Thousands of Georgians took advantage of Saturday's weather to enjoy opening day of dove season, even if they missed a little football while missing some of those fast-flying birds.

This year, hunters are allowed to take 15 birds per day -- an increase of three over the traditional 12-bird limit. That makes it likely that more hunters will recover banded birds.

If you do, it's important to report the kill to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, which has conducted annual banding programs in 30 states -- including Georgia and South Carolina -- since 2003.

In all, more than 170,000 birds have been banded as part of a broad project to learn more about the life cycle, migrational routes and mortality rates of the nation's No. 1 game bird.

Captured birds are marked with a metal leg band containing a unique number and the (800) 327-BAND telephone number, which hunters can use to report the band. Both Georgia and South Carolina band about 1,000 birds each year.

Georgia's dove seasons are Sept. 6-21; Oct. 11-19; and Nov. 27-Jan. 10. In South Carolina, the seasons are Sept. 1-Oct. 4; Nov. 22-29; and Dec. 19-Jan. 15.

WILDWOOD FEE HIKE: Low water levels forced the closure last week of Wildwood Park's "mega-ramp" area that has gained popularity for playing host to major bass tournaments.

Many local anglers, however, are paying more this year for annual passes to use the facility, which is operated by Columbia County.

"We did change the pass price from $65 to $80," said Barry Smith, the county's Leisure Services director.

The $15 increase, however, also includes access to the park during the major events held there each year at which a separate $5 admission fee is charged, he said.

"Before, we were still requiring pass-holders to pay the $5 fee," he said. "With the new passes, they can get in at all events, no matter how many there are."

Bass tournaments, including the upcoming ESPN Women's Bassmaster event on Sept. 18-20, will still use Wildwood for weigh-ins, but boat launches are being diverted to other ramps at the lake.

Wildwood will reopen whenever the lake gets at least a foot or more of water. Until then, the ramps would be unsafe.

DUCK SEASONS: Early hunting seasons for some species of waterfowl will open soon, with an expanded bag limit for one of the state's most popular ducks.

"Waterfowl hunters will again have a 60-day hunting season and also have an increased bag limit for one species that should please many Georgia hunters," said state waterfowl coordinator Greg Balkcom. "Georgia has been actively involved for several years in the federal process on this issue, and finally the bag limit for wood ducks has been raised to three per day."

Georgia's early waterfowl opportunities include a teal hunting season (Sept. 20-28) and an extended September season for Canadian geese (Sept. 6-28), but the more traditional late seasons won't open until around Thanksgiving.

Hunting season for all ducks will be open Nov. 22-30 and Dec. 6-Jan. 25. The bag limits for most species remains unchanged from last year. However, there are changes for two species: the wood duck bag limit is three, and the scaup limit is one. But the season is closed on canvasbacks.

NOTE: Last week's outdoors column about a huge cottonmouth that turned up in Columbia County generated some interesting comments and e-mails.

Most notably, our online version of the story contained a typo - instead of saying the snake was 4-1/2 feet long, our story asserted the portly reptile was "a whopping 41 feet."

Our new media content editors have since corrected the error.