What is this bird I had mistaken for dove when hunting:?

I was recently hunting about 50 miles north of dallas and I kept shooting these birds that looked almost exactly like dove when they were flying from the back, but they had yellow bellies and they look more like the back of a quail with the body of a giant canary. A man told me what it was, but I forgot. He also said that you will get into trouble with the GW if you try to take them. What are they? (I am from the rio grande valley and have never heard of them before)