Master Gardener certification classes will be held at the McCulloch County AgriLife Extension office and will be a combination of virtual training provided by Extension experts, in-person training provided by local Extension personnel and Master Gardeners, and field trips.

The training classes will meet on Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., beginning August 31 through November 2.  The course fee is $175 for those who agree to complete the requirements to certify as a Texas Master Gardener.  A discount is offered for couples who agree to share the handbook, making the fee $270 for both. The course fee for anyone who does not agree to complete the TMG requirements is $200 with no discount for couples.

If you would like an application, you can contact the Brown County or McCulloch County Extension Offices. If you pay by check, please either hand-deliver or mail to the McCulloch County Extension Office at 114 W. Main in Brady. 

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DOVE PREDICTIONS

“We had a good, wet, cool spring across most of the state, so there was really good production. That came out in our dove surveys that we do in May and June,” Owen Fitzsimmons, TPWD Webless Migratory Game Bird Program leader, said. “As far as bird numbers go, we’re looking better than we have in five or six years.”

“In terms of numbers, we’re looking great,” Fitzsimmons said in an interview with the Texas Farm Bureau Radio Network. “Of course, we’ve had an extremely hot and dry summer through July and August, so we’ll see how that plays out come Sept. 1.

“It’s speculation really, but typically what we see in the spring is carryover from hatch-year production last year,” Fitzsimmons said. “We had some late summer rains last year that I think produced a really good late summer hatch, and I think that carried over to this year in terms of the number of breeding adults. That’s what we’re seeing in these numbers. Having a second year of good hatch-year production is just going to boost these numbers even further.”

“The classic dove strongholds you’re going to see up in that west of (Dallas-Fort Worth), Abilene area, Albany through Morton, Breckenridge area,” Fitzsimmons said. “Of course, around Uvalde, San Antonio, southwest and all throughout South Texas has been doing really well the past several years. I don’t see that being an exception this year.”

“That’s big. That’s the eastern Panhandle, the Rolling Plains over toward Dallas-Fort Worth and that North Texas area,” Fitzsimmons said.

While 32% of the state’s mourning doves can be found in the Shortgrass Prairie region, the western side of the Panhandle is the only area of the state where population estimates were below the long-term average.

“Best guess is it was a really, really windy and stormy spring that knocked back nesting a little bit up there, but otherwise, the rest of the state is looking better than they have in many years,” Fitzsimmons said.

There were declines in white-wing numbers in the Oaks and Prairies region, the Pineywoods and the Winter Garden/Rio Grande Valley region.

“I think a lot of that depends on whether we get any rain between now and dove season,” Fitzsimmons said.

“They’re going to be pretty dried up, but if they seeded out before this heatwave killed the plants, I think there should be plenty of food available, and it’s going to be pretty hot and heavy dove hunting,” Fitzsimmons said.

About 89% of mourning doves may be found in rural areas, but their populations are typically denser when in more urban areas.

“Outside of South Texas, the historic range for white-winged doves, everywhere that they’ve expanded to across the state, they’re very, very tied to urban areas and human habitation,” Fitzsimmons said. “Mourning doves, not so much. Basically, all of our doves are pretty well adapted to dry conditions, so I don’t know how much mourning doves would need to necessarily utilize urban water sources, but it may come to that in some areas if there is no water available.”

There were no regulation changes for dove hunting this year.