After several weeks of not seeing any deer, I saw some today about 10am. Not the normal time for the location, but at least now I know when to hunt them.

On the duck side of things, it looks like another bad year for me. The wet areas are dry and I’ve haven’t seen many ducks flying. Once deer season is over I’ll still head out anyway.

Hope your seasons have been going well.

Weekly Migratory Bird Hunting Report

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.

With Hurricane Gustav sending wind and rain my way I didn’t even try to venture out for the few local birds I’ve seen.

I haven’t gotten any field reports back from my buddies to see how they did, but I hope things went good for them.

t’s a great time to be a sportsman. Soon, the popping of helmets and shoulder pads will be joined by the popping of shotguns and the sizzling of doves on the grill.
Dove season opens in the North and Central Zones on Monday, Sept. 1, which happens to be the Labor Day holiday, and the hunting outlook is better than normal.
According to reports I’ve gotten from hunters scouting their fields, good numbers of birds are being spotted from the Waco area southward toward Bryan and eastward toward Mexia and up toward Dawson. Hunters west of town say the McGregor and Crawford areas should offer excellent wingshooting in a few weeks.
Things are falling into place nicely. Grain fields are being harvested, which should provide a good feed source, and recent rains put new water into stock tanks and creeks, so maybe the birds will stick around and be active.

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 mourning dove and two white-tipped dove. The daily bag limit during the remainder of the Special White-winged Dove Area is 12 birds, not more than two 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 website 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.”

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.

Now that I’m out of city and living on the farm, I was able to hunt right at home. So when I got back me and my 3 year old took some chairs out and sat in the pasture. I ended up shooting a couple of birds one morning, we he got his mom to cook him for breakfast.

At this point most of the birds are gone out of our area of east Texas. But everything else is about to open up soon.

Central Zone
September 1 – October 30
December 26 – January 4

September 21-November 11
December 26 – January 12

More Information Here

The duck hunting was really good. I went out Sunday morning a shoot 2 wood ducks. There were a least a hundred in my swamp and the shooting didn’t seem to bother them, the place was still full when I left. On interesting thing did happen. My gun fell apart about the time I was waist deep in the middle of the water. I’ve got an 870 and stock decided to come unscrewed from the gun. Luckily it was a short walk back to the house to get a different gun and get back out there.

Now the good story. It doesn’t take long to bag a limit of ducks, even when your gun falls apart. I got back to the house and about 8 my dad got of my deer stand and left. I was sitting in front of the window that overlooks my stand and working on putting the 870 back together when I glanced up and noticed a big doe going across the pasture about 100 yards away. I went to get a screw driver from the kitchen and when I glanced out the kitchen window there stood the big buck I’ve been hunting. Right there in front of the deer stand. Then I watched him chase that doe out of sight. Oh well thats just the way it goes