Posted 8:45 pm Sunday, April 05, 2009
Bigger Bag Limit Possible For Dove Season
By STEVE KNIGHT
Outdoor Writer
Yes, it seems, you can have your cake and eat it too.
Outdoor Writer
Yes, it seems, you can have your cake and eat it too.
Take for example this fall's mourning dove season. There is a good possibility that hunters in Texas' South and Central zones could be looking at a 70-day dove season next with a 15-bird daily bag limit. Hunters in the state's North Zone might have a long sought-after winter season.
The change, which the Texas Parks and Wildlife commissioners approved for publication in the Texas Register and for public comment, is not the result of biologists finding more mourning doves across the country. Instead it is the adoption of a harvest management plan similar to what guides waterfowl seasons and bag limits.
The management strategy has been under discussion between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, technical advisory committees and state agencies for several years.
Corey Mason, TPWD's dove program leader, explained that throughout the central portion of the country data is based on a 70-day season. Under the adaptive harvest management plan there are three bag limit options based on dove numbers.
"The three season structures available are liberal, which is 22, moderate, which is 15 and restricted, which is eight," Mason said. "Why such a wide range? The reason being is it has to be such a wide range so that we can actually run an analysis and determine some affects."
Mason said that looking at data from Texas for the past 30 years shows it would have been under the same moderate bag and season length being considered for this year. He added it would take a number of excellent productions years back-to-back to jump to a liberal bag, something he doesn't expect to see any time soon.
The more liberalized bag limit seems to be in conflict with some of the warnings that have surrounded dove hunting in recent years. Mason said for one thing the potential jump from 12 to 15 birds a day indicates biologists up and down the management ladder don't believe hunting is hampering the population. Statistically, only about 5 percent of the mourning doves taken each season are shot after the first two weeks of the season.
"Conceptually this is not new," Mason said. "Some like 70 days. Some like 15 birds. Some like both."
In recent years because Texas' North Zone has had a straight 60-day season hunters, have been allowed a 15-bird bag limit. In the Central and South zones, the season has run 70 days, including a winter season. With the longer season hunters were held to 12 doves daily.
Because of the size of Texas, the state is divided into three zones for dove hunting regulations. Those zones, Mason points out, are individually as large as some of the other states entire hunting units. That, along with the importance of dove hunting in Texas, makes the state a big dog in the fight.
Although the federal season guidelines won't come out until June, TPWD has to begin the process early so it can act quickly after the announcement.
Going in to the process, Mason said the department is looking at concurrent season in the Central and North zones running Sept. 1-Oct. 30 with a winter season open Dec. 26-Jan. 4. This should make hunters in the North Zone who have requested a late season annually happy.
After this season the winter dates could change in the Panhandle. Mason is proposing a series of public meetings to get input, but said it can't be done in time for the 2009-10 season.
TPWD is also seeking a minor adjustment to the South Texas season, which has traditionally opened the Friday after Sept. 20. Mason explained that under federal guidelines, Sept. 20 has been the earliest the season could open. The department adjusted the start to the following Friday to provide a three-day weekend.
"That is based on historical nesting dates. What those studies show is that all but 11 percent of the doves in South Texas have nested before September. The others nest in the first couple of weeks. They have set it on the 20th so not to leave any orphan doves in the nest," Mason said.
The department is petitioning the FWS to allow it to change the opener to the Friday nearest Sept. 20, but no earlier than Sept. 17.
A 15-day winter season is still being proposed for South Texas.
Mason said he believes there is a good chance that the FWS will allow all of the changes.
"It is some the Service has a buy-in in and have had people at the table since the beginning," he said.
However, Mason said it must also pass muster with the state's hunters during a public comment period expected to start in about three weeks.
That seems like a no-brainer for us cake eaters.
