Texas LAND Summer 2017

SPORTING ISSUE
It had been almost 30 years since my brother and I had last hunted together,
which was probably the last time that he had hunted. Robby was in town for a
weekend visit and our Sunday morning foray into one of our local dove fields
seemed like a good ticket to catch up on some old times. “These things are like
little gray ghosts in the sky,” he claimed. With over a box of spent green Remington
hulls, he had only one bird to show for his efforts. “You’re just a little rusty, that’s
all,” were my consoling words. I then dumped my 15 bird limit on the tailgate and
spouted, “Looks like little brother won this round.” But he didn’t care, nor did I,
as we were both simply enjoying the opportunity for some much-needed familial
time together. And that is one of the things
I like so much about dove hunting; it lends
itself to various occasions of the hunt,
from a solo standpoint, as well as those
which involve a social component. “Okay
big brother, now that I’ve schooled you on
putting these little gray ghosts in the bag,
I’m now going to show you how you put
them on a plate,” and we did indeed enjoy
a tasty pasture to plate lunch.
The Bird
There are seven species of indigenous
doves and pigeons in Texas, with whitewinged
doves and mourning doves
being the two species that are the most
abundant and are most commonly
hunted. Though the white-tipped dove
is considered a gamebird in Texas, very
little hunting for this dove takes place due
to lack of opportunity that’s presented by
the birds’ scarcity and lack of distribution.
Inca doves, common ground doves, band-tailed pigeons, and red-billed pigeons
round out the lot, but are non-factors in the Texas hunting scene.
Mourning doves are the most ubiquitous of the North American dove species,
being found in all lower 48 states, as well as in Canada, Mexico, and Central America.
It’s been estimated that our Texas fall mourning dove populations are upwards of
50 million birds. These grain-eaters have broad habitat tolerances and are perfectly
content making their homes in the back yards our largest of metro locales, as well
as the wilds of Texas’ back forty.
White-winged dove are a bit newer on the scene in much of Texas. Historically, the
lion’s share of whitewings in Texas were found in the Lower Rio Grande Valley Region
of deep South Texas. However, this largely began changing some 20–25 years ago,
as these birds began showing up in locales further north in the state. Recent years
have seen whitewings scattered over much of Texas, including the northern reaches
of the state, but it’s interesting to note that the resident concentration of whitewings
in many areas of Texas are highly centered in and around urban areas.
Referred to some as the “bonus bird,” Eurasian collared doves, or ringnecks
as they are often called, are an exotic species with numbers and distribution
that has greatly grown over the last 10 years around the state. They are slightly
larger than a whitewing, have no closed season and no bag limits, hence being
referred to as a bonus bird. Interestingly, they tend to be predictably site-specific,
A classic set-up with hunter using grain
stubble to break their outline, with
decoy out front. (above)
Recruitment of young and new hunters
into hunting is part of the recipe for
ensuring the future health of our
important hunting heritage. (left)
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