Dove Hunting to Start Friday

Dove hunting to start Friday

Assuming the state Natural Resources Commission concurs, years of legislative toil could be celebrated with a bang Friday as Michigan's first dove hunting season opens in six counties, including Hillsdale and Lenawee.

Dove hunting is legal in 39 states, but the diminutive mourning dove has never before been legal quarry in Michigan.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm signed the bill changing the dove's status from songbird to game bird in June, after a decade of legislative attempts to designate the mourning dove a managed game bird in the state.
 

Opponents, however, hope to place the issue before voters and have mounted a petition drive to do so.

Kevin Schupbach, vice president of Schupbach's Sporting Goods, 141 W. Pearl St., said about a dozen customers have expressed interest in hunting doves, but he's been stymied by a lack of information from the state Department of Natural Resources.

Schupbach said he's not even sure of the season's opening and closing times. Even the DNR Web site is devoid of any information, Schupbach said.

No information has been issued because there is no official season until the Natural Resources Commission acts, DNR spokesman Mike Bailey said.

Assuming the commission approves the proposal today, the regulations will be posted on the DNR Web site and the required $2 stamp should be available by midnight, Bailey said. Dove hunters also are required to hold the standard Michigan small-game license.

The three-year proposal calls for hunting hours to begin one-half hour before sunrise and end at sunset, Bailey said. This year, the season will run from Friday through Oct. 30. The following two years, the season is set to begin on Sept. 1 and run through Oct. 30.

The daily bag limit is 15 and the possession limit is 30 birds, Bailey said.

Not everyone will be pleased with the experimental season, however, particularly members of the Jackson Chapter of the Michigan Audubon Society.

"They've been a songbird for 100 years," said Nancy Lapinski, a board member of the Jackson chapter. "It's not sporting. And this is the mourning dove nesting time, so the young are left in the nest to starve."

Connie Spotts, president of the chapter, is currently working with the Committee to Restore the Dove Shooting Ban to circulate petitions. "We're going to try to get this on the 2006 ballot so people can vote whether they want the hunting of doves or not," Spotts said.

The committee's Web site is www.StopShootingDoves.org.