Hamilton Puts on a Festival For the Love of Dove

Texas is considered the No. 1 state in the nation for dove hunting, and the small, historic town of Hamilton is nicknamed the “Dove Capital of Texas.” Each year, as summer draws to a close, hunters head to Hamilton County in Central Texas to get their dove fix.

For the past 52 years, on Labor Day weekend, the town has hosted the Hamilton County Dove Festival, a community gathering celebrating Hamilton’s dove hunting heritage and the opening of the Central Texas dove season on Sept. 1.

The festival features live music, a rodeo, a pageant, vendors and festival foods. Local Game Warden Jim Daniels remembers attending as a child. He grew up in Lampasas, 45 minutes south of Hamilton. 

“My mom grew up in Cranfills Gap, on the other end of Hamilton County,” he says. “We would leave Lampasas and go to our family place in Cranfills Gap on dove opening weekend. They would have the Dove Fest in Hamilton, so we’d come over for the parade and go to the festivities. As a kid growing up, it was fun.”

Tamara Timmons, a festival organizer and manager of the Hamilton County Chamber of Commerce, loves watching her husband and daughter spend quality time hunting and enjoying the activities in town on Dove Fest weekend. “Dove Fest is the lifeblood of the community,” she says. “It is anticipated by all, whether you hunt or not. It is a cherished time of year for community members, and it’s a time to return to your roots if you’ve moved off.”

Mourning doves — so called for their doleful coo-ing — have lived alongside people in Texas since ancient times. Their fragile bones have been found in rock shelters near Lake Amistad, suggesting they were a food source for people nearly
9,000 years ago.

And while humans do consume them, we also benefit the species; controlled burns create bare ground for them to forage, and the creation of edge habitat — fields cleared next to forests, for example — provides homes for this edge-dwelling bird.

Of course, some human activities, such as producing environmental pollutants and creating crop monocultures, can harm doves, as they do other wildlife species. But many of today’s farms and ranches remain dove heaven, with shade trees, waste grain, weeds, bare ground and water.

Daniels has been a game warden in Hamilton for over a decade, and over that time has gained a new appreciation for the plentiful birds.

“Historically, there’ve been a lot of birds in this part of Texas,” he says. “When you get over to the eastern part of [Hamilton County], there’s a lot of cultivation of small grain fields. So they plant a lot of milo, corn, wheat, oats, and that’s something that has brought the migratory birds here because during harvest or during planting season, there’s a [lot] of groceries for them.”

But in the mid-2010s, dove populations in the area seemed to drop off. Hunters were coming home with few or no doves. It wasn’t clear why the doves were no longer frequenting Hamilton County like they used to, but
Daniels’ best guess is that the dove population had moved elsewhere in search of better feeding grounds.

Things began turning around in 2023. “There were more birds [that] year than there have been in the [previous] five years combined,” Daniels says. “I checked several hunters with limits — they’d shot their 15 birds.”

The resurgence of doves has breathed new life into the area’s hunting scene. “Last year was really good,” Daniels says. “It was exciting. I actually got to hunt a little bit; I forgot how much I missed it.”

Having the festival set on opening weekend provides a fun kickoff to the season. From a 5K run to a lively parade to kids “mutton bustin” at the rodeo, the Hamilton County Dove Fest offers something for everyone, hunters and non-hunters alike, to do on opening weekend.

“That’s what a lot of people do now; when they come to their lease, they bring the whole family,” says Daniels. “The people who want to, get up early and go hunt. The other ones, they come to town and go to the shops, they go to Dove Fest and go to the parade. It’s really, really neat to see Hamilton wrap their arms around the Dove Fest, get some new blood in there, get people excited. It’s good for the community, it’s good for the people.” 

Attend This Year's Festival

Dates: Aug. 29-31, 2025

Experience Hamilton

Grab a reuben at “Friends”-inspired Central Perk. The picturesque bistro overlooks Rice Street, one of Hamilton’s main roads.

Try Wenzel Lonestar Meat Company’s bison bacon burger. The combination of lean and fatty meat was the inspiration behind EPIC Provisions meat bars you might see in your local grocery store.

Fish, swim or paddle in Hamilton City Lake. The lake, which provides fresh water to the town of Hamilton, offers a calming respite from the August heat.

Explore the surrounding small towns. Hico offers Billy the Kid lore and a bustling shopping and dining scene.

Visit the Hamilton County Historical Museum: Open with limited hours but available by appointment, this museum, housed in an old Art Deco jail, is worth a stop for a slice of the town’s history.