White-Wings Across Texas
No longer restricted to a small strip of ground along the Rio Grande River, today these dove have flourished and hunting opportunities are available across the Lone Star State.
Story and photography by Bill L. Olson
A few decades ago was a time when Texas dove hunters had two options when it came to pursuing white-winged dove. The first was to hunt a narrow stretch of Texas ground that ran alongside the Rio Grande River in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. The second was to venture across the Rio Grande where birdhunting outfitters flourished, and Texas hunters enjoyed the ambiance and charm of old Mexico.
Today safety concerns have shut down many Mexican outfitters as Texas hunters are staying on this side of the Rio Bravo del Norte. Plus white-winged nesting habitat changed as well. Killer freezes in the 1980s forced these birds to seek other places to nest and rear their young beyond the citrus groves of the Rio Grande Valley
