| Window | Dates | Days |
|---|---|---|
| Window 1 | 01 SEP – 08 NOV 2026 | 69d |
| Window 2 | 18 DEC 2026 – 07 JAN 2027 | 21d |
| Window 3 | 01 SEP – 25 OCT 2026 | 55d |
| Window 4 | 11 DEC 2026 – 14 JAN 2027 | 35d |
| Window 5 | 01 SEP – 25 OCT 2026 | 55d |
| Window 6 | 18 DEC 2026 – 21 JAN 2027 | 35d |
As publishedNorth Zone: Sep 1-Nov 8, 2026 & Dec 18, 2026-Jan 7, 2027; Central Zone: Sep 1-Oct 25, 2026 & Dec 11, 2026-Jan 14, 2027; South Zone: Sep 1-Oct 25, 2026 & Dec 18, 2026-Jan 21, 2027
Bag/possession limit is a single aggregate shared with white-winged dove and white-tipped dove (15 daily / 45 possession combined, with a sub-cap of 2 daily / 6 possession specifically on white-tipped dove). New this year: South Zone regular season start moved earlier to Sep 1, 2026, and the separate early-September 'Special White-winged Dove Days' sub-season has been eliminated for 2026-27 (no longer a distinct opener). Shooting hours 1/2 hour before sunrise to sunset. HIP certification required.
Texas's 3-zone dove season split (North/Central/South) is a season-timing regulation, not a density map, but TPWD's own 2024 Dove Status Report gives an exact, quantified regional-abundance answer instead. TPWD estimates statewide mourning dove abundance annually by Bird Conservation Region (BCR) using distance-sampling rural/urban surveys since 2008, and finds that on average, nearly 80% of the state's mourning doves occur in just four BCRs: the Shortgrass Prairie (31%), Oaks and Prairies (26%), Tamaulipan Brushlands (11%), and Central Mixed Grass Prairie (10%). These four BCRs map onto recognizable sub-state geography: Shortgrass Prairie covers the Panhandle/South Plains, Oaks and Prairies covers the Cross Timbers/Blackland Prairie/Post Oak Savannah belt across central-to-north-central Texas, Tamaulipan Brushlands covers the South Texas brush country (the Winter Garden area and much of the Rio Grande Valley), and Central Mixed Grass Prairie covers the Rolling Plains. TPWD's own dove-management literature separately notes South Texas (around Uvalde, San Antonio, and the broader Tamaulipan Brushlands/Rio Grande Valley) has produced especially strong recent seasons.
Texas's 2026 Spring Dove Population Survey (TPWD) put mourning dove at 36.7 million statewide -- up 2% from 2025 and 29% above the long-term average. The statewide number undersells how strong specific regions are this year: the Tamaulipan Brushlands, the historic South Texas dove belt, hit a record-high reading at 162% above average, and the Chihuahuan Desert in West Texas/Trans-Pecos is up 179% year-over-year. The one weak spot is the Shortgrass Prairie region up in the Panhandle, down 37% year-over-year -- worth avoiding if you're chasing volume. White-winged dove, hunted under the same shared 15-daily/45-possession aggregate bag limit as mourning dove, is up even more sharply: 12.9 million, +10% year over year, the top of its entire tracked range going back to 2008. Texas is already the country's biggest dove state by a wide margin -- 32% of the US mourning dove harvest and 87% of the US white-winged dove harvest in an average year -- and this year's regional numbers make South and West Texas a stronger-than-usual pick within that.
No specific driver named in TPWD's own reporting -- a population count, not a causal explanation. The regional split (record highs in South and West Texas vs. a sharp decline in the Panhandle's Shortgrass Prairie) points toward localized habitat or weather conditions rather than one statewide cause, but TPWD doesn't say so directly.
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