It is a time to: Sit in a small boat or on the banks of a lake with your favorite little scattergun across your lap while line of your favorite fishing pole leads out to a bobber that is suspending a worm, minnow or some other equivalent of piscatorial smorgasbord. The sun is warm, the breeze is cool and the action is hot when a flight of doves, teal or Canada honkers sweep in unexpectedly from the skies just about the time the bobber sinks.

It is lawful to hunt teal (blue-wing or green-wings) until Sept 16, Canada geese through Sept. 15, and mourning doves through Oct. 16 if you have the proper state and federal licenses and stamps, and any of these game species offer an interesting hunt. But combining any/all of them with fishing and you run smack-dab into an experience that can offer both fishing and hunting excitement and the prime ingredients for several gourmet dinners.

And like the hunting, the cooking and dining also can be combined if one remembers that it takes less time to cook fish than any meat requires. But a broiled dove breast or teal dinner (with the fish, filets or whole, exposed to the heat as the meat is browning) is a dinner that is much too tasty for any king (and you can throw in their ladies and the horses they rode in on). A baste of olive oil and melted butter (half-and half) will do wonders for both the meat and the fish. For the latter you may want to add some lemon juice, and you will want to use chopped onion like it is going out of style on both meat and fish, not to mention liberal sprinklings of salt and pepper, even some garlic salt.

Note: Serve this dinner with a nice green salad, sliced chilled tomatoes or both, and a baked potato (gravy for the potato made with a base of juice from the broiler pan).

That is a good starter for the cooking and eating, but there are many other ways to prepare these food items. So much for the cooking.

Combining hunting with any other activity can be risky business because guns can be dangerous if not handed properly. For this reason, I like to go solo when combining hunting and fishing from a boat, but a tandem floating effort can be fun if the fishing and hunting "chores" are handled by individuals-one gun, one fishing pole and you take turns. Shoreline outings are much safer, but it still is best to include no more than two persons unless those extras can be well scattered around the lake. To be legal, these combination efforts require the necessary Indiana hunting/fishing licenses, and the state waterfowl hunting stamp (6.75) if ducks or geese are to be involved. Duck and goose hunting also requires the federal duck stamp ($15, available at most U.S. post offices).

Also needed for all of these species is a HIP (harvest information program) number which is available at no charge by calling 1-800-Wetland. You must have the number of your hunting license to complete registration for this number.