Would like to know the good and the bad of the public lands around Lake Cooper gonna hunt it this year for dove...

Its normally really good.

Never been up their any help is very apricated

I have hunted there for other stuff and seldom see dove in any numbers. I have not covered the entire area though looking for Dove areas, but most of what I have seen there as far as habitat goes is lake shore, woods, dry lake and mud flats, and openings grown over so thick it would be difficult for Dove to even land on the ground. Dove I have seen were passing over with some other place to be. Maybe if you found a flyway from roost on the WMA flying to adjacent private land fields or private land fields back to water on the WMA, or an evening hunt on a flyway of birds returning the WMA to roost you could have a good hunt, but it would take a lot of scouting to find those places. I am not aware of any planted fields or plots within that WMA. It would just be crazy blind luck if you showed up on opening morning and found a spot with huntable birds. It should only be about an hour drive for you. If I were interested in Dove hunting that one I would go now to drive around it and scout to make sure it would be worthwhile. And if you find something good, don't tell a sole about it and post on here that you did not see a single bird on your scouting run.

I don't think you're going to have any luck at the actual WMA at Cooper for dove like SniperJohn said. There isn't much - if any - habitat to attract dove. It's a waterfowl/deer/pig place.

If you're talking about the public dove lands near there - it's hit or miss.

There really isn't a single TPWD dove only place anywhere in N Texas that is NOT going to be crowded for the first couple weeks of the season. They're all hit or miss and the local birds get shot out quick. There used to be more and better places back in the late 90s/early 2000s - the real "good" places are long gone for public access.

Depending on what's planted - some of the places really start to pick up around early October when more birds are migrating down. I don't waste my time fighting the crowds the first 3-4 weeks of the season. It's not worth the cluster F that it is with all of the people.

frankly, I'm not seeing any dove anywhere.

According to my outfitter buddy in Oklahoma, they're there.

Looking at the 10 day forecast across North Texas I used Graham and Dallas. It does not look like much is going to change, same S to SE wind, in the 90s, and very little chance of rain. So common sense tells me for the general NTX area, what you see now is probably what your going to get opening day. Slightly better chance of rain the farther east you go, but not much. But then too the weather forecast that far out is often wrong. I'm taking the fishing gear with me as a backup plan.

There'll be pockets of good birds here and there, close to towns and such. Won't be a total bust, never is. Everyone just get out into mother nature and enjoy time with family and friends. That's what it's all about anyway.

Never has much east of Terrell but i have seen alot of birds around fork and even out at Rayburn bit never hunted them out that way

Dove are funny birds. I hunted a place between Ranger and Gorman before my to buddy sold it to his god child, There was nothing but a pasture with some mesquites, 2 water holes, and about 60 acres of post oaks. We shot many limits out there. There was a big peanut field across the road and some small wheat fields in the area. Go east of town and there are lots of crops and not nearly the numbers of dove.

I agree. If I'm hunting public I wait until a cold front or two in late September and October rolls in. By then the hunters are gone.