunters in the field is a good thing. The birds will congregate where they aren't being pressured. Half-dozen hunters in a 10-acre field will keep 'em moving.

The annual "dove bust" is an established tradition in many parts of Illinois. But some of the best hunting comes from mid-September to mid-October with the arrival of later migrants when it's tough to get several buddies together to go after 'em.

During the initial days of the season, both state and Corps of Engineers dove fields have special regulations in place for safety and to ensure a quality hunt. At some of the most popular sites, like the federal fields at Shelbyville, hunters need to apply to simply qualify for a chance to draw for a blind on opening day.

"We have hunters coming from all over the state," park ranger Leann Cruitt said. "By pre-qualifying hunters coming from long distances, they know that they will at least draw a blind for the first two days of the season. Of course, some blinds are always better than others."

Dove hunting has been a major attraction at Shelbyville since 1976, shaping dove management statewide since this time. On the two federal fields that will be open at Shelbyville this September, hunters draw for positions in blinds made out of snow fence that are placed at strategic points in sunflower fields that have open lanes mowed between blinds.

There will be 14 blinds at the 13-acre Rees Ridge field located near Wolf Creek State Park and 11 blinds on a 7-acre field around the Hunter Lake subimpoundment east of Shelbyville this year, according to Cruitt. Last year, hunters killed more than 700 doves in two days from the federal lands here.

"Over the years, we've learned what works and what doesn't," Cruitt said. One year the Corps fields tried using blinds made from straw bales. "Hunters had trouble abiding by rules about not leaving the blind," she said with a laugh. "We didn't know that yellow jackets would have such an affinity for this kind of habitat. Hitting a dove is even more difficult with a half-dozen wasps swarming around your head!"

Recent innovations at Shelbyville's federal fields include large movable sunshade umbrellas at midfield blind sites in direct sunlight. For more information on hunting federal lands at Shelbyville, contact the management office at (217) 774-3951.

Designated shooting spots on state lands are somewhat different. For example, the state-run site in the Shelbyville Fish & Wildlife Area has employed simple stakes with a number on them to indicate where you are supposed to hunt. Last year the state put in 70 acres of sunflowers at Shelbyville, enabling 396 hunters to kill 4,647 birds in the initial five days of the season for an average of 11.7 doves per hunter.

DNR dove specialist Mike McCulley said the state would have about 75 areas open to dove hunting statewide this year, about the same as last year.

Heavily populated Region II in northeastern Illinois had five sites last year, with hunter success ranging from 2.1 doves per hunter at Chain-O-Lakes State Park to 10.9 birds/hunter at Silver Springs where 269 hunters harvested 2,929 doves over millet and sunflower fields.

Nineteen hunting areas in north-central and northwestern Illinois in the DNR's Region I saw typically better success, with more than 1,000 doves harvested at 12 areas in the initial five days of hunting in 2004. The highest harvest was at the Double T State Fish & Wildlife Area where 475 hunters bagged 3,250 doves for an average of 6.8 doves per hunter.