Opener is on a Sunday. I am looking forward to operating a shotgun again. I am going to warm up on my buddy's mojos. Should be good.

What are your plans?

Or is it more like you shooting at birds decoying to his mojos and hit his mojos instead?

Warming up, like I said.
Warming up, like I said.

For the first time in 20 years or so I'm prolly not hunting opening morning. My daughter is planning on coming home and I don't get to see her much these days. Her and her mom have plans all afternoon Sun and she's leaving first thing Monday so I'm most likely gonna head out to the lease Sun afternoon. When I was there last week there was a good number around the pond already so I'm pretty sure I can have a decent hunt there. Will prolly stay through Tue morning.

You are a good Dad. Hope you have a good hunt at your lease.

Hoping we have a few to shoot at. Looking forward to it!

TPWD says record numbers this year.

Yep, saw that. Hoping it’s true and the little front hitting doesn’t move em out

I've had this discussion with my GW. TPWD has no clue what the numbers are, no one is counting birds. It goes by range conditions, if it's been a good Sping and Summer and conditions are good, they assume bird numbers are good.

When was the last time anyone has heard TPWD say it was going to be a below average year? And we all know we've had below average year.

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

It should be a decent year yes, but no one knows how the numbers stack up.

I remember TPWD said it was going to be a below average year in 2022, but I think there had been a freeze kill several local birds the winter before. I could not find the 2022 report online, but below is what news articles were reporting from it.
“MOURNING DOVE — The initial 2022 statewide mourning dove breeding population estimate is 19.8 million, which is about 30 percent below the long-term average (2008-21) and 15 percent below last year. The statewide estimate has been below average for the past few years, primarily due to lower overall numbers in areas of the North Zone."

It has been improving each year since from that 2022 low. IMHO, the way they do the surveys may not be the most accurate, but at least they do something and it would show trends if done the same way each year.
https://tpwd.texas.gov/documents/344/DoveStatusReport-2023.pdf
https://texasdove.net/wp-content/uploads/2024-TPWD-Dove-Status-Report.pdf

You are correct John. 2022 was the only year I could find that was suppose to be a down year, I stand corrected. But 2021 was suppose to be good, it wasn't around here. 2023 was suppose to be a lot better, it was better but not a large increase here. I certainly hope 2024 is a banner year, and I am seeing birds, just not the numbers of old in this area. We're sure due a good year.

There’s a lot of birds here but anything deeper than a cow track has water in it so they are more spread out than usual. Tons of sunflowers everywhere so there’s that too.

I sure wish we had some of that water here.

Well, maybe I shouldn't have worded it that way. I'm sure they have some clue, and I realize there's no way to count birds. I guess they do be best they can. I've just been disappointed with their estimates too often.

The TPWD surveys by year is showing the area of the state I hunt should have the 2nd best local population since 2008 which I assume is when they started doing the counts. And of course I get to miss the opener because of surgery on my nose Thursday and Friday.

Here you go. I found the 2021 Dove Survey. This one includes a description of how they do the counts and the history of how the way they do it changed over time starting with the 1950s call count surveys. For most it is going to be a very boring read. For all including me it is clear as mud. But here it is anyway.

https://content.govdelivery.com/att...ve%20Status%20and%20Harvest%20Report.pdf

I trust a politician more the tpwd nowadays. Lol

I really have trouble squaring those numbers with my observations. I've experienced a marked long-term decrease in dove numbers in North Texas over the last 30 years. May be me but I've had places really dry up. Graford and Hamilton come to mind. Still birds but either the migration patters have changed or the long-term numbers are down. Fields I hunted in the 00s were almost birdless in the teens or birds were there opening day and gone shortly after. We've had some good shoots but nothing like the 60s through the 90s.

The Oaks and Prairies region extends pretty far south and reasonably far west. That may be why I have a disconnect with the surveys. What I've heard from further west and further south are numbers are steady.

That is what I’ve been seeing in general.

Seeing LOTS of dove every where I go, have been since Spring.

Looks like 55/60% chance of rain for the opener. Never fails lol.

I hope we get a heck of a rain out here. Need it in a bad way, fires every week.

I'll never complain about rain, it's bad luck.

I am at my lease north of you in Young county. Cracks so big I'm worried my dog will step in them. Field has been dead for a long time. Not a single bird here.

Rain is welcome always!