| Window | Dates | Days |
|---|---|---|
| Window 1 | 01 SEP – 15 SEP 2026 | 15d |
| Window 2 | 14 NOV – 28 DEC 2026 | 45d |
As publishedSep 1-15, 2026 and Nov 14-Dec 28, 2026
Two-segment season, shared table row with white-winged dove.Bag limit is 15 doves/day in aggregate with white-winged dove, of which no more than 10 may be white-winged doves. Possession limit triple the daily bag. HIP Validation required in addition to a hunting license and Upland Game Bird Validation.
Mourning dove is present at huntable density essentially statewide in California, but CDFW's own public-land wildlife-area preparation program (habitat plots of safflower, sunflower, wheat, milo, and millet, timed for the Sept. 1 opener) concentrates in three named agricultural valley regions, confirmed directly from a CDFW press release (wildlife.ca.gov). An independent hunting-guide source (California Upland) adds a fourth, lighter-pressure region and corroborates that dove occupy the rest of the state's agricultural margins outside these four areas too.
The federal survey cannot say whether California dove numbers are rising or falling. Its 2016 to 2025 estimate comes out at 1.19% per year, but the range around it runs from -0.44% to +2.83%, wide enough in both directions that no direction can be called. Read that as unknown, not as steady. The figures also run through 2025, one season behind this fall.
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