September offers chance to combine hunting, fishing

In just a few days, on Sept. 1, many outdoorsmen’s favorite month will be here.
And this year it starts with a holiday.
September is the month that hunting seasons really get started and the fishing is still going strong, so both hunters and anglers look forward to it for different reasons.
The dove hunters get the month started with a bang and teal hunters follow with a 16-day season. Anglers know the water in the big lakes starts cooling down and the fish will get more active. It’s a great time for the outdoorsman, as well as football fans.
Right now there are plenty of doves in the state, and some hunters, like Tom Marshall of Blue Springs, will be able to combine dove hunting along with teal early next month.
“I was planning on going dove hunting on opening day, but my daughter reminded me that will be her wedding day, so I guess I’ll have to wait a few days,” Marshall said jokingly. “It will be the first opening day on the dove season I have missed in 15 years. The bright spot is that there are teal near my dove hunting spot, so I will double up on both birds later.”
The area’s dove hot spot, the James A Reed Wildlife Area, won’t start on Monday, instead the season opens at noon on Tuesday. There are a good supply of birds at the area and hunting should be good.
Marshall saw more deer than he has for several years while scouting for doves.
“I had two fawns come within 10 yards of me,” he said. “There seems to be more deer this month than I have seen this early, and I thought there were more deer last year than I have ever seen in the country.”
You don’t have to be a psychic to predict nature’s seasonal changes among deer and their offspring. This time of year fawns, typically three to four months old, begin to lose their spots and squire uniform coloration.
Beginning in late August, deer begin to shed their summer coat. Both sexes are reddish brown to tan. The winter coat is a grayish to grayish brown, often called the “blue coat.”
There seems to be a correlation between when deer shed their coat and the number of hours of daylight. Increasing day length in the spring and decreasing day length in late summer stimulates the shedding and regrowth of summer and winter coats.
Full antler size is reached in late August before the breeding or rutting season.
September is the time for archers to get serious for the opening day of the archery deer and turkey season that opens on Sept. 15.
Bow hunting is one of the fastest growing sports in the state. New clubs are springing up as more hunters are hitting their targets.
Jack Staton of Springfield is one who has recently discovered bow hunting.
“At age 65, I never thought I would take up archery, but when my grandson took me to an archery range, I picked up a bow and really liked it,” he said. “I only wish I had started earlier. I’ll be in the deer woods next month.”
Meanwhile, fishermen are pulling some lunkers across the state. Jack Moore of Warrensburg landed a 46-pound flathead catfish from Truman last week. The 76-year-old Moore had to get help from his son when he hooked the big cat.
“In more than 60 years of fishing, this was the largest catfish I have ever caught,” Moore said. “I guess its never too late.”
Kevin Harrison of Kansas City also is looking forward to next month.
“I’m always glad to see September arrive,” he said.
Harrison is one of the growing number of dove hunters who also takes his fishing gear along on the hunt.
“Last year, I was hunting near several farm ponds and when the hunting slowed down, I started fishing,” he said. “By the end of the day, I had nine dove, four bass, 14 crappie and several big bluegill. It was about as good as it gets.”
Finally, there are a few more hunters left in the state that look forward to September – snipe and rail hunters. Rail hunting can be very difficult, and should you be able to bag a limit of 25 birds, you still don’t have enough for a big meal. Fighting bugs and heat for a few small birds is reason enough for most rail hunters to go rail hunting only once.
Snipe, on the other hand, are fast flying birds that are a challenge as well as good eating. Should you bag a limit of snipe, you are a rare hunter, and you might have a hard time convincing your friends that there really is a bird called snipe.