With good habitat during spring and much of summer, dove hunters should expect another good opener Sept. 1 in the North and Central zones.

Normally coming up with a dove season prediction is a pretty simple thing, but as we all know 2020 is anything but normal. The best thing that can be said is at least a bird flu did not race through Texas’ dove population … we think.

By any standards 2019 was an odd year for dove hunting from Austin north into the Panhandle. There were plenty of birds, but they seemed to have been so scattered because of good range conditions that hunters struggled until October when birds began migrating into the state.

“Mid-October was when we got our first major cold front of the season last year,” recalled Owen Fitzsimmons, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s dove program leader. “It wound up being the hottest and driest September on record for most of the state. Plus, we had such great habitat all summer and everybody had beautiful dove fields. I really think that was the issue last year for much of the Central and North zones.”

The biologist suspects that after opening day the birds had plenty of places with food and water to hide. Added to that was the warm weather slowed migration into the state and kept local birds from flocking up for movement south.

“It’s probably been about five years since we’ve had good timing with fronts in September. I have got my fingers crossed this year,” Fitzsimmons added.

This year’s season in the Central and North zones opens the traditional Sept. 1. The regular South zone season opens Sept. 14, but is also open Sept. 1-2 and 7-8 for the Special whitewing season.

Predicting this season is tough after annual federal and state migratory bird counts were canceled because of travel restrictions around COVID-19. Fitzsimmons is basing his prediction on information from biologists, hunters and landowners around the state. On paper it is similar to last year.

“Most of the state had a fairly average to wet spring. Much of East Texas and the Gulf Coast are a little wetter. West and Southwest Texas and the Panhandle are pretty dry, but habitat has been fair to good all around. Reports I’ve received are that native range looks great, most dove fields look great, but things are starting to dry out quick, which should be a good thing come September to help concentrate birds,” Fitzsimmons said.

Success in the early part of the season is highly dependent on birds that remain in Texas year-round and the year’s hatch. The majority of migrating birds do not arrive until well into the season.

The good news is that biologists banding birds this summer have seen more mourning doves than normal in the Panhandle and Central Texas. Fitzsimmons said numbers look good going into South Texas as well.

“If I had to make a prediction off reports from field staff and what I’ve personally seen, I’d predict an average to good season overall this year, but some timely cold fronts in September could really fire things up in the North and Central zones. I think the South zone will have another excellent year this season,” Fitzsimmons said.

He said right now he is actually more worried about the human population than the dove population.

“Honestly my biggest concern this year is that everyone will be able to safely get out and hunt, that outfitters can operate like normal, and that folks can finally spend some time outdoors with friends and family to de-stress after such a crazy year with the pandemic,” Fitzsimmons said.

For some reason dove hunter numbers in Texas have been trending downward the last three years, however, last year’s overall harvest per hunter average was close to the 10-year average of 15.6 birds. However, the overall harvest dipped from a long-term average of 9.6 million to an estimated 6.8 million mourning doves, whitewings, Eurasian collared doves and white-tipped doves combined last year.

Dove season in the North zone remains open through Nov. 12. It is open through Nov. 3 in the Central zone and is open for the regular season through Nov. 3 in the South zone.

Although it might be 100 degrees on opening day in some places, dove season officially kicks off the fall hunting season. It is closely followed by the early teal season Sept. 14-29, archery deer season Sept. 28-Nov. 1 and the regular deer season on Nov. 2.

Hunting licenses are on sale at retailers around the state or online at https://tpwd.texas.gov/business/licenses/online_sales/# .