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Texas’ 300,000 dove hunters will head to the field for the annual season opener on September 1. Experts say dove hunting generates around $450 million annual for the Texas economy. (Photo by Matt Williams)
Premium shot shells cost a little more but will pattern better and have more knock down power at long distances than cheap ones. No. 8 heavy loads are ideal for dove hunting when matched with an improved, skeet or modified cylinder choke. (Photo by Matt Williams)
Doves are among wingshooting’s most challenging targets. Texas dove hunters may bump into several different dove species including mourning doves, white-winged doves (pictured here), white-tipped doves and Eurasian collared doves. Eurasian collared doves are exotics and don’t count towards your limit. (Photo by Matt Williams)
Texas’ 300,000 dove hunters will head to the field for the annual season opener on September 1. Experts say dove hunting generates around $450 million annual for the Texas economy. (Photo by Matt Williams)
Premium shot shells cost a little more but will pattern better and have more knock down power at long distances than cheap ones. No. 8 heavy loads are ideal for dove hunting when matched with an improved, skeet or modified cylinder choke. (Photo by Matt Williams)
Doves are among wingshooting’s most challenging targets. Texas dove hunters may bump into several different dove species including mourning doves, white-winged doves (pictured here), white-tipped doves and Eurasian collared doves. Eurasian collared doves are exotics and don’t count towards your limit. (Photo by Matt Williams)
Texas dove hunters are anxiously counting down to September 1, opening day of the 2022-23 dove season in most of the state. It’s the first act in another round of long-awaited hunting seasons that will play out between now and next spring.
Dove hunting represents what is arguably the best low cost, high quality hunting option available to hunters, and sharing time in the field with friends on opening day is a hallowed tradition that most of Texas’ 300,000 dove hunters had rather not miss.
The lucky ones will find a ringside seat alongside a ripe croton field or stock tank buzzing with darting, diving mourning doves, feathered grey streaks that rank among wingshooting’s most challenging targets. While some hunters will collect a 15-bird limit, most probably won’t. The average dove hunter is a marginal shot, at best.
Dove season opens on a Thursday this year in the state’s North and Central zones, which could mean a five-day marathon for hunters with time off from work ahead of a long Labor Day weekend. The delayed opener in the South Zone falls on Wednesday, Sept. 14.
Dove season is a big deal around here. Even in a poor year, Texas dove hunting is way better than most states thanks to abundant populations of birds and a wealth of places to hunt them on private and public lands.
In 2020-21, Texas hunters shot nearly 5.9 million doves and spent more than 1 million hunter days in the field, according to TPWD’s small game harvest survey. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reports show Georgia was No. 2 that year an estimated harvest of 856,500 birds.
Texas’ resident mourning dove population is estimated at around 20 million, 10 million white-winged doves and about 3.5 million exotic Eurasian collared doves. The numbers may triple by fall during good hatch years, according to Owen Fitzsimmons, dove program leader for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
Together all of this adds to a feathered cash cow believed to generate more than $450 million annually for the Texas economy, Fitzsimmons said.
Extreme drought conditions hampered dove reproduction in some areas this summer, but Fitzsimmons says resident breeding populations appear to have fared pretty well overall. The biologist says doves usually do better in dry years and that seems to have held true this year.
“I’ve heard mostly positive reports from our staff, and our banding age-ratios are skewed really high indicating a lot of young birds on the landscape,” he said. “I think we’re looking at a more productive breeding season than we’ve had the past couple of years.”
Fitzsimmons says available water sources in good dove country should be hotspots for afternoon hunts after the birds have fed. Otherwise, he expects the best shoots to happen around drought-resistant native food sources like common sunflower, croton, pigweed, paspalum and other annual forbs and grasses that have seeded out, or any irrigated crops. Food near water will be golden.
Just remember that weather changes can move birds around and alter hunting prospects on a dime. Significant rain events like those witnessed in mid-August in deep South Texas can put water in places it previously wasn’t and cause birds to scatter. The same holds true for cold fronts that can push resident birds out and usher new ones in.
With long range forecasts calling for some much welcomed moisture across much of the state through late-August, Fitzsimmons says Mother Nature could shake things up ahead of the season opener.
“One thing about these late rains is can cause some native vegetation to pop up and seed out before winter,” Fitzsimmons said. “That could result in some good hunting in October on through the second split of the season.”
