2020 dove season to open next Tuesday
By Melinda L. Lucas
Texans are living in uncertain times amid the COVID-19 pandemic that has lingered for months and thrown most daily activities for a lurch, but if there’s one thing hunters in the Lone Star State can count on, it’s that fall hunting seasons are almost here, and once again, the overall dove hunting forecast is strong.
Opening day of dove hunting in Texas is Tuesday, Sept. 1, and for the fifth year in a row, hunters across the Lone Star State, including those in the Albany area, will have a 90-day hunting season and 15-bird daily bag limits.
Owen Fitzsimmons, dove program leader for Texas Parks and Wildlife (TPWD), said that while the dove hunting outlook always remains strong based on population figures, this year is one that certainly is unprecedented amid the lingering coronavirus outbreak.
“This year with the pandemic we had to cancel some of our survey efforts that we normally do in the spring, which includes our spring breeding surveys for doves, so we’ve been having to rely mostly on field reports to gauge our outlook,” Fitzsimmons said. “We did have good conditions across the state coming into breeding season – it wasn’t too dry or too wet – and things looked good for most of the summer, which should have yielded good production.”
Fitzgibbons mentioned Shackelford County in a short list of promising destinations.
“If you had to pick a select number of counties that consistently provide quality shoots, you’d have to zero in on hot spots in Central Texas and South Texas,” said Fitzgibbons. “The top counties in the north and central dove zones typically are Brown, Coleman, Comanche, Throckmorton, Haskell and Shackelford.”
According to local game warden Jacob Mort, however, hunters in Shackelford County may have to be patient this year.
“From what I’m seeing and hearing, the first couple of weeks will probably be average to slow,” said Mort. “We haven’t had cool fronts to push the birds down from the north yet, and although we’ve got some birds, they’re all local.”
Mort also said that outfitters have told him that some hunting parties have cancelled because of the concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic.
A hot, dry landscape heading into the season can concentrate dove around feeding and watering areas, making for excellent hunting, so in that respect, the season is promising, said the game warden.
Each fall, more than 300,000 Texas hunters harvest around 10 million birds, nearly one third of all mourning doves taken nationwide each year, according to the TPWD.
Although those numbers may seem huge, the wildlife department reminded readers that Texas supports breeding populations of over 34 million mourning and 10 million white-winged doves, and those numbers rise during the fall when birds from northern latitudes funnel south.
Dove Hunting Rules
Dove season in the North Zone, which includes Shackelford County, is Sept. 1 to Nov. 12, and Dec. 18 to Jan. 3. Hunting hours are one-half hour before sunrise to sunset.
There are at least eight different species of dove in Texas, and hunters need to know which species can be hunted, which can not be hunted, and which have varied bag limits.
For example, in the North Zone, the daily limit for dove is 15 birds per day, with up to a total of three times the daily bag limit in their possession. Bag limits vary for different species of doves and hunters can not harvest more than two white-tip dove per day, while protected dove species can not be hunted at all.
Information on various dove species is available at the TPWD website, tpwd.texas.gov/regulations.
Resident License
Hunters are reminded that licenses are currently on sale for the 2020-21 hunting seasons and can be purchased through the TPWD’s 28 law enforcement field offices, at more than 50 state parks, and from over 1,700 retailers across the state.
Albany stores that sell hunting licenses are Blanton-Caldwell Trading Co. on Main Street and Higginbotham Brothers Co. on Railroad Street.
Licenses may also be purchased online through the TPWD website or by phone at 800-895-4248.
Call center hours are Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and there is a required $5 administrative fee for each phone or online transaction. The online transaction system is available 24/7.
The typical cost for a Texas resident hunting license is $25, while a senior resident hunting license (for Texas residents 65 years of age and older) is $7.
Packages that combine hunting and fishing licenses and lifetime licenses are also available.
Hunters 17 years of age or older must have a driver’s license or personal identification certificate (issued by the Department of Public Safety) on their person while hunting. Non-residents must have similar documents issued by the agency in the state or country of which the person is a resident.
Hunters are now allowed to use a digital image of their hunting license as proof-of-license for any hunting that doesn’t require a tag, like dove hunting. Accepted formats include: (1) a digital photo, (2) an emailed receipt, (3) within the Outdoor Annual app or the My Texas Hunt Harvest app, or 4) online purchase record.
Non-resident License
The costs for a non-resident general hunting license is $315, a non-resident special hunting license is $132, and a non-resident five-day special hunting license can be purchased for $48. Endorsements are also required.
Youth License
Non-residents under 17 years of age may hunt with a resident license. Youth (those under 17 years of age at the date of license purchase) hunting license cost $7, and do not need a migratory bird endorsement.
Endorsement
A person 17 years of age or older must possess a migratory game bird endorsement receipt to hunt any migratory game bird in this state, including mourning doves.
The costs for a Texas migratory game bird endorsement is $7.
When purchasing a hunting license, buyers must indicate to the license clerk that they intend to hunt migratory game birds and need to be HIP certified by answering a few simple questions.
HIP Certification
No person can hunt migratory game birds in this state unless that person is certified in the Harvest Information Program (HIP) in Texas.
HIP certification involves a brief survey of the hunter’s previous year’s migratory bird hunting success and is conducted at the time licenses are purchased. There is no charge for the HIP certificate, but hunters need to make sure that the license vendor asks them the HIP questions and provides them with the certification.
The letters “HIP” should appear on the license to indicate that the buyer has been HIP certified.
Hunter Education
In addition to a hunting license, anyone born after Sept. 1, 1971, must successfully complete a hunter education training course. Those under 17 and those 17 and older who purchase a one-time deferral license may hunt legally in Texas if accompanied by a licensed hunter 17 years or older who has passed hunter education or who is otherwise exempt.
Accompanied means being within normal voice control.
Proof of certification or deferral is required to be on the individual’s person while hunting.
Minimum age of certification is nine years.
Single-day in-person course cost is $15.
Persons 17 years of age and older have the option of taking the course in person or online.
The TPWD Hunter Education certification is valid for life and is honored in all other states and provinces.
Regulations
Guns used by dove hunters must be incapable of holding more than three shells.
Hunters are also reminded that it is illegal to hunt from a vehicle and that includes sitting in a chair in the back of a pickup or on a tailgate.
Migratory game birds can not be hunted on public roads or on the right-of-way of public roads.
