| Window | Dates | Days |
|---|---|---|
| Window 1 | 01 SEP – 29 NOV 2026 | 90d |
| Window 2 | 01 SEP – 28 OCT 2026 | 58d |
| Window 3 | 01 DEC 2026 – 01 JAN 2027 | 32d |
As publishedNorth Zone: Sept 1 – Nov 29, 2026. South Zone: Sept 1 – Oct 28, 2026 and Dec 1, 2026 – Jan 1, 2027.
Bag limit is a combined aggregate shared with white-winged dove.Zones split roughly by I-40 (North Zone = north of I-40 corridor to the AZ/TX borders via US-54; South Zone = south of that line). South Zone has a split season with a closed gap Oct 29–Nov 30, 2026. Falconry-only dove season is longer and separate: North Zone Sept 1–Dec 4 & Dec 21–Jan 1 '27, South Zone Sept 1–Nov 5 & Nov 22–Jan 1 '27, bag 3/day aggregate, 9 possession. HIP number required (federal, obtained annually per state hunted).
NMDGF's own Migratory Bird page lists mourning dove only as a huntable species with no distribution or density detail, and no source documents a population-density difference behind the existing North Zone/South Zone season split (boundary roughly along I-40). The zone system reads as a season-timing/migration-chronology boundary (the South Zone has a closed-gap split season, consistent with managing the fall migration window differently in the two halves of the state) rather than a documented density claim.
The federal survey cannot say whether New Mexico dove numbers are rising or falling. Its 2016 to 2025 estimate comes out at 0.70% per year, but the range around it runs from -1.09% to +2.54%, 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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