Arizona Dove Season Expects Plenty of Birds

By Duncan Johnson

PHOENIX —-(Ammoland.com)- So, how’s dove hunting going to be this season?

It’s a rhetorical question in Arizona. That’s because, in any given year, an estimated 20 million to 30 million mourning doves – and another 2 million to 3 million of the bigger white-winged doves – are residing here come opening day.

“It’s going to be a good year,” said Johnathan O’Dell, a small game biologist for the Arizona Game and Fish Department. “A ‘down’ year for us is 20 million. An ‘up’ year is 30 million. I’ve never worried about doves not being here on opening day. There’s a lot of them.”

The 15-day “early” season gets underway 30 minutes before legal sunrise Thursday. The daily bag limit is 15 mourning and white-winged, of which no more than 10 may be white-winged. The possession limit is 45 mourning and white-winged in the aggregate after opening day, of which no more than 15 may be taken in any one day. Of the 45-dove possession limit, only 30 may be white-winged, of which no more than 10 may be taken in any …Read the Rest

Source:: AmmoLand