By Troy Corman, t2ranches.com
Despite the heat wave of early August, you’ve probably noticed quite a few doves flying around Texas. In fact, Texas is estimated to have more than 40,000,000 doves. A few hundred thousand hunters participate in Texas dove hunts annually, harvesting roughly 6,000,000 birds each year.
If weather conditions in Texas remain dry during the start of the Texas Dove Hunting Season in 2019, dove will be hydrating near stock ponds or surface water in the late afternoons.
Another popular area for doves are trees with a place to perch, near sunflowers or grain-harvested fields.
For those in the Texas Dove North Zone, hunting season begins September 1, 2019 and ends November 12, 2019 – but then starts again December 20, 2019 and ends January 5, 2020. The Texas Dove Hunting North Zone is located north of Interstate 20. See the map of the Texas North Zone for dove hunting in 2019 above.
For those in the Texas Dove Central Zone, hunting season begins September 1, 2019 and ends November 12, 2019 – but then starts again December 20, 2019 but stays open a bit longer, ending on January 14, 2020. The Central Zone for Texas Dove hunting in 2019 is the swath of land from the eastern border of Texas to the western border, south of Interstate 20 and north of Interstate 10. See the map of the Texas Central Zone for dove hunting in 2019 above.
For those in the Texas Dove South Zone, hunting season begins September 14, 2019 and ends November 12, 2019 – but then starts again December 20, 2019 but stays open longer than the other two zones, as it ends January 23, 2020. See the map of the Texas South Zone for dove hunting in 2019 above.
The daily bag limit for all Texas Dove hunting zones is 15 doves, with a 45 possession limit. The Falconry daily limit is 3, and possession limit is 9, for all three Texas Dove zones.
White-winged dove can be hunted in the entire South Zone on September 1st, 2nd, 7th, and 8th from noon to sunset.
For all other Texas Dove Hunts, shooting time begins at one half hour before sunrise, and ends at sunset.
Below are links for all hunting seasons in Texas and Texas hunting and fishing license information.