9 of us hunted all weekend long, 5 birds total, freeze devastated the local population

Yup been said on here many times. My LO told me this back in late August. It's a shame cause his place up in Throckmorton can be like Argentina when it's on.

It's been slow for us around Cisco as well. I think we killed 16 birds between 4 guys....over three hunts. This was the first bird I shot opening weekend...frostbite left him with only one toe.

Frost bite has been common with white wing doves. I know this is a bit on the egghead side, but WW doves has been a a more tropical bird. There has been a heavy population push north in last 50 - 75 odd years. There is a lot of speculation on there tolerance to cold weather, morning doves tend to show less signs of frost bite, but they ground huddle in real cold weather. Where WW wing tree huddle in the cold. This has lead to speculation on the number of WW doves with missing toes.

TPWD claims the WW population outside of south TX got hit harder by the freeze than mourning doves. That would make sense given their ranges. I hunt about an hour north of Abilene and from what I've see that is total BS. The mourning dove population was hit real hard. Big numbers were found dead under trees after the freeze, but the WWs are still there in higher numbers than I've seen in the last 5 years. They slowly expand their range so I don't think it's very likely they're newcomers, but I suppose it's possible. About one out of three had missing toes.

I'm wondering if the fact the WW roost in town may have something to do with their better survival rate. Maybe they found somewhere warmer to wait it out... dunno.

Look at the first dove, missing feet.

I agree the the MD were hit harder than the WW. I believe as you the town birds faired much better due to bird feeders and some melting ice and snow from various heat sources.

How many three point landings do you think it took before those birds figures out their toes/feet were gone? That's got to be tuff on those guys. Plus they probably couldn't scratch to get anything to eat from beneath the ice.