I apologize ahead of time if this has already been answered somewhere else, but I'm new to hunting in general with my first and only hunting experience being the second day of dove hunting season this year. I reside in the DFW area and am curious if it is typical for dove hunting to cease early in the season is it possible to have a decent experience hunting dove later in the season? Not asking for anyone to give up any locations, but if decent dove hunting can still occur, it would be appreciated if any suggestions or guidance as to good methods of searching out possible producing locations could be provided. I'm used to seeking out fishing locations by using Google maps to locate bodies of water then investigating them from there. The hunting world is a little different so anything will help me a lot. Thank you.

I saw hundreds, if not thousands flying today while driving up 46 from Seguin to New Braunfels. As good as I have ever seen.

Do you think that would stand true for the DFW area as well?

I prefer late season dove hunting. I don't even get serious about dove hunting until October 1st. A cold wet windy October day makes a whitewing hunt feel like a duck hunt. They fly high when it's windy, so i even go to a full choke. A lot of dove hunting that ceases by mid-season is because deer hunters didn't do enough work in the summer and are behind on getting feeders and even stands put up. I'm a deer hunter, too, but my stuff's been good to go since May, so I'll dove hunt.

My best hunts last year were in October. The resident birds just got shot or shot at so much that they moved to where they weren't being hunted.

They'll move back in, and the cooler weather locally will help with how much they move during the day.

It also helps that this is happening....should see a pretty good amount of northern birds hitting DFW soon...

This ^^^^^ is spot on.

I hate to bear bad news but this season is going to be nowhere near what the last two seasons were. I think a lot of our birds move through with those cold fronts in late July early August. Sure there will be some more with these next cold front's but it's not going to be anything compared to last year. This is just one of those off years where the birds flew down early.

I'd focus your midseason efforts on water and food sources. If you have access to a Milo or sunflower field that is where I would start hunting. Also if you can catch some white wings coming out of urban areas to feed you'll be in better shape than many of us.

Last year by this time I had 6 to 8 limits in my freezer. Right now as of this afternoon's hunt I've shot 22 birds. I'm hunting the same fields with the same water and food source as I was last year.

The birds are spotty in our area this year. We have more milo in some fields for the first time in sevaral years. They are as thick as fleas in the milo. Ponds have been producing big numbers in the evenings. The other traditional flyways, not so much. I have limited everytime out thus far. Sevaral evenings have taken less than 30 minutes.

Hit the road to the small towns about an hour or better out of the metromess. Find the coffee shops and feedmills and talk to the farmers. Make a friend and they can put you on the birds. You may have to resort to offering to pay, but if you are on the birds and making newn friends its worth it. If you are a good steward, buy a round of coffee a few times, you just might get invited back for free.

I'm going to stay optimistic about it for now. It was slow for me this time last year and it picked up with a few good pushes....gotta be out there every day though!

I'm optimistic because I was in Oklahoma last weekend and there were a lot more birds up there than we're seeing at my place....it's gonna get cold this weekend so they gotta go somewhere. We'll see what happens!

And for Gods sake, be in the field the next few days. The hunting is going to be off the hook with this cold front coming through. They'll be coming down in waves. Good luck.

Awesome info! Exactly what I was hoping for. Thank you. Glad I joined the hunting forum.

Yes, hunting around DFW is still good. We shot limits pretty quick yesterday evening in Dallas County, tons of birds in the field still too. Just got to find the fields that are holding birds.