Dove season prospects looking good

From Staff Reports

The prospects for dove season, which opened yesterday on Labor Day Monday, Sept. 1, are good, according to wildlife biologists with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD.) Both mourning and white-winged dove populations are higher than last year.

In any given year, Texans shoot between 4-5 million mourning doves and Shaun Oldenburger, TPWD dove program leader, said he doesn’t expect that to change during the 2014-15 season.

“Based on rural and urban dove surveys by TPWD, the 2014 estimated breeding mourning dove population is about 26.55 million birds, which is a 5 percent increase over 2013 and nearly 8 percent above the long-term average (2004-2014),” said Oldenburger. “More than 90 percent of all mourning doves occupy rural habitats.”

The 2014 combined white-winged dove breeding population is estimated at 6.61 million birds, which is also a 5 percent increase over 2013 and more than 12 percent above the long-term average (2008 – 2014). However, 80 percent of white-winged doves live in urban areas. Texas harvests more mourning and white-winged doves than any other state in the country. From 2003 – 2013, Texas hunters bagged one out of every four mourning doves taken nationwide and more than 80 percent of all white-winged doves. With that level of activity, Texas dove hunting also carries a hefty contribution to the state’s economy, with an economic output of roughly $316 million. 

For the full story, see Tuesday's Highlander.