It's time to look over the dove checklist and get ready to hunt, because the dove forecast this year is even better than last year! 

Opening day is Sunday, Sept. 1 in the North and Central Zones, Saturday, Sept. 14 in the South Zone, and the daily bag limit is 15. Check your Outdoor Annual for more details. And look over the dove identifier so you’ll recognize protected birds and avoid them. Be sure to have a Migratory Game Bird endorsement and HIP certification with you when you're hunting dove.

Doves are fast-moving targets. Success in the field requires gun skills, so check out Texas Parks & Wildlife magazine's new blog for tips to improve your shotgunning skills. It's going to be a great season, don't sit it out!

Beginning Sept.1, a digital image of your hunting license can be used as proof of a license while you're hunting game that doesn't require a tag, like dove.

Your license can now be accessed digitally on the Outdoor Annual (OA) app or the My Texas Hunt Harvest app. A legible digital photo of your license or your emailed license receipt are also accepted. You must have your physical license with you for deer and turkey hunts, since they require tags.

The OA is also your source for regulation information. There have been some changes this year, so read over them before heading out. If your OA app was downloaded before Aug. 15, it will need to be updated to version 6 before you can use it to access your license or view the 2019-2020 regulations.

No one wants to dove hunt with some yahoo that's wildly swinging a shotgun – and for good reason. Swinging on game outside a safe zone of fire is the #1 cause of hunting accidents in Texas.

To maintain safe conditions, your wingshooting group must establish individual safe zones of fire, and then stay within them. You must also be aware of people and dogs moving around you – if they move, or you move, your safe zone of fire will move as well. Learn more with our short skillbuilder video, Safe Zone of Fire. 

Methods for finding your safe zone of fire are taught in Hunter Education. Anyone born after Sept. 1, 1971 must complete Hunter Ed and carry proof of certification at all times while hunting. If you've misplaced your certification card, get a free copy  online. Then keep that proof in your pocket.

Paperless check-in is now an option for many public hunting sites! Look for "eOSR" at the area information station, then use the My Texas Hunt Harvest app on your smart phone to complete Electronic On-Site Registration. Download the app in advance, and you can register on-site even without a cell signal. 

Watch our check-in video How Public Hunting Access Just Got Easier to see the app in action.

Walk-in hunting is available on more than 1 million acres of land in Texas. This is land we lease from federal and state agencies, private landowners and industry. Then we make it available for you to hunt with an Annual Public Hunting Permit. Do a search by area or type of game to find yourself a new, affordable spot for a hunt.  

It's always a good idea to look over lawful hunting means and methods at the start of a season. They cover things like when you can and can't use bait, hunting with dogs, firearms, archery projectiles, and specific activities that are illegal while hunting. 

Air guns and arrow guns were both recently made legal means of take while hunting. Both use unignited compressed gas as the propellant. Some animals may be taken only with pre-charged pneumatic air guns or arrow guns. Find more details, as well as ways to reduce wounding loss, in the air gun and arrow gun regulations. Be aware that arrow guns may not be used to hunt deer or turkey during archery season. 

Imagine you and your buddy on a premium hunt with a guide, lodging and meals included. If that's your kind of hunt, you need to enter Big Time Texas Hunts. 

We’ve put together 10 hunt packages on some of the finest private ranches and public lands. NEW this year, the Exotic Safari added waterbuck, and that winner will also receive a Ruger American rifle with a Vortex Diamondback scope, courtesy of McBride's Guns, Inc.

Other packages include the Ultimate Mule Deer Hunt, Nilgai Antelope Safari, Waterfowl Adventure and the Grand Slam, which awards the winner 4 separate hunts for bighorn sheep, white-tailed deer, pronghorn and mule deer. 

An entry is $9 online. Enter as many hunts as you like, as many times as you like, but do it by the deadline, Oct. 15. All proceeds go directly to support wildlife conservation and public hunting in Texas, so any way you look at it, if you participate, you're a winner.