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At its May 26-27 meeting, the Missouri Conservation Commission approved the its regulations committee’s suggestions for the early fall 2011 migratory bird hunting seasons and this year’s archery and firearms deer seasons.
The seasons’ structure and regulations, including daily and possession limits, are pretty much unchanged from the last several years.
Missouri’s fall hunting will officially begin, as it has for many years, with dove season on Sept. 1. This much-anticipated season will run for 70 days until Nov. 9, although for most of us it’s over much more quickly, due to cooler weather causing our doves to migrate south to warmer climes, and also due to the many other hunting seasons that open later on diverting our attention.
If conditions and weather are optimal, dove season can offer some really exciting hunting for at least a couple weeks following the opener.
Missouri’s dove limits are pretty liberal, with a 15-bird daily limit and a 30-bird possession limit, more than enough for a dove feed. Three species of doves are legal game – the common mourning dove, the becoming-more-common and much larger Eurasian collared dove, and the almost never seen in north Missouri white-winged dove. The limit can include any of the three legal species and is a combined total of whatever doves you’ve taken.
Although not as popular with Missouri hunters, there are other migratory bird seasons opening at the same time or just a little later.
The Sora and Virginia rail season runs from Sept. 1 through Nov. 9 also, with liberal limits of 25 birds daily and in possession (combined totals for both species). Wilson’s (common) snipe season runs from Sept. 1 through Dec. 16, with a daily limit of eight (8) and a 16-bird possession limit. These rails are pretty numerous in area wetlands (you’ll find them in flooded grass or weeds) in the early part of the season, but they, like doves, move on south pretty quickly when it turns cold.
At its May 26-27 meeting, the Missouri Conservation Commission approved the its regulations committee’s suggestions for the early fall 2011 migratory bird hunting seasons and this year’s archery and firearms deer seasons.
The seasons’ structure and regulations, including daily and possession limits, are pretty much unchanged from the last several years.
Missouri’s fall hunting will officially begin, as it has for many years, with dove season on Sept. 1. This much-anticipated season will run for 70 days until Nov. 9, although for most of us it’s over much more quickly, due to cooler weather causing our doves to migrate south to warmer climes, and also due to the many other hunting seasons that open later on diverting our attention.
If conditions and weather are optimal, dove season can offer some really exciting hunting for at least a couple weeks following the opener.
Missouri’s dove limits are pretty liberal, with a 15-bird daily limit and a 30-bird possession limit, more than enough for a dove feed. Three species of doves are legal game – the common mourning dove, the becoming-more-common and much larger Eurasian collared dove, and the almost never seen in north Missouri white-winged dove. The limit can include any of the three legal species and is a combined total of whatever doves you’ve taken.
Although not as popular with Missouri hunters, there are other migratory bird seasons opening at the same time or just a little later.
The Sora and Virginia rail season runs from Sept. 1 through Nov. 9 also, with liberal limits of 25 birds daily and in possession (combined totals for both species). Wilson’s (common) snipe season runs from Sept. 1 through Dec. 16, with a daily limit of eight (8) and a 16-bird possession limit. These rails are pretty numerous in area wetlands (you’ll find them in flooded grass or weeds) in the early part of the season, but they, like doves, move on south pretty quickly when it turns cold.
