slightly over 90% of the harvest contributed from the 
Mid-CMU and East-CMU and less than 2% from the 
West-CMU. The combined EMU and WMU contribution 
was no more than 5% of the Central American harvest. 
For the entire Southern Zone, the proportional contribu- 
tions of each age cohort from the six U.S. tiers were nearly 
identical; the CMU contributed about 80% of the harvest. 
Chronology of Migration 
Previous studies designed to measure the chronological 
migration patterns of mourning doves have relied primarily 
on general observations and roadside counts to detect the 
rise and fall of dove numbers during August, September, 
and October (Ginn 1950; Truett 1966; Miles 1976; H. Funk, 
unpublished report). These studies documented increases 
in dove numbers during early August and declines during 
late August or early September, thus indicating that doves 
exhibit some migratory behavior in August. Studies based 
on these or similar procedures are limited because they fail 
to compensate for simultaneous immigration and emigra- 
tion of doves. 
Another approach in describing dove movements involves 
the use of band recoveries to examine the arrival dates of 
doves in southern areas. Changes in the origin of doves 
harvested in a southern area as the season progresses reflect 
the relative migrational patterns of doves into an area 
(Dunks 1977), This procedure also has limitations because 
of simultaneous ingress and egress of doves, but it allows 
quantification of the relative numbers of birds entering a 
harvest area from each contributing area. 
Chronological Changes in Origin of Doves 
Harvested in Texas 
Texas is an area of heavy dove harvest that receives birds 
from every State in the CMU and several States outside the 
CMU. It was the only area in the CMU having sufficient 
numbers of recoveries over a wide span of time for which 
chronological derivations could be examined. 
The origin of doves harvested in North Texas was calcu- 
lated for each 10-day period in September and for the entire 
month of October (Tables A-62 to A-64). Similar calcula- 
tions were made for South Texas on a monthly basis 
(Tables A-65 to A-67), These data were stratified by age 
of bird banded and weighted as explained earlier. Deriva- 
tion estimates based on direct, indirect, and total recoveries 
were examined and differences among them were evalu- 
ated as being small. However, only direct recoveries were 
used because fewer assumptions had to be met (relocation, 
differential survival, etc.). 
North Texas—All Doves 
1-10 September.— During this period, 72% of the har- 
vested doves originated from within North Texas (Table 
27 
A-62). Oklahoma and Kansas contributed 16 and 3%, 
respectively. South Texas contributed 3%. All other areas 
providing birds each contributed less than 1%. 
11-20 September, — During this period, 57% of the har- 
vested doves originated from within North Texas, whereas 
9% came from Oklahoma and 13% from Kansas, Other 
States to the north began contributing, generally from 1 
to 5% each. 
21-30 September. — During late September, the percent- 
age of birds originating in North Texas was 35%. Oklahoma 
contributed 15% and the States to the north began con- 
tributing a greater proportion than the previous periods 
(about 9% each for Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, and 
North Dakota), 
1-31 October, — During October, 27% of the harvested 
doves originated from within North Texas. Oklahoma, 
Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Iowa 
each contributed 9 to 10%. Minnesota and Missouri con- 
tributed 5 and 2%, respectively; 3% came from the EMU. 
North Texas—Immatures and Adults 
The origins of immatures and adults (Tables A-63 and 
A-64) harvested in North Texas were similar in that there 
was a general decrease in the proportion of doves that origi- 
nated from within North Texas as the hunting season pro- 
gressed. The percentages of doves originating from within 
North Texas were 68, 57, 30, and 24 for immatures and 
81, 59, 37, and 32 for adults during the four periods, re- 
spectively. Doves originating from northern States increased 
as the season progressed, The EMU provided relatively few 
doves to North Texas during earlier periods (<0.6% during 
1-10 September), but contributed 3% of the harvest during 
October. One noticeable difference between immature and 
adult doves is that immature doves had a greater tendency 
to move northward than adults. The contribution of imma- 
tures from South Texas to the harvest in North Texas ranged 
from 3 to 8% during the various time periods, whereas 
adults ranged from 0 to 2%. 
South Texas — All Doves 
The chronological derivations for all ages combined, 
immature, and adult doves harvested in South Texas were 
also calculated (Tables A-65 to A-67). However, two fac- 
tors decreased the effectiveness of the analysis for South 
Texas. This area received fewer direct band recoveries than 
North Texas. Also, recoveries were not distributed through- 
out September and October because of later hunting sea- 
son opening dates (Table A-3). Nevertheless, there was a 
sizable increase during October in the percentage of doves 
harvested there that were derived from States to the north 
and northeast. Of the total doves harvested in South Texas 
during September, 70% originated from within South 
Texas. During October, 32% originated from within South 
Texas and 13% originated from Kansas. North Texas, Okla- 
homa, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, Iowa, and Min- 
