Media Coverage - Proposal 3 Would Make Doves Fair Game
Published October 23, 2006. By Chris Christoff. Detroit Freepress
One of a series of Free Press reports on five statewide issues on the Nov. 7 ballot. Come back Tuesday for a look at Proposal 1, which mandates the use of recreation fees to support recreation programs.
One choice on the Nov. 7 ballot is a matter of life and death. That is, if you're a mourning dove.
Proposal 3 would allow the hunting of mourning doves in Michigan. Actually, it was made legal in 2004 when lawmakers and Gov. Jennifer Granholm ended the state's 99-year ban on dove hunting.
That autumn, 28,000 doves were bagged in a limited season in six counties.
But in 2005, dove lovers and animal protection groups collected enough petition signatures to suspend dove hunting and force a statewide vote on the question this November. A yes vote would allow dove hunting; a no vote would throw out the law that legalized it.
While other election issues command more attention, the notion of shooting mourning doves incites passions on both sides of the hunting divide.
Opponents say there's no good reason to hunt the gentle, cooing bird. They make their point in an emotionally charged TV ad that concludes with the sound of a gunshot and video of a shot dove flapping its wings in the throes of death.
Dove-hunting enthusiasts say 40 other states allow it and that opponents' ultimate goal is to ban all hunting, a charge anti-dove hunters deny.
Advocates say dove hunting could pump millions of dollars into the state's economy -- money that goes to other states where hunters go to shoot the migrating birds. Opponents point to a study that shows there's little economic benefit.
Granholm angered animal rights groups by signing the bill in 2004, despite her assurance to them in 2002 that she would not support dove hunting. The compromise law only allowed dove hunting in six Michigan counties that border Ohio and Indiana, states where dove hunting is legal.
The Department of Natural Resources was to monitor dove populations for three years, after which hunting could be allowed in other parts of the state.
Surveys estimate 4 million mourning doves migrate from Michigan each year, according to the nonprofit, nonpartisan Citizens Research Council of Michigan.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos supports dove hunting.
Challenging target
Leading the campaign for dove hunting is Citizens for Wildlife Conservation Committee (CWCC), a coalition led by the Michigan United Conservation Clubs, the U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance and the National Rifle Association. They say doves are the most popular game bird in the United States and are so plentiful that hunting won't diminish their numbers.
Dove hunters say the bird is a challenging target in flight and tasty to eat. Doves typically are hunted in September in farm fields, not residential areas, where they can be seen in backyards.
Steven Lawire-Smith, 41, of Rives Junction said he favors allowing a hunt. He doesn't hunt himself but allows friends to hunt deer and turkeys on 25 acres he owns in Jackson County.
"I don't see a problem with it, if it's controlled, like deer hunting is," he said. "I see it as a source of revenue."
Other Michiganders say they think it's a bad idea.
Eileen Berry of Plymouth Township said doves are urban and suburban birds, not like wild turkeys, and that she once had a pair nesting in a crevice of the exterior of her home.
"Come on. Just because they're not endangered, you're going to shoot them?" she said. "What are we going to shoot next, robins?"
The argument that other states allow dove hunting doesn't sway her.
"They allow capital punishment in other states, but I don't go along with that, either," she said.
Advocates tried for 20 years to legalize dove hunting in Michigan. A pro-dove hunting rally at the state Capitol in 2003 featured rock star and hunter Ted Nugent, who pumped up the crowd with the memorable rally cry, "Doves are food!"
"I've hunted doves in other states, and it's a festive kind of thing. It's like the opening bell, usually the first hunting season of the year," said Rob Sexton, vice president of the U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance.
Protecting the birds
On the other side is the Committee to Keep Doves Protected, led by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), the Michigan Audubon Society and Michigan Humane Society. They say Michigan's long history of protecting doves as songbirds should continue and that shooting doves offends most people.
The Detroit Free Press-Local 4 Michigan Poll in late August showed 50% of Michigan voters were opposed to dove hunting and 40% were in favor.
Dove hunting is gratuitous and unnecessary, said Wayne Pacelle, president of the HSUS.
"We don't allow hunting of everything," Pacelle said. "It's biologically sustainable to shoot robins or cardinals, too, but we have social values to say that conduct is out of bounds. ... They're too small to make a meal. They aren't a nuisance, there's no population rationale."
Hunting advocates claim Pacelle's organization wants to stop all hunting. They point to the HSUS Web site, which denounces hunting for recreation as cruel to animals.
"The bottom line is this issue is about way more than doves. It is really about our rights to hunt, our liberties, period," said David Farbman, head of the World Hunting Association and founder of the Farbman Group real estate company in Southfield.
Last January, state elections records showed that the HSUS donated $535,000 of the $803,500 raised by the Committee to Restore the Dove Hunting Ban.
The pro-hunting CWCC hasn't come close to raising the $3.2 million it had targeted for the campaign, according to Sexton. He said the group plans to soon air radio ads urging voters to pass Proposal 3.
