News

Dove Season May Be Suspended

Published April 06, 2005. By Kevin Elliott. The Spinal Column.
Dove season may be suspended

About 3,000 Michigan sportsmen participated in the state's first mourning dove hunting season in nearly a century last year, but the season may be grounded by voters if the issue appears on the statewide ballot in 2006.

A ban on the hunting of mourning doves was lifted in Sept. 2004, following the passage of House Bill 5029.

The Committee to Restore the Dove Shooting Ban filed more than 275,000 signatures with the Secretary of State on March 28 requesting a referendum on the bill. Once the signatures are certified, the season will be suspended until after the Nov. 2006 vote. A total of 158,879 signatures from registered Michigan voters are required to allow for a referendum.

Proponents of dove hunting say the birds provide hunting opportunities for younger and older hunters because it does not require extensive movement to shoot them.

According to Sam Washington, executive director of the Michigan United Conservation Clubs, dove hunting can provide a boost to the state's economy.

"Here we have an ultimately renewable natural resource that we could utilize, that could bring in millions of dollars in revenue into the state in hotels, gasoline, hunting equipment... and these people are doing everything in their power to prevent it from being used."

According to Julie Baker of the Committee to Restore the Dove Shooting Ban, mourning doves have been a protected songbird for years and shooting them provides no value to the state or hunters.

"Shooting at traditional backyard songbirds is just target practice," Baker said. "There is no reason for it. There is no sound biological or ecological reason to kill mourning doves and teaching children to shoot songbirds is just plain wrong."

The three-year trial season began on Friday, Sept. 10, 2004 and ran through Oct. 30. It will run from Sept. 1 through Oct. 30 in 2005 and 2006. Hunting will be allowed from a half-hour before sunrise until sunset and is limited to Berrien, Branch, Cass, Hillsdale, St. Joseph and Lenawee counties.

Hunters are allowed to take 15 mourning doves per day, and hunters are permitted to be in possession of a total of 30 doves. Hunters must have a small-game bird hunting license and purchase a $2 mourning dove stamp to partake in the season.

According to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources' Wildlife Division, nearly 5,000 mourning dove stamps were purchased, with seven percent being bought by youths. The DNR estimates that 62 percent of those purchasing stamps actually hunted, and about 71 percent shot doves. Approximately 28,000 doves were harvested in Michigan in 2004. Indiana and Ohio harvest approximately 300,000 mourning doves annually.

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