The dove hunting season is into its second week here in Yuma County. This annual event is generally a boon to the local economy, but an abundant dove population due to last year’s rains may make this is one of the busiest years ever.
Local business owners look forward to dove season.
"The merchants know, we’re heading into fall it’s more of a psychological boost," said John Courtis, Executive Director of the Yuma County Chamber of Commerce.
Courtis says the dove hunt marks the end of the area’s lean summer season.
"We made it through another summer, the dove hunters are here, there’s a boost to the cash register and here comes the winter visitors," he said.
Courtis adds that the economic impact of the season impacts a lot of local businesses.
"These dove hunters, they bag their limit and it’s eight o’clock they’re playing golf, they’re out doing things and they’re spending lots of money," he said. "It’s not just the bars and casinos."
Linda Morgan is Executive Director of Visit Yuma, the city’s tourism group. Morgan says Visit Yuma works to spread the word about the great dove hunting here. And once dove hunters come to Yuma she says they generally come back.
"We write articles and do advertising in the Western Outdoor News and we also do some targeted social media posts with geofencing and that sort of thing," Morgan said. "But really people come from even all over the world to hunt here in Yuma because it is such a great place to hunt."
That advertising, together with the dove hunters who came back to Yuma year after year, have a major impact on the local economy. Published reports have pegged the estimated yearly impact as high as $3 million to $6 million. And with the high number of doves in the area, the impact could wind up on the higher end of the estimate scale this year.
Chris Bedinger of the Yuma Office of the Arizona Game and Fish Department explains Yuma is in just the right location for doves.
"We’re at the heart of the Pacific Flyway for migratory birds, Bedinger said. "In the summer months we get an influx of whitewing doves up from Mexico, and usually by this time of year there’s still quite a big population here. That’s why Yuma is so popular with dove hunters and why dove hunting is big here in Yuma."
Bedinger adds that Game and Fish works with local growers to help keep doves here though what’s called, “Agreement Fields”.
"We’ve worked with five or six farmers this year," he said. "What we do is we give farmers money for seed and then they plant the fields, and it leaves grain in the ground longer for the birds."
Sprague’s Sports in Yuma is the focal point of the dove hunt here. The store’s owner Richard Sprague says the doves bring the hunters here for the first time, but it’s the community that brings them back again and again.
"The community strongly gets behind this," Sprague said. "I had a gentleman drive in from Tucson, and he said that was the most refreshing thing that he saw, was all the welcome dove hunter signs (on local restaurants and businesses). So it was really cool and it’s more unusual in this day and age to have a community open up the way that we do here."
Hunter Brian Folks of Los Angeles agrees. He says he has been coming to Yuma now for more than 20 years.
"I started coming here with my father and my friend’s father," Folks said. "Both our fathers have passed away and now we come here with our children. It’s kinda become a generational thing."
And he says the treatment he and his family and friends receive when they’re here, makes it easy to come back year after year.
"The people and businesses here in Yuma are so friendly and welcoming, and I know it helps the economy, but they genuinely seem interested in having us here," Folks said.
The dove hunt continues through Sunday.
