News

Kalamazoo Gazette: Editorial

Published June 06, 2005. Editorial Board. Kalamazoo Gazette.
Settle dove hunt dispute at the ballot box

From 1905 until last year, Michigan banned the hunting of mourning doves, which were then classified as songbirds, not game birds.

For some reason, the Michigan Legislature last year felt a need to lift the ban on dove hunting in Michigan, although a slim majority of Michigan residents approve of the ban.

We opposed lifting the ban.

And now we applaud efforts of anti-dove hunting groups to get the issue on the state ballot in 2006.

We could back dove-hunting if mourning dove populations were growing at an exponential rate, were damaging crops, befouling golf courses and parks or leaping out in front of semis on the interstate at dusk.

Some wildlife populations -- deer and Canada geese come to mind -- need to be controlled, and hunting is the most practical way to do it.

But mourning doves are little more than live target practice.

It has been estimated by the state that 3,000 hunters killed approximately 28,000 doves last fall. That's not enough to make a dent in the mourning dove population, according to state game officials. An estimated 4 million mourning doves migrate from Michigan each year, according to the Associated Press.

We believed the Legislature and Gov. Jennifer Granholm bowed to pressure from hunting groups, which have argued that dove hunting, allowed in 40 other states, will be good for small-game hunting tourism, which has gradually been in decline.

Michigan residents provided far more signatures than needed -- 275,000 turned in to the Board of Canvassers; 159,000 were required -- to get the issue on the state ballot in 2006.

Each side in this dispute has contended their opponents are only a small-interest group that does not reflect the will of the people.

We hope the issue will be settled once and for all at the ballot box next year.

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