Q&A with TPWD dove program leader

"Here is a question-and-answer session with Shaun Oldenburger, who heads the dove program for TPWD.

What percentage of the total dove harvest is taken during the first two weeks of the season?

Based on FWS dove diary surveys, approximately 50 percent of the doves are harvested in the first two weeks in each zone.

How many dove hunting trips does the average hunter make per season?

Based on FWS Harvest Survey Branch estimates, 276,900 mourning dove hunters spent 934,800 days afield last season, which equates to about 3.4 days per hunter. For white-winged doves, 130,400 hunters spent 472,800 days afield, which equates to about 3.6 days per hunter.

How many birds does the average hunter harvest per season?

Last season, the estimate was 18.6 mourning doves per hunter, 13.9 white-winged doves per hunter.

How many shots, on average, does a hunter fire to harvest each dove?

It’s about one bird per four or five shots, based on the TPWD lethality study.

What percentage of North American doves migrate through Texas?

There really isn’t a good statistic for this, but Texas definitely does act as a funnel for migration.

What percent of the nation’s dove harvest is taken in Texas?

For mourning doves, the average over the last 12 seasons has been 27.8 percent of the total U.S. harvest.

Next season, we will have 20 additional hunting days, making 90 days total. If hunters don’t utilize the 70-day season any more than they do, why expand to 90 days?

The longer season allows more flexibility to go dove hunting. Nobody’s schedule is getting less full. With the past few seasons, we have received public input that hunters want season structures to go farther into October in both the North and Central zones. So this will allow more flexibility for some hunters to utilize those additional days. We don’t expect a significant increase in harvest, but we feel that this change will allow great hunter satisfaction with dove season dates, and that may result in more hunter retention and recruitment.

With white-winged doves now spread across the state, do many people still hunt them during the Rio Grande Valley weekends (the first two weekends in September)?

Based on our surveys, we have more people hunting the Special White-winged Dove Area season now than in the mid-’90s. Last season, we had over 20,000 hunters participate in the four-day season. It’s not like the old Time magazine pictures anymore, but there are excellent numbers of whitewings this year in the valley. I expect hunter use to be up in South Texas for the SWWDA. I believe the expansion of white-winged doves has created more opportunity for hunters rather than displace them from hunting in the valley."

http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/more-sp...gram-leader.ece

Next season, we will have 20 additional hunting days, making 90 days total.

GREAT NEWS

NO GOOD NEWS TO ME BUDDY. Make hunting decision difficult when it overlaps
duck and deer seasons....After all we have limited week ends.

My question is what the hell happened to all the public fields north of FTW? I'm not driving all the way across dallas county to hunt birds

Does the "next season" start tomorrow or Sept 2016?

We need more leases around Houston...

Ha, I screwed up that average today

I was dead on average!

I was just under 3 shots per bird over 3 hunts

I was very surprised to hear that it takes 4-5 shot on average for a hunter to harvest a dove. I only bring two boxes of shells with me on each hunt, and it rarely takes me more than a box to get my limit. I can't imagine firing 75 times to kill 15 birds. The average must be skewed by kids and new hunters.

no, the average hunter is just a poor shot.

I had 6 birds I took with a single shot that were in range on Tuesday. If the birds are coming often enough to wait for the good shots I can shoot 15 with <20 shells, and have on several occasions.
If they are more sporadic and I feel like going for longer shots then the average gets worse. They were not flying well where I was, I was getting impatient and so I ended up around 2.5 shells per bird.

I have no excuses, they were coming in close...almost too close. I'm better at L to R and R to L passing shots than I am at incoming

110/45 = 2.4

Sometimes I do better, most of the time I do worse.

Back in the day when I shot trap regularly and doing really well, I went dove hunting and the first 3 days couldn't hit a dove to save my life, on the fifth box of shells I hit my first dove, after that I almost couldn't miss. Don't have any idea what I was doing different. Same gun same shells. lol!

How did you do this year?

Those lands were pulled by the landowners for lack of respect by a few public hunters leaving spent shells in the field, trash, cleaning birds at the parking areas and leaving gates opened that need to be closed after entering. Just overall rude individuals with the folks who owned the land. All it takes is a handful and tracts are lost each year.

Sad to hear that. Thanks for the update.