Texas Weekly Migratory Bird Hunting Report - 10/1/2008
October 1, 2008
Weekly migratory bird hunting reports are posted from early September through early February.
North Zone Dove: Mourning dove continue to use milo, corn and soybean fields along the Red River. Cooler mornings and north winds have pushed new birds to the area, but best hunts have come in the afternoon around water and trees. Playa lakes around Amarillo and Dumas have been fair in the afternoon. Outfitters say playas are in good shape following recent rains. Fields north of Abilene have been best in the afternoon around water. Expect a new wave of birds this week as forecasts call for more north wind. Prospects are fair to good.
Central Zone Dove: Hunter participation has waned somewhat, which has allowed birds to build in fields and along tree lines. Mourning dove numbers are solid near Brownwood, Stephenville and San Saba in the afternoon around water. Corn and milo continue to hold whitewings on the outskirts of San Antonio. Hondo and Uvalde fields have been steady since South Zone pressure began. Milo fields have been good near Del Rio in the morning, then birds have been flying to gravel and water in the afternoons. Fields near Hankamer, Winnie and Dayton are holding mourning dove, but few hunters have taken advantage due to storm cleanup. New birds should show this week with forecasted north winds and cooler temperatures. Prospects are fair to good.
South Zone Dove: Dove have been best around water in the afternoon near Three Rivers, Fashing and George West. Good hunts were posted near Cotulla and in McMullen County fields of milo and croton. Laredo, Port Mansfield and Harlingen have been good around milo, corn and wild sunflowers. Stock tanks adjacent to these fields have held the brunt of the birds in the evening. Goatweed and water have held birds near Port Lavaca and Collegeport. El Campo hunting has been steady, though the area needs fresh recruits to sustain heavy hunting pressure. With north winds forecasted this week, the region should get a new deposit of birds. Prospects are fair to good.
Waterfowl: Teal season ended Sept. 28 and results were steady across the coastal prairie. Marsh hunting was virtually non-existent on the east side of Houston due to the damage from Hurricane Ike. A few pintails and shovelers are showing along the coast. Teal hunters reported seeing scattered flocks of specklebellies on the rice prairies. Ponds are drying from lack of rainfall. Generally, conditions have been dry since summer, with the exception of rain associated with the hurricane. It remains to be seen how the storm surge of saltwater, which killed most vegetation in the marsh on the east side of Houston, will affect waterfowl wintering patterns. Most of the aquatic duck food was killed from the saltwater intrusion. The Panhandle region is holding good amounts of water on playa lakes which is good news for waterfowl arriving during October.
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Weekly Texas Migratory Bird Hunting Report - 9/17/2008
September 17, 2008
Weekly migratory bird hunting reports are posted from early September through early February.
North Zone Dove: Best hunts have come around sunflowers and milo. Good hunts were posted near Sweetwater and Abilene. Soybeans in the northeast corner of the state have held birds. Amarillo and Dumas have had good hunts over milo, corn and watering holes. Knox City hunters have enjoyed strong afternoon shoots. The recent cool front pushed a few northern birds to the region. Prospects are good.
Central Zone Dove: The San Antonio corridor was spared from the rains of Hurricane Ike. Hunting continues to be steady around corn, milo and sunflowers. Hondo, Uvalde and Castroville have been steady in the afternoon around water. A new group of birds showed up with the recent cool front. Harrison County fields remain steady around plowed ground and goatweed. Marion County fields have been fair, but new birds have arrived on the winds of the front. Fields along the coast on the east side of Houston have seen few hunters since Hurricane Ike. The region was inundated with water and several agricultural fields were overrun with saltwater from the storm surge. Sealy, Katy and Brookshire have been fair to good. Prospects are fair to good.
South Zone Dove Prospects: The Sept. 20 opener should be a good one in South Texas, especially around the border of the South and Central zones. Fields around Uvalde, Del Rio and San Antonio are loading up with birds moved by hunting pressure in the Central Zone. Laredo, McAllen, Harlingen and fields around Port Mansfield are holding strong concentrations of birds. El Campo and Bay City fields look good for both whitewings and mourners. Large storm surges along the middle coast moved some birds farther inland from agricultural fields near the marsh and along the bayfront. Prospects are good.
