Media Coverage - A 'No' vote on Proposal 3 will save mourning doves
Published November 4, 2006. Editorial. Niles Daily Star.
Michigan hunters had survived nearly 100 years without the ability to hunt doves.
We see no reason why they cannot continue to survive without a dove hunting season.
Most Michigan residents consider mourning doves song birds like robins or cardinals. Their trademark coo can be as soothing a sound as one will find in nature.
The mourning dove is so beloved in Michigan, that it has earned the status as the state's official bird of peace.
Proposal 3 would establish a hunting season for mourning doves. The debate over this topic has raged on for years in the State of Michigan.
Finally, in 2004, after 99 years without a dove hunting season, the governor signed into law, following narrow passage in the legislature, Bill 5029.
Bill 5029 established a three-year trial dove hunting season in six counties along our southern borders.
After one year, opponents of the bill forced the state to put it on this year's ballot.
The first and only hunting season didn't draw much attention. There were just an estimated 3,000 hunters who participated, who killed over 28,000 birds.
We don't see a need for a dove hunting season with so few hunters actually willing to participate.
We are led to believe by those in favor of this bill that there is a need for game management. In the case of doves, that is not an issue. There is no overpopulation when it comes to mourning doves.
So that would leave recreation as the main reason to legalize dove hunting.
Forty other states have dove hunting seasons. Doves are rated No. 1 nationally as a game bird. In Michigan, the mourning dove did not have game bird stature until Bill 5029 was signed into law.
We feel that Michigan can do without the few additional dollars that a hunting season would provide. Under Proposal 3, hunters would be required to have a small game license and a $2 dove stamp.
With only 3,000 hunters actually purchasing those stamps, we don't see dove hunting as much of a moneymaker.
Quite frankly, we believe the mourning dove should be allowed to live its life in peace and not be hunted.
We urge you to vote no on Proposal 3 when you go to the polls on Nov. 7.
