| Window | Dates | Days |
|---|---|---|
| Window 1 | 05 SEP – 27 SEP 2026 | 23d |
| Window 2 | 05 SEP – 20 SEP 2026 | 16d |
| Window 3 | 10 OCT – 15 NOV 2026 | 37d |
| Window 4 | 17 OCT – 29 NOV 2026 | 44d |
| Window 5 | 19 DEC 2026 – 17 JAN 2027 | 30d |
| Window 6 | 12 DEC 2026 – 10 JAN 2027 | 30d |
As publishedNorth Zone: Sept 5-27, Oct 10-Nov 15, Dec 19-Jan 17; South Zone: Sept 5-20, Oct 17-Nov 29, Dec 12-Jan 10
State divided into North and South Dove Hunting Zones (boundary runs along LA 12 / US 190 / I-12 / I-10 from the TX border to the MS state line). Bag limit of 15/45 is an aggregate across mourning dove, white-winged dove, and fully-dressed Eurasian collared/ringed turtle dove combined. Extended falconry season for mourning doves Sept 21-Oct 7. Shooting hours: half-hour before sunrise to sunset.
LDWF divides Louisiana into North and South Dove Hunting Zones with staggered season-opening dates (a regulatory, migration-timing boundary along LA 12/US 190/I-12/I-10), but publishes no density map or regional abundance breakdown for the species. Dove is treated as a generalist, broadly statewide game bird. The one real sub-state signal is access-based: LDWF manages and leases more than a dozen public dove fields statewide, and that footprint concentrates in north-central Louisiana (Bossier, Caddo, Concordia, Caldwell, Rapides, and Vernon parishes) with a lighter, more scattered presence in south Louisiana. This is a public-access claim, not a population-density claim. LDWF's own dove page states plainly it does not identify which regions have the strongest dove populations.
The federal survey cannot say whether Louisiana dove numbers are rising or falling. Its 2016 to 2025 estimate comes out at 0.52% per year, but the range around it runs from -1.22% to +2.32%, 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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