Dove hunting on Rio Grande

[mousegunner]

Back in the mids 80s, and before that, you could hunt on the flood plane of the Rio Grande east of El Paso with no problems. Mexican kids would come over and chase down your doves and at the end of the day get a few dollars for their work. Later a game warden told me that drug smuggling was going on with people pretending to be hunting but I never saw anything myself.

Lots of dove would fly in from Mexico to get into the pecan orchards that were close to the border. I asked the Border Patrol where the dove were flying and some would steer you to good spot.

Fast forward to the last 10 years. Access to the river area was limited to certain areas because of the border fence. Also there were restrictions on where to hunt because of a populated area on the U.S. side as well as an area near the international port of entry. With increased violence from drug smuggling it was always a good idea to have some buckshot and a sidearm handy but then I
never heard of hunters here having problems.

I heard one day that an official from the Mexican consulate called thr Border Patrol to complain about the dove hunters. He couldn't understand that it was legal and had gone on for decades. He was going to file a complaint but didn't go nowhere.

So I'm hoping to go back come September but have to see what restrictions are in place otherwise might have to look elsewhere. Thanks for looking

 

[snert]

Maybe we should open dove 365 a year and plant sunflowers and millet all along the texas border, make a no limit dove hunt. But you are required to camp overnight each night before you hunt all day as a "fee".

 

[mousegunner]

Maybe we should open dove 365 a year and plant sunflowers and millet all along the texas border, make a no limit dove hunt. But you are required to camp overnight each night before you hunt all day as a "fee".

Sign me up!

 

[Jtate]

In the 70's when the river was low we would shoot doves on both sides .

 

[Rsadams]

I was born in the Rio grande valley ( Weslaco tx ) and we farmed around there for 30-40 years.... Omg the white wing hunting used to be so darn fun.... My how times have changed.... My grandfather said , used to you could fire and get 8 with one shot.... I have never seen that but I sure do miss getting to go..... I tryed to find a place here in central Texas or anywhere close last year but because of covid and a heart attack I gave up.... Maybe this year or next I haven't been in years...

 

[KMart]

I was born in the Rio grande valley ( Weslaco tx ) and we farmed around there for 30-40 years.... Omg the white wing hunting used to be so darn fun.... My how times have changed.... My grandfather said , used to you could fire and get 8 with one shot.... I have never seen that but I sure do miss getting to go..... I tryed to find a place here in central Texas or anywhere close last year but because of covid and a heart attack I gave up.... Maybe this year or next I haven't been in years...

The Hondo/Uvalde area is suppose to have good hunting. That shouldn't be too far from you.
A lot of signs along highway 90 advertising places to hunt.

 

[Rsadams]

The Hondo/Uvalde area is suppose to have good hunting. That shouldn't be too far from you.
A lot of signs along highway 90 advertising places to hunt.

That's funny , someone just told me they hunt at a ranch in Hondo.... He said they normally have good birds...

 

[pirate ammo]

The Hondo/Uvalde area is suppose to have good hunting. That shouldn't be too far from you.
A lot of signs along highway 90 advertising places to hunt.

Rs lives down the road from me.

 

[KMart]

Rs lives down the road from me.

I knew that he was close.

 

[KMart]

That's funny , someone just told me they hunt at a ranch in Hondo.... He said they normally have good birds...

Another member here and a member of our local range hunts there regularly during the season. Seems to always have good things to say about it.

 

[Trophied]

Whitewing Ranch in Brownsville used to be my go to place every year with friends, and at 4 pm sharp the sky would get thick with Whitewings trying to get into the sunflowers that they planted early enough they were dropping their seeds when the season opened. Then it was a special Whitewing Zone along the border and only open on Saturday and Sunday the first two full weekends in September. The last few years I haven't found a good place near New Braunfels to hunt that reliably held plenty of doves. Development is taking away most of the agricultural property around here hundreds to thousands of acres at a time. The trips to Brownsville were great because the wives got to do all the gotcha shopping on Padre Island while we went down to the dove fields around noon to stake out a spot for the late afternoon invasion.

 

[dfrosch]

I remember $10 day hunts around Dilley. Usually took about 45 minutes to limit out.

There's lots of outfitters south and west of San Antonio that can put you on birds. They start around $100 for a day hunt and go up. Maybe a little less for a half day.