The South Zone Now Opens September 1: What Changed for 2026

The Texas Parks & Wildlife Commission moved the South Zone opener from mid-September to September 1, aligning it with the North and Central zones. The long-running Special White-winged Dove Days — those first two weekends with afternoon-only hours and a special white-wing bag — have been eliminated entirely.

In their place, the South Zone now runs one standardized season: September 1 through October 25 for the first split, and December 18, 2026 through January 21, 2027 for the second. Legal shooting hours are one-half hour before sunrise to sunset, every day of the season.

The Rio Grande Valley holds the densest white-winged dove population in Texas, and early September is when it peaks. Under the old framework, South Zone hunters waited on a mid-September opener or squeezed into afternoon-only white-wing weekends while birds were flying all day.

Now the season opens while the roosts are full and the grain and sunflower fields are still drawing thousands of birds a morning. For hunters chasing the classic Valley white-wing shoot, the first two weeks of September are the show — and for 2026 the whole window is open.

The daily bag limit is 15 dove in the aggregate, with no more than 2 white-tipped dove, and the possession limit is 45. Because the special white-wing days are gone, those standard limits apply from opening day through the end of the season — no special-weekend math to keep track of.

Every hunter needs a valid Texas hunting license with a Migratory Game Bird Endorsement and HIP certification. No federal duck stamp is required for dove.