Dove hunting changes could be coming to Texas

Resentment has been building for decades over the presumed injustice of allowing wingshooters north of San Antonio to open fire on doves on Sept. 1.

Cries of discrimination persisted even when sections of extreme South Texas along the Rio Grande allowed afternoon wingshooting in the Special White-Winged Dove Zone during the first two weekends of September. Expanding the zone later did little to quiet the complaints.

Just so you know, federal migratory bird managers are reluctant to let us hunt mourning doves much earlier than mid-September in the state’s lower regions because too many fledgling doves remain in their nests at that time. Shoot mama and baby dies is the fear.