September 15, 2014
From YourStephenvilleTX.com
Opening day of dove season is always a busy one for Texas game wardens, and this year’s Labor Day opener in the North and Central Zones was no different. It shows in the number of citations issued in the field.
Through Sept. 10, Texas game wardens wrote 732 tickets to mourning dove hunters, according to figures from Col. Craig Hunter, director of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department law enforcement division.
As always, tickets were issued for a wide variety of violations. Some citations were issued for violations that occurred out of hunter negligence, others because of blatant breaches of game laws.
According to Hunter, 76 hunters were ticketed for shooting over their bag limit, 65 cited for hunting over bait, 65 for hunting without a license and 27 for having over their possession limit.
The daily bag limit on doves is 15 per hunter. A legal limit may include a mix of mourning or white-winged doves, but no more than two white-tipped doves. Eurasian collared doves are considered exotics and do not count towards a legal limit.
Hunter said an additional 290 citations were issued to white-winged dove hunters during the Special white-wing dove season on Sept. 6-7. Wardens also issued 69 warnings and seized 342 white wings taken illegally.
There will likely be another spike in citations issued when anxious Texas hunters head to the field for the opener of the first split South Zone season on Sept. 19. The first split in the South, Central and North zones runs through Oct. 20.