Posted on
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Dove Proposal Will Cost Opportunity
Remember this address: 4200 Smith School Road, Austin, 78744. You will want to use it in a minute.
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has proposed dove season dates for this fall. For hunters in the North and Central zones, everything stays the same. Both will open Sept. 1 and run through Oct. 30. In the North Zone there is a 15-bird limit. In the Central Zone there is a 12-bird limit which allows the department to offer a winter season running Dec. 26-Jan. 4.
However, the department is tinkering with the South Zone, taking seven days off the end of the early season and at the request of “a few” hunters, adding them to the winter season. The proposal calls for the season in the south to open Sept. 20-Nov. 2 and again Dec. 26-Jan. 20. There would again be a 12-bird bag limit.
“We had a letter from a landowner, followed by several contacts, down that way asking for us to move most of Jim Hogg out of the Special White-winged Dove Zone,” said Vernon Bevill, TPWD’s small game program leader, said in an e-mail. “The issue is they lose four days in the second split because they are in the Special Whitewing zone.”
Bevill explained he told Parks and Wildlife commissioners that shifting one week from the first season to the end of the second was a way to keep the season open later throughout all of South Texas. Because of an agreement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, TPWD is restricted in what it can do in the Special Whitewing zone until after next season. When moving the whitewing zone’s northern boundary, the department was locked into a five-year evaluation.
If nothing else, Bevill said he wanted to run the idea up the flagpole to see what kind of response it received.
“I especially wanted some publicity in the South Zone to see what our hunters really want. I expect there are more doves in January, but do not know from any surveys this is fact,” he wrote.
This proposal brings up several questions. First of all, to benefit a few does it take away from more? Is it doing exactly opposite of what is so often the department’s reason for a change, providing hunter opportunity? After all, it does take away a week of dove hunting that would have fallen during the first week of deer season. How many hunters will be in the field in mid-January in South Texas as opposed to the first week of November?
Secondly, while there are some hardcore dove hunters in the field in late January, any experienced outfitter or hunter will tell you that hunting then is little more than a crap shoot, and a short-lived one at that. By November, most of the doves in Texas have flown through a hunting field and are wary. What may be a field full one minute is more likely than not an empty field after the first shot. For that reason outfitters, including those in South Texas, seldom book late trips.
TPWD announced this week it will hold what it calls scoping meetings in South Texas to get public comment on changing the season. That seems like a good idea. However, it would have been a better idea to do it before making the proposal.
This is the second time the department has proposed a dove season change at the request of “a few.”
The last time was in 2001 in the Central Zone when the department lopped birds out of the bag to add days in the winter. Again the request came from a few hunters and at the cost of the vast majority who spend just a weekend or two a year dove hunting before moving on to other things.
With the public comment process open through June 26, this is the time dove hunters in the Central Zone need to write to reclaim their lost birds. It is a small thing, but there is little doubt that the cost of gasoline is going to impact hunting opportunity this fall.
The same holds for South Texas hunters who have traditionally hunted deer in the morning and dove in the afternoon early in deer season.
Why let hunting be dictated by a few?
Along with the dove season proposals, TPWD is also proposing an early teal season of Sept. 13-28 if a 16-day season is granted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or Sept. 20-28 under a nine-day season framework. The daily bag limit for teal is four.
For the regular duck season, the department is proposing the same season as last year with changes only for calendar adjustments.
Hunters may also make comments on proposed regulation changes at http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/business/feedback/public_comment/.
Contact Outdoor Editor Steve Knight at 903-596-6277 or by e-mail at out-door@tylerpaper.com
Bevill explained he told Parks and Wildlife commissioners that shifting one week from the first season to the end of the second was a way to keep the season open later throughout all of South Texas. Because of an agreement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, TPWD is restricted in what it can do in the Special Whitewing zone until after next season. When moving the whitewing zone’s northern boundary, the department was locked into a five-year evaluation.
If nothing else, Bevill said he wanted to run the idea up the flagpole to see what kind of response it received.
“I especially wanted some publicity in the South Zone to see what our hunters really want. I expect there are more doves in January, but do not know from any surveys this is fact,” he wrote.
This proposal brings up several questions. First of all, to benefit a few does it take away from more? Is it doing exactly opposite of what is so often the department’s reason for a change, providing hunter opportunity? After all, it does take away a week of dove hunting that would have fallen during the first week of deer season. How many hunters will be in the field in mid-January in South Texas as opposed to the first week of November?
Secondly, while there are some hardcore dove hunters in the field in late January, any experienced outfitter or hunter will tell you that hunting then is little more than a crap shoot, and a short-lived one at that. By November, most of the doves in Texas have flown through a hunting field and are wary. What may be a field full one minute is more likely than not an empty field after the first shot. For that reason outfitters, including those in South Texas, seldom book late trips.
TPWD announced this week it will hold what it calls scoping meetings in South Texas to get public comment on changing the season. That seems like a good idea. However, it would have been a better idea to do it before making the proposal.
This is the second time the department has proposed a dove season change at the request of “a few.”
The last time was in 2001 in the Central Zone when the department lopped birds out of the bag to add days in the winter. Again the request came from a few hunters and at the cost of the vast majority who spend just a weekend or two a year dove hunting before moving on to other things.
With the public comment process open through June 26, this is the time dove hunters in the Central Zone need to write to reclaim their lost birds. It is a small thing, but there is little doubt that the cost of gasoline is going to impact hunting opportunity this fall.
The same holds for South Texas hunters who have traditionally hunted deer in the morning and dove in the afternoon early in deer season.
Why let hunting be dictated by a few?
Along with the dove season proposals, TPWD is also proposing an early teal season of Sept. 13-28 if a 16-day season is granted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or Sept. 20-28 under a nine-day season framework. The daily bag limit for teal is four.
For the regular duck season, the department is proposing the same season as last year with changes only for calendar adjustments.
Hunters may also make comments on proposed regulation changes at http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/business/feedback/public_comment/.
Contact Outdoor Editor Steve Knight at 903-596-6277 or by e-mail at out-door@tylerpaper.com
FAQ
Search Forums
Log in
Register
Re: Obama's and Ayers: Somebody Answer This!
Re: Walking like a duck...
Re: Socialism vrs Fascism
Re: Perception is reality
Re: Obama's and Ayers: Somebody Answer This!
Re: Answering Question
Re: Obama's and Ayers: Somebody Answer This!
Re: Answering Question