Texas Hunting Leases

Weekly migratory bird hunting reports are posted from early September through early February.

High Plains Mallard Management Unit: Goose hunters enjoyed better decoying action near Dumas, Spearman and Amarillo with the snow and colder conditions. Larger Canada geese are showing with frozen ponds in the northern states. Snow geese have been tough to fool over decoys without weather. Specklebellies and Canadas continue to work in Knox and Haskell counties. Duck numbers continue to build in the Panhandle, with more mallards showing on playas. Most hunters have had to break ice to find open water in shallow ponds. Prospects are good.

North Zone Duck: Duck hunters have taken good numbers of mallards in sloughs, creeks and river bottoms. Colder weather and frozen waterways to the north have encouraged more mallards to cross the state line. Canvasbacks and other divers have been steady on Lake O’Pines, Toledo Bend and Lake Fork. Backwaters around Toledo Bend has produced good mallard shoots as well. Gadwalls and wigeons have been taken in shallow coves of lakes and reservoirs. Wood ducks have been steady at first light in the timber. Hunting remained steady around the zone boundaries of IH-10. Freshwater impoundments have held pintails, wigeons, shovelers and green-winged teal. Prospects are good.

South Zone Duck: The coast continues to produce steady duck shoots on the prairies, marshes and bays. Gadwalls, wigeons, shovelers and pintails have been steady near Eagle Lake, Garwood and Wharton. Absent has been the large concentrations of green-winged teal that many hunters count on to fill limits. Bay hunters enjoyed limits to half-limits near Port O’Connor and Rockport. Redheads, bluebills, gadwalls and wigeons have made up the bay bags. Hunters in Trinity Bay have enjoyed half-limits of gadwalls and bluebills on the north shoreline. Marsh hunters near High Island and Sabine Pass have seen slow hunting. Snow goose hunting has been difficult, even with weather conducive to goose hunting. A small juvenile population of snows has been the culprit for slow decoying action. Specklebellies have shied from calling. Sandhill crane numbers are steady, but few hunters have set up decoy spreads. Most cranes have been harvested by goose hunters in white spreads. Prospects are good.

Dove Season! The very words conjure up excitement for the beginning of hunting season. In just a few days, thousands of Texans will take to the fields to fulfill their annual pilgrimage by sitting along tree lined crop fields and cattle tanks looking for the fast flying birds. But, because Dove season begins essentially in hottest time of the year and is the first hunting season to partake in, special preparations should be taken before packing up and heading out. Among the obvious at this time of year is getting an early start on your hunting license.  Knowing your hunting zones and regulations is also a must. For the heat make sure that you are prepared to keep cool and hydrated.  And finally, make sure you have done your homework on your Dove Species and hunting lease or outfitter.

Texas boasts fall dove populations in excess of 40 million birds and its 300,000 dove hunters harvest about 6 million birds annually or roughly 30 percent of all doves taken in the United States. Dove hunting also has a major economic impact, contributing more than $300 million to the state economy.  Beginning this year, Texas will be going to a 70-day dove season and 15-bird daily bag statewide. Possession limit is still twice the daily bag. The season in the North and Central Dove Zones runs Tuesday, Sept. 1 through Sunday, Oct. 25 and reopens Saturday, Dec. 26 through Saturday, Jan. 9. The South Zone dove season runs Friday, Sept. 18-Tuesday, Nov. 3, reopening Saturday, Dec. 26-Sunday, Jan. 17.

This year, TPWD has leased nearly 50,000 acres of public dove hunting fields in 46 counties; many of which are located near major urban areas. The 140 hunting units are distributed from South Texas to the Panhandle and from Beaumont to West Texas.  “Approximately seventy-two percent of the dove units and 71 percent of the acreage are located in the four major metro areas of Austin/Waco, Houston/Beaumont, San Antonio/Corpus Christi and Dallas/Fort Worth,” said Vickie Fite, TPWD public hunting program coordinator.”

Texas Dove Hunting Leases are popping up all over and doing some homework by calling around and getting prices, types of hunting terrain and amenities is a good idea.  With this season’s bag limits up to 15 birds this year, you can certainly get a full day’s shooting.  Finally, after a great hunt, enjoy your dove with a good beverage and a few of your favorite fixins’. The little bird is a favorite on the grill, the frying pan and even in the casserole dish. Good Hunting!

AUSTIN, Texas — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service SRC (Service Regulation Committee) has approved the 2009-2010 Texas dove season, including a 70-day season and 15-bird daily bag statewide, and a 16-day early teal season.

Additionally, the SRC approved moving the Texas South Zone dove season opening the Friday nearest Sept. 20, but no earlier than the 17th. This year the season will open Sept. 18.

Texas dove season in the North and Central Dove Zones will run from Tuesday, Sept. 1 through Sunday, Oct. 25 and reopen Saturday, Dec. 26 through Sunday, Jan. 9, with a 15-bird bag and not more than two white-tipped doves.

The South Zone dove season will run Sept. 18-Nov. 3, reopening Dec. 26-Jan. 17 with a 15-bird bag and not more than two white-tipped doves.

Possession limit is twice the daily bag for all migratory game birds except light geese, which currently does not have a possession limit.

The Special South Texas White-winged Dove Area will open to white-winged dove afternoon-only (noon to sunset) hunting the first two full weekends in September running from Sept. 5-6 and 12-13 and reopen when the regular South Zone season begins on Friday, Sept. 18 through Tuesday, Nov. 3 and again from Saturday, Dec. 26 through Wednesday, Jan. 13. The Special White-winged Dove Area season takes four of the allowable 70 days, so when the regular season opens, this area most close four days earlier than the rest of the South Zone. The daily bag limit is 15 birds, not more than four mourning doves during the first two weekend splits and 2 white-tipped doves. Once the general season opens, the aggregate bag limit will be 15.

The Service also approved a proposal to give TPWD the option to adjust a portion of the boundary of the Special White-winged Dove Area. This change would remove portions of Jim Hogg and Starr counties.

Texas’ 16-day September teal season will run Sept. 12-27.

The season for rail and gallinule is Sept. 12-27 and Oct. 31-Dec. 23; for snipe, Oct. 31-Feb. 14; and for woodcock, Dec. 18-Jan. 31.