The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has finalized early-season migratory game bird regulations, which include dove and teal seasons for 2008-2009.

Texas hunters will see a 16-day September teal season and no changes to the South Dove Zone segments.

The North Zone dove season runs Sept. 1 to Oct. 30, with a 15-bird bag limit and not more than two white-tipped dove. The Central Zone season is Sept. 1 to Oct. 30 and Dec. 26 to Jan. 4. Bag limit is 12 birds, no more than two of them white-tipped.

The South Zone dove season runs Sept. 20 to Nov. 9 and reopens Dec. 26 to Jan. 13. Bag limit is 12 birds, no more than two of them whitetipped.

Possession limit for all zones is twice the daily bag.

The Special White-Winged Dove Area, which encompasses land west of Interstate 35 and south of U.S. Highway 90, opens to white-winged dove hunting from noon to sunset on Sept. 6, Sept. 7, Sept. 13 and Sept. 14. Afternoon-only hunting resumes Sept. 20 to Nov. 9 and Dec. 26 to Jan. 9.

The daily bag limit during the first two weekends is 12 birds, including no more than four mourning doves and two white-tipped doves.

The daily bag limit during the remainder of the Special White- Winged Dove Area season is 12 birds, with no more than two whitetipped doves. Possession limit is twice the daily bag.

Teal season is Sept. 13-28, with a daily bag limit of four birds. Possession limit is twice the daily bag.

Hunters should note the dove and teal season dates and bag limits are not included in this year's Outdoor Annual of hunting and fishing regulations. Information will be available in the Early Season Migratory Game Bird Digest supplement, available Aug. 15 on the TPWD Web site and wherever hunting and fishing licenses are sold.

A proposed dove season rule that would have removed one week of hunting opportunity from the end of the first season segment in the South Zone and added it to the end of the second season segment was not approved.

Although many public comments supported the proposed amendment, TPWD has decided to retain the traditional structure because of other considerations raised in public comments.

"Public comment received by the department indicates a growing concern among hunters, landowners, outfitters and local businesses that economic factors are increasingly affecting hunting habits or will affect them in the future," said Mike Berger, TPWD wildlife director.

"The department therefore made the decision to leave the traditional season structure in place for the current year while launching an outreach effort to determine if the traditional and historic dove season structure should be altered for future seasons," he added.

In keeping with hunter and landowner preferences, dove seasons traditionally have opened on the earliest day allowed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, regardless of the day of the week.

Under federal law, dove hunting cannot begin before Sept. 1. That date, as the opening day of dove season in Texas, has been part of the state's hunting tradition since the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 was signed. Treaties with Canada and Mexico established the framework for the taking of all migratory game birds, including dove.

"This year, Sept. 1 falls on Labor Day, a Monday, which is a good thing, because it's a holiday for many Texans and like having another Saturday," said Vernon Bevill, TPWD game bird program director. "The bad thing is the next day isn't Sunday. It's back to work Tuesday."

Similarly, this year's South Zone dove season opener falls on Saturday, Sept. 20, the first day allowed under federal law. Traditionally, dove season in South Texas has opened on the Friday after Sept. 20, unless Sept. 20 is a Saturday.

Berger said recent public comments received by the department indicate a strong preference for seasons to open on a Friday, so as to create a three-day hunting opportunity to start the season.

Public comments also indicate a preference for the 60-day, 15-bird configuration in the South Zone, Berger said.

"A recurrent theme was the concern that increased consumer costs, particularly transportation costs related to energy prices, make anything less than a three-day opening weekend economically unjustifiable," he said.

"Similarly, proponents of the 60- day, 15-bird configuration stated that economic considerations would cause them to curtail the number of times they could go hunting, leading them to prefer a higher daily bag limit.

"In the past," Berger added, "hunters and others have expressed an aversion to delaying the opening day until the first full weekend, preferring the earlier possible opener."

Public hunting is available for sportsmen looking for a place to hunt. TPWD manages more than 50,000 acres of dove hunting units, TPWD public hunting program director Linda Campbell said. Hunting access to these areas is available with the purchase of a $48 Annual Public Hunting Permit, available Aug. 15 wherever hunting and fishing licenses are sold.

A map booklet detailing locations and additional information about the 143 public dove hunting units is included with the Annual Public Hunting Permit and will be available on the TPWD Web site beginning Aug. 15.

A permit is not required to look at the information booklet online.

Based on habitat conditions, TPWD dove program coordinator Jay Roberson anticipates an aboveaverage hunting season for doves this fall.

"We had a pretty dry spring, and doves do well in those conditions," Roberson said. "The birds weren't responding last year to predictions of good food availability, and many doves stayed to the north. I'm guardedly optimistic this year."

Roberson reported hearing of good numbers of doves across South Texas, and he anticipates hunters should succeed if they can identify flight patterns. Conditions are expected to change in the weeks heading into the season, particularly because of the weather effects of Hurricane Dolly.