News

MDN Editorial: Let Voters Decide on Mourning Dove Hunt

Published March 30, 2005. Editorial. