Summer events trigger excitement for autumn wingshooting.
Summer events trigger excitement for autumn dove season
This is a big week for Texas’ half-million or so wingshooters, even if most aren’t consciously aware of it. It’s the week many of them begin seriously thinking about and planning for the upcoming game bird hunting seasons — specifically, dove and teal seasons.
The Fourth of July holiday probably has something to do with that, according to someone who certainly knows about such things.
“I think hunters smell gunpowder from Fourth of July fireworks, and it reminds them of the smell of a spent shotgun shell or a rifle cartridge. That makes them think about hunting season,” Bill Carter, whose Carter’s Country stores have for more than half a century been the go-to place for firearms, ammunition and other hunting-related gear, once told me.
For whatever reason, he said, the week after July 4th invariably sees a significant surge in business.
But a couple of other events over the past few days and one coming soon also play a role in triggering wingshooters’ anticipation of autumn. Updated stamp on sale
On Friday, the 201516 edition of the federal Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp became available for purchase. Federal law requires hunters at least 16 years old to have a valid Duck Stamp, as the stamp is universally called, to legally hunt waterfowl anywhere in the country. The stamps are valid for a one-year period, July 1 through June 30.
Duck Stamps have been around since 1934, and 98 percent of the revenue generated through their sale goes directly to purchase or lease wetland habitat for the National Wildlife Refuge System. So far, Duck Stamps have generated more than $800 million, purchased or otherwise protected more than 6.5 million acres of land and paid for all or part of more than 300 federal wildlife refuges, all of which benefit waterfowl and other wildlife.
This year’s federal Duck Stamp is different from the previous year’s model, and not just because of the image on the stamp; this one is more expensive, and it’s available electronically anywhere in the country.
The price of a 2015-16 federal Duck Stamp, which this year features a pair of ruddy ducks, is $25, up from the $15 fee that had been in effect since 1991. Waterfowl hunters and conservation groups had for a decade lobbied Congress for the hike, citing the increasing expense of purchasing/leasing land, stagnation of revenue generated by Duck Stamp sales and the need to protect and enhance the nation’s crucial, shrinking wetland habitat.
This past year, Congress passed The Federal Duck Stamp Act of 2014 authorizing the price increase. The price increase is expected to generate an additional $16 million a year. All of that additional revenue will be used to purchase conservation easements and other leases of lands; Congress stipulated none of the additional revenue could be used to purchase land for refuges or waterfowl production areas.
The same day this past December, President Barack Obama signed the Duck Stamp Act, he also signed the Permanent Electronic Duck Stamp Act that allows nationwide issuance of electronic duck stamps. Under this law, people may purchase a federal Duck Stamp through an online vendor who mails the paper stamp to the purchaser. Proof of online purchase of a Duck Stamp fulfills the longtime federal requirement that a hunter have a valid Duck Stamp in possession while hunting. That “proof of purchase” is valid for 45 days, after which the hunter must have the traditional paper stamp in possession.
This electronic duck stamp program has been available in Texas for the past few years; the state was one of several participating in a pilot project to gauge the effectiveness and dependability of the program. Beginning this year, electronic duck stamp issuance will be legal in all states. A good guess
Because of actions in Washington this past week and pending action in Austin, Texas wingshooters purchasing one of the new, more expensive 2015-16 federal Duck Stamps almost certainly will get their first chance to use it on Sept. 12, the date a 16-day, teal-only season is proposed to open in the state.
Last Thursday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Regulations Committee proposed regulatory frameworks that will gov- ern hunting of migratory game birds with 2015-16 hunting seasons opening before Oct. 1. The earlyseason frameworks set the basic rules — season length, earliest opening date, latest closing dates, bag limits and other hunting regulations — for the two earliest major hunting seasons in Texas: teal season and dove season.
Because migratory birds are under jurisdiction of the federal government, states must fit their hunting regulations to go within those federal boundaries. Earlier this year, Texas had proposed dove and teal seasons and hunting regulations based on what state wildlife officials anticipated the federal frameworks would be. They proved correct; Texas’ proposals fall within the federal frameworks.
Those federal frameworks allow Texas a 16-day teal-only hunting season in September, with a six-teal daily bag limit. Preliminary estimates of the continent’s breeding population of blue-winged teal, the early migrating ducks that are the focus of the September season, peg the number above 4.7 million birds, the level at which a 16-day season is allowed, said Kevin Kraai, waterfowl program leader for Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
Texas has proposed teal season dates of Sept. 12-27.
Federal frameworks governing Texas dove hunting mirror those of a year ago — a 70-day season with a 15-dove daily limit.
Texas’ proposed dove seasons, which fit within those frameworks, are:
• North Zone and Central Zone: Sept. 1-Oct. 25 and Dec. 18-Jan. 1.
• South Zone: Sept. 18Oct. 21 and Dec. 18-Jan. 22.
• Special White-Winged Dove Area: Sept. 5, 6, 12, and 13; Sept. 18-Oct. 21 and Dec. 18-Jan. 18.
Texas’ 2015-16 teal and dove seasons will be officially set by TPWD executive director Carter Smith in consultation with the nine-member Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission. That official decision and announcement is expected within a couple of weeks and almost certainly will not change from the earlier proposals. At the very least, Texas’ dove season is a cinch to open Sept. 1 in most of the state.
Prospects for this dove season are “looking very good, right now,” said Shaun Oldenburger, TPWD dove program leader.
“We’ve had really good conditions and excellent nesting success, last year. Our mourning dove numbers were up,” he said. Good conditions
Nesting and habitat conditions for mourning and white-winged doves across Texas appear generally very good, he said. Nesting success in some areas of the state may have been hurt by the siege of storms that pounded much of the state during May and early June.
“High winds could have destroyed some nests,” Oldenburger said.
But any losses are almost certain to be more than made up through the generally excellent habitat conditions created by rains that soaked the state, fueling a flush of vegetative growth providing good nesting cover and a good crop of native, seed-producing plants. Doves that might have lost clutches to May storms have plenty of time and the habitat conditions to successfully renest.
“There’s a lot of groceries growing out there,” Oldenburger said. “Dovewise, it’s looking like a good year — a heck of a year. The only problem — if you want to call it a problem — is that with so much food and water out there, doves might be very widely distributed instead of concentrated in small areas with good conditions. We’ll just have to see how the rest of the summer goes.”
Opening day of dove season is almost two months away. That time will fly faster than a teal with tailwind. About a half-million Texans will recognize that over the coming week or two; they always do.