PointsAfieldSeason2026–27
New Jersey · Migratory

Mourning dove

Closed statewide, no exceptions (standing/indefinite)
0 windows on one classification

Season windows

Awaiting survey — No dated season on record

This state's classification carries no date range for the species.

What you may take, and when

Take and hours

Licence and outlook

Bag limitAwaiting survey
HIP requiredNot required
Exceptions posted at the boundary

New Jersey has no open hunting season for mourning dove at all — confirmed by NJDEP's own 2025-26 digest, which lists mourning dove under a "Closed / None" row alongside swans, harlequin duck, king rail and sandhill crane, and by the 2026-27 proposed-seasons document (Mar. 5, 2026), which contains no dove section whatsoever. This is a long-standing, structural non-game classification (per secondary reporting, in place for decades, reflecting NJ treating mourning dove as non-game rather than a huntable species), not a year-to-year dates gap — unlike most neighboring Mid-Atlantic states (PA, DE, MD) which do have active dove seasons.

Population outlook

New Jersey 2026

Awaiting survey — New Jersey 2026

New Jersey has no mourning dove hunting season at all -- confirmed via NJDEP's 2025-26 digest (a “Closed / None” row) and the 2026-27 proposed-seasons document (no dove section at all), a long-standing structural non-game classification. Distinct from plan 3's separate NJDEP-regs-digest research (season/regulation dates), investigated independently here on its own merits per the season-outlook question: NJDFW does band doves at Great Swamp NWR (since 2009) specifically to build baseline population data in case a season is ever introduced -- a genuine “monitoring in anticipation of a season” program, but it produces no forecast/outlook document, and there is currently no season for a forecast to serve. Closed no_program on the strength of the structural season absence, with the banding effort noted as color.

Issuing agencyNew Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlifedep.nj.gov/njfwRecord year 2026