North Zone: Sept. 1 - Nov. 13 and Dec. 17 - Jan. 1
Central Zone: Sept. 1 - Oct. 30 and Dec. 17 - Jan. 15
South Zone: Sept. 14 - Oct. 30 and Dec. 17 - Jan. 22
Special White-winged Dove Days: Sept. 2-4 and Sept. 9-11
• Scout: Scout hunting areas ahead of time to find out if birds are present and learn something about their flight patterns.
• Picking A Spot: Sit in the cooler shade whenever possible, preferably with the sun at your back. Hunting with the sun behind you will make it easier to see incoming birds and more difficult for birds to see you.
• Be Mindful of Movement: Doves have exceptional eyesight and they become inherently spooky once shot at. Wear drab clothing and be still when birds are approaching. Keep your face downward until the last second.
• Be Mobile: Don’t hesitate to change hunting positions if doves are consistently flying out of range, but don’t infringe on others.
• Use premium shot shells/choke: Premium ammunition will pattern better and may eject easier from autoloading shotguns than cheap shells. No. 7 1/2 to No. 8 are good shot sizes for doves. Improved, skeet or modified cylinder chokes are good for dove hunting.
• Decoy: The spinning wings of a battery-operated dove decoy will sometimes lure passing birds close.
• Don’t Litter: Always pick up spent shot shells and other trash before before leaving your hunting spot.
• Mark/Find Birds: Mark the location of downed birds immediately. Make every effort to locate it before shooting another.
• Clean and Care: Keep harvested birds away from fire ants and clean them promptly after the hunt. Bring along an ice chest and plastic freezer bags to keep cleaned birds cool.
• Daily Limits: Each hunter is allowed 15 doves daily. A limit may include all 15 mourning doves, 15 white-winged doves or a combination of two, but no more than two white-tipped doves. You can’t kill a limit in the morning and another limit in the afternoon.
• Don’t co-mingle birds: Keep your birds separate from other hunters in case you get checked by a game warden before reaching your final destination.
• Shotgun Plug: Pump and auto-loading shotguns must be plugged to accept no more than three shells, including one in the chamber.
• Hunter Education/License and Stamp: Hunter education certification is required of every hunter in Texas (including out-of-state hunters) born on or after Sept. 2, 1971. Hunters are required to carry proof of certification while in the field. Dove hunters need a valid Texas hunting license and migratory bird stamp. Licenses valid for this season are now on sale.
• Avoid Baited Areas: It is illegal to hunt migratory birds around areas that has been baited. If you suspect an area has been baited it would be wise to leave before the shooting starts and contact a local game warden. Ignorance is no excuse.
• Legal Shooting Hours: Legal shooting hours are 30 minutes before sunrise to sunset, except during the special white-winged dove season, noon to sunset.
• Wildlife Resource Document: Required anytime you give your birds to another hunter for transport. The document should list the shooter’s name/address/hunting license number, receiver’s name, number of birds and the place of harvest. Handwritten WRD’s are acceptable.
• Eurasian Doves are a Bonus: Eurasian collared doves are exotics that don’t count towards your limit. Leave the feathers on all collared doves for identification purposes until reaching your final destination, just in case you get checked by a game warden.
• Stay Hydrated: Be sure to bring plenty of cool drinking water along to stay hydrated. The same applies for dog handlers. An active dog can overheat quickly in hot temperatures.
• Look out for Others: Always know what is in front of and beyond your target. Never shoot in the direction of other hunters.
• Don’t Swing on Game: Swinging on game hunting accidents usually happen when the hunter is tracking a dove or quail, then pulls the trigger as the muzzle crosses paths with another individual they may or may not know is there.
• Play Some Defense: Never assume anything. Always let other hunters around you know your whereabouts and be mindful of what is going on around you.
• Eye/Ear Protection: Wear some eye protection while in the field to help prevent injury from stray pellets. Shotgun pellets can pierce the skin or put out an eye from 200 yards or more. Ear plugs will dampen the sound of a shotgun blast.
• Bugs and Snakes: Spray clothing with a good insect repellent to deter chiggers, ticks and other biting insects. Good snake boots are advised in rattlesnake country.
• Combined Annual Harvest: 5.89 million birds (2020-21 Season)
• Economic Value of Dove Hunting: $452 million
• Public Hunting: TPWD’s public dove lease program offers hunters access to more than 100 areas under lease from private landowners for dove and small game hunting. Most are located near metropolitan areas and offer good dove habitat. A $48 Annual Public Hunting Permit is required. To review the leases, check out tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/hunt/public. The dove leases are shown as clickable gold stars on the interactive map.
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