The Texas Parks & Wildlife Department issued the first dove hunting report of the 2009-2010 season. The regular season for the Brownwood area located in the “Central Zone” is September 1-October 25, 2009 and December 26-January 9, 2010.
Central Zone Dove: Generally, opening day of dove season was lackluster around the state, unless you were situated around the San Antonio township and feasted on the local flight of whitewings leaving the city to feed in agricultural fields outside of town. Sunflowers and corn yielded quick limits of whitewings in the morning.
Castroville hunters also reported good shoots. Sabinal, Hondo and Uvalde saw good shoots as well. Afternoon hunters saw a steady flight as well. Sunflowers fields in Navarro and Freestone counties was fair to good. Hunters there reported seeing more mourning doves before the recent cool front. Public hunting fields near Liberty and Beaumont saw fair at best shoots for mourners. Fields north of Houston in the Cypress area saw better flights of doves last week. Fields near Waller saw limited flights as well. Fields north of Brenham enjoyed high flights of whitewings.
Hunters situated around ponds and tanks took good numbers of mourning dove near Marlin and Waco. Sealy hunters saw their best action around treelines and cut rice fields — hunters reported excellent numbers of whitewings there. Katy, Brookshire and Hockley hunters saw slow action. Fields near Marshall and Longview saw half-limit shoots — many hunters there said they lost most of their birds after the last cool front. Prospects are fair to good.
North Zone Dove: Dove hunters saw fair to good shoots around the Panhandle over cut corn and milo. The region has received rain during the summer so there are plenty of watering holes and playa lakes. Lubbock and fields north of Abilene were good for morning shoots of mourning doves. Fields along the Red River enjoyed steady flights of mourning doves near Paris and Bogota. Soy beans, sunflowers and corn fields have been the ticket. Treelines and watering holes have seen the best flights in the afternoon. The region has enjoyed above-average rainfall amounts for the year. Prospects are good.
