With small game hunting getting into full gear, having opened Monday, it's interesting to note that our region's top selections of game species to hunt have become pretty limited. Gone are the wild pheasants. Thin is the population of varying hare (snowshoe rabbit). Grouse and woodcock are spotty at best. That leaves what? Deer, turkey, cottontail rabbit, squirrel and waterfowl, with deer and turkey being the current darlings of the DEC.

Where you aware that the Number One small game species in the nation isn't hunted in New York? It's also the most abundant and widespread small game species in the nation, numbering 400 million and annually attracting 2 million hunters. Sounds impossible, huh? Well, it's a fact. That game species is the dove, and it's fully protected in New York State, despite being classified nationally as a "migratory game bird."