Weekly Migratory Bird Hunting Report

Weekly migratory bird hunting reports are posted from early September through early February.

North Zone Dove: Rain showers last week put a damper on the flight, however, between showers doves were good in corn, milo and along treelines. Fields near Paris enjoyed good shoots in harvested corn and soybeans. Amarillo fields of corn and milo hosted steady shoots. Abilene saw half-limits to near-limits of mourning doves. Hunters should expect a new flurry of birds this week with sustained north wind forecasted. Prospects are fair to good.

Central Zone Dove: Whitewing action picked up where it left off the first week of the season in San Antonio. An influx of birds in harvested corn just outside the city limits made for easy limits. Uvalde, San Saba, Waco, Sabinal, Del Rio and Hondo were the other hotspots around the state. Hunters there said they saw a new wave of birds ride in on the recent north wind. Sealy hunters continue to see plenty of whitewings around oak trees and milo on the outskirts of town. Harrison County hunters have taken half-limits in the afternoon. Katy, Hockley, Brookshire and Waller hunters saw a new crop of birds, but not enough to garner steady limits. Rain around the Houston area has limited the flight. Prospects are fair to good.

South Zone Dove: The season opens Sept. 18. Best hunts during the Special White-winged Dove Area season occurred around Harlingen and Brownsville. Corn, milo and wild sunflowers have seen the largest concentrations of birds. Some fields near Laredo saw slow hunting. Prospects look solid in Lytle, Uvalde, Del Rio and the Rio Grande Valley. Doves that have been shot out of Central Zone fields in Uvalde and Del Rio are staging just over the zone boundary in corn, milo and sunflowers. North winds this week should prompt more migrants to move south. Prospects are good.

Teal Season: Opening day of teal season on the coast was fair at best – not for lack of birds, though. Steady rains the week prior to the opener seemed to scatter birds. As is normally the case with puddle ducks like teal, many birds left the marshes when the heavy downpours occurred, heading to high ground. That made for slow hunts opening morning; however, by Sunday, birds began trickling back to the coastal marshes and hunters enjoyed better shoots. Good hunters were posted in Wharton County rice fields and leveed ponds. Eagle Lake hunters said they had to hunt later on opening day to get their birds, but Sunday shoots were much faster. Garwood hunters reported average hunting at best. Collegeport hunters said Sunday hunts were much better than opening day. Playa lakes in the Panhandle gave up good shoots. Water supplies there are in good shape from summer rains and recent rains have recharged playas. Hunters say the country is green from all the water. Prospects are good.

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On the Net:

• Hunting Regulations: http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publications/annual/hunt/

2009-09-16