Leggett: Dove season arrives with welcome new rule BY MIKE LEGGETT - AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Sunday — with hope in their hearts and shotguns in their hands — hundreds of thousands of camouflaged dove hunters will drop the hammer on the 2013 hunting season in more than 200 north and central Texas counties. Everybody is predicting an outstanding season, and who am I to argue? We’ve already had one little cold spell that motivated some birds to begin moving south. But a new set of doves slid in to replace those that left early and everything seems to be good again in the bird world. About the only thing that could mess things up for Central Texas hunters is a massive dose of rain, but then we’d be getting some drought relief so that would be a mixed blessing. From the Panhandle to South Texas, dove hunters and landowners are excited about the upcoming season. Among the reasons for that excitement is one rule change that’s going to make a difference in the hunting experience for some people. For the first time, hunters are going to be able to have in their possession THREE daily limits of migratory birds. We’ve always allowed that with quail in Texas but for ducks and geese and doves, federal rules set the possession limit at two times the daily bag. Now to some folks, this might seem like greed on the part of hunters, but honestly it’s not. It’s more a reflection of reality and reason, a glimpse of how and when people go hunting. Especially in South Texas, where hunting tends to be a long-weekend event Friday through Sunday, hunters will now be able to keep and bring home three limits of doves from the three-day weekend. In the past, those same hunters could kill a limit each day — that’s what a daily bag limit is — but they couldn’t possess three limits in the ice chest on their way home. To deal with that, people would eat that extra limit in camp or give some birds to a friend or — and this happened more than we want to admit — they’d just take their chances and drive home with more than the two-day possession limit of birds. After all, it was legal to kill them, just not to possess them. The rule didn’t change the number of birds that were being killed, just the number of hunters who could comply with the strict language of the law. Now that won’t be an issue. Now, all that said, hunters still must pay close attention to the rules so they don’t violate some other part of the possession limit regulations. There are more than 500 game wardens in Texas, and many of them will be paying close attention to hunters as the season gets underway. It’s possible to hunt all year without seeing a warden. Texas is big, and wardens have many responsibilities. But if and when you are approached by a warden it’s best to be prepared. One thing I do to avoid potential problems with a warden is immediately clean and wash my doves when I finish a hunt. You can do that in the field. I carry plastic bags in the truck, and I use a permanent marker to write down the day and month those birds were taken, and the total number of doves taken on that hunt. I even write down the number of mourning doves and whitewings, even though that’s no longer required. Just one precaution that makes sense, and it’s easy to do. Eurasian collared doves bring an interesting twist to hunt logistics. There’s no limit on collared doves, so you can kill a pot full even while you’re hunting regulated birds. To keep from having to explain why you have more than 15 birds in one bag, I recommend you put collared doves, which are noticeably larger than either mourning doves or whitewings, in a separate bag. Nothing in the rules says you have to do that but it just helps eliminate any questions a warden might have and that’s going to make your life easier in the long run. One final thought. Follow the gun and hunting safety rules. All of them. This is the most dangerous of hunting seasons in terms of accidents in the field.
Posted on: Thu, 29 Aug 2013 12:03:39 +0000
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