To enjoy some of the country's finest dove shooting, you need to get to Arizona before the season closes in mid-January. Water is scarce in the desert and each evening, mourning doves flock to any waterhole where, more often than not, the shooting is off the charts.

One evening after shooting our limits, we sat around until just before dark, then walked into the water. The rose-colored sky suddenly turned black! Literally hundreds of flushing doves fled at our approach.

Trust me, Arizona dove shooting is well worth the price of admission.

Arizona's upland bird season runs to mid-February. The bag limit for quail is 15 per day, 30 in possession. Quail cleaned in the field must retain one leg for identification.

Dove season closes in mid-January. The daily bag limit is 10 doves, with 20 as the possession limit. A non-resident season license runs about $150.

4. Northern Idaho Grouse
Boundary County, the northernmost county in the Idaho Panhandle, is a grouse hunter's paradise. More than 75 percent of the land is public, and access is nearly unlimited.

There's a healthy mix of softwoods and hardwoods -- maple, alder, serviceberry, snowbush, ocean spray, honeysuckle, huckleberry, syringa, chokecherry, wild rose, thimbleberry, willow, elderberry, mountain ash and snowberry. In addition, there are considerable amounts of kinnikinnick, twin bells, Oregon grape, wild strawberry, ferns and a multitude of native grasses provide a veritable forest smorgasbord for grouse.

Ruffed grouse occur throughout, but are most abundant at lower elevations. Blue grouse and spruce grouse occur primarily at mid- to higher elevations above 3,000 feet. Land above 3,000 feet in the county is largely public, federal or state, or held by private timber companies that allow public-hunting access.

Two wildlife areas, the Boundary Creek Wildlife Management Area and the Ball Creek Ranch, as well as the Kootenai National Wildlife Refuge, provide most of the county's pheasant and valley quail habitat. As a bonus to hunting the forest grouse, the pheasant and quail hunting can actually be quite good.

When it comes to being wary and savvy, all grouse are not equal. The "fool hen" label applies to all grouse species, but blue and ruff survivors quickly wise up once guns come into play. For whatever reasons, spruce grouse just don't seem to get it.

Northern Nevada in the dead of winter is one of the Rocky Mountain region's best-kept bird-hunting secrets.

Speaking of blues and ruffs now, as with grouse everywhere, populations are cyclic. In a good year, with good dogs in service, 25 or more flushes a day are not out the question. Depending on cover and how hard-hunted the birds are, the shooting can vary from ridiculously easy to impossible.

The secret is to find the food (see the above list) and go from there.

Edges are always worth a try. Countless gated logging roads offer hunters miles of easy access to prime habitat. From the gates, many roads lead uphill, offering chances for ruffs at the bottom and blues higher up.

The season runs Sept. 1 through Dec. 31, with a generous bag limit of four birds in aggregate.

A non-resident season license runs about $80.

5. Nevada Chukar Chase
Northern Nevada in the dead of winter is one of the Rocky Mountain region's best-kept bird-hunting secrets. Vast, empty and blanketed with snow, canyons and rimrocks covered with sage and cheatgrass hide countless chukars, seemingly lying in wait to challenge man and dog. That is, man and dog strong of lung and limb and adventurous enough to cope in such a rugged, alien world.

The key is to learning how to break down the winter vastness into more easily manageable portions. Wandering about the tilted landscape might be good for the old ticker, but it's also a good way to come home tired and empty handed. The country is too big, and the birds too scattered and concentrated in specific locations.

Chukars are homebodies, spending most of their lives within a relatively small home territory, largely centered on water and their home nest site. But with snow on the ground, water becomes a non-issue. And their home range increases more or less directly in proportion to the availability of food and protection from wind.