Teal Season: Steady shoots have been posted across the coastal prairie on the west side of Houston. Eagle Lake, El Campo, Garwood, East Bernard, Chesterville and Egypt have seen good concentrations of teal. Some areas of Wharton County received as much as 12 inches of rain over the weekend. Good hunts were had around Nome on the east side of Houston. Few hunters have ventured in the marsh near Anahuac and High Island since Hurricane Ike’s catastrophic storm surge. Best shoots near Port O’Connor have come around freshwater impoundments. Prospects are good.
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Texas Weekly Migratory Bird Hunting Report - 9/3/2008
September 4, 2008
Weekly migratory bird hunting reports are posted from early September through early February.
North Zone Dove: Good hunts were posted in Harrison County around goatweed and plowed ground. Those who hunted in the morning were able to miss the rains associated with Hurricane Gustav; however, rains moved in during the afternoon and put a damper on flight in the northeast region of the state. Many people in the northeast region did not hunt due to preparations for the storm. Soybean fields and milo near Bogota were solid for limits of mourning doves. Lubbock, Abilene and Amarillo saw good shoot in milo, sunflowers and watering holes in the afternoon. Knox City hunters had great opening day shoots with a mix of whitewings and mourners in peanut fields. Not much water in the region, so many birds have been shot in the afternoon around watering holes. A cold front is forecasted to move through the region mid-week, which could push new birds in or out of the area. Prospects are good.
Central Zone Dove: The hotspot of the state was the San Antonio region. Milo and corn fields on the outside of the San Antonio city limits held excellent numbers of whitewings that made for easy limits in the morning. Hondo and Uvalde reported similar results. Those who did not scratch a limit in the morning finished their bag in the afternoon. Outfitters reported a better afternoon flight. Fields in Liberty County saw strong concentrations of mourning dove over goatweed, rice and milo. Fields near Hempstead, Sealy and Brookshire were solid. Hunters near Rockwall reported their birds moved out before the opener. Prospects are good.
Special White-Winged Dove Area: Prospects look good for the Sept.6-7 and Sept. 13-14 special afternoon-only hunting season. Fields around Uvalde and Del Rio look promising. South Texas fields of sunflowers, milo, corn and watering holes are holding the brunt of birds. Laredo, Harlingen, Port Mansfield and Brownsville are loaded with whitewings. Prospects are good.
Teal Prospects: Reports from around the coast indicate strong numbers of teal on the prairies and marshes. The coast has not had much rain in the past two weeks and hot temperatures have aided in evaporation. Water is not in abundance, but those with water should have plenty of birds. The Panhandle received five days of rain in late August that helped fill playa lakes for teal season. Bluewing numbers look good there. The region around Knox City is mostly dry, with scattered reports of birds. Some outfitters fear they may have to dip in their pockets and pay for pumped water.
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TPWD Finalizes Dove, Teal Seasons
July 31, 2008
AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department finalized the early season migratory game bird regulations, which includes dove and teal seasons for 2008-09. Texas hunters will see a 16-day September teal season and no changes to the South Dove Zone segments.
The North Zone runs Sept. 1-Oct. 30, with a 15-bird bag and not more than two white-tipped dove; the Central Zone is Sept. 1-Oct. 30 and reopens Dec. 26-Jan. 4, with a 12-bird bag and not more than two white-tipped dove. Possession limit is twice the daily bag.
This year, the South Zone dove season is Sept. 20-Nov. 9, reopening Dec. 26-Jan. 13 with a 12 bird bag and not more than two white-tipped dove. Possession limit is twice the daily bag limit.
The Special White-winged Dove Area, which now encompasses land west of I-35 and south of U. S. Highway 90, opens to white-winged dove afternoon-only (noon to sunset) hunting Sept. 6-7 and 13-14 and reopens Sept. 20-Nov. 9 and again from Dec. 26-Jan. 9. The daily bag limit during the first two weekend splits is 12 birds, not more than four (4) mourning dove and two (2) white-tipped dove. The daily bag limit during the remainder of the Special White-winged Dove Area is 12 birds, not more than two (2) white-tipped dove. Possession limit is twice the daily bag.
Teal season is Sept. 13-28 with a daily bag limit of 4 birds. Possession limit is twice the daily bag.
Hunters should note the dove and teal season dates and bag limits are not included in this year’s Outdoor Annual of hunting and fishing regulations. Information will be available in the Early Season Migratory Game Bird Digest supplement, available Aug. 15 on the TPWD Web site and wherever hunting and fishing licenses are sold.
A proposed dove season rule that would have removed one week of hunting opportunity from the end of the first season segment in the South Zone and added it to the end of the second season segment was not approved. Although public comment was supportive of the proposed amendment, the department has decided to retain the traditional structure because of other considerations resulting from public comment.
“Public comment received by the department indicates a growing concern among hunters, landowners, outfitters, and local businesses that economic factors are increasingly affecting hunting habits or will affect them in the future,” said Mike Berger, TPWD wildlife director. “The department therefore made the decision to leave the traditional season structure in place for the current year while launching an outreach effort to determine if the traditional and historic dove season structure should be altered for future seasons.”
In keeping with hunter and landowner preferences, dove seasons have traditionally been opened on the earliest day legally allowed under frameworks established by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, irrespective of which day of the week the date fell. Under federal law, dove hunting in the United States cannot begin before Sept. 1.
Sept. 1, as opening day of dove hunting in Texas, has been part of the state’s hunting tradition ever since the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 was signed. Treaties with Canada and Mexico established the framework for the taking of all migratory game birds, including dove.
“This year, Sept. 1 falls on Labor Day, a Monday, which is a good thing because it’s a holiday for many Texans, and like having another Saturday,” said Vernon Bevill, TPWD game bird program director. “The bad thing is, the next day isn’t Sunday, it’s back to work Tuesday.”
Similarly, this year’s South Zone dove season opener falls on Saturday, Sept. 20. Traditionally, dove season in South Texas has opened on the Friday after the 20th unless the 20th is a Saturday. Federal frameworks currently prevent opening the South Zone before the 20th.
Berger said recent public comment received by the department indicates a strong preference for seasons to open on a Friday, so as to create a three-day hunting opportunity to open the season. Recent public comment also indicates a preference for the 60-day/15-bird configuration in the South Zone.
“A recurrent theme was the concern that increased consumer costs, particularly transportation costs related to energy prices, make anything less than a three-day opening weekend economically unjustifiable,” said Berger. “Similarly, proponents of the 60-day/15-bird configuration stated that economic considerations would cause them to curtail the number of times they could go hunting, leading them to prefer a higher daily bag limit. In the past, hunters and others have expressed an aversion to delaying the opening day until the first full weekend, preferring the earliest possible opener.”
Hunters looking for a place to hunt dove should consider TPWD’s public hunting opportunities. According to Linda Campbell, TPWD public hunting program director, the department manages more than 50,000 acres of dove hunting units. Hunting access to these areas is available with purchase of a $48 Annual Public Hunting Permit, available Aug. 15 wherever hunting and fishing licenses are sold.
A map booklet detailing locations and additional information about the 143 public dove hunting units is included with the Annual Public Hunting Permit and will be available on the TPWD Web site beginning Aug. 15. A permit is not required to access the map booklet information online.
TPWD dove program coordinator Jay Roberson anticipates an above average hunting season for doves this fall, based on habitat conditions. “We had a pretty dry spring and doves do well in those conditions,” he noted. “The birds weren’t responding last year to predictions of good food availability and many doves stayed to the north. I’m guardedly optimistic this year.”
Roberson reported hearing of good numbers of doves across South Texas and anticipates hunters should have good success if they can identify flight patterns. Conditions are expected to change in the weeks heading into the season, particularly in the wake of recent weather resulting from Hurricane Dolly.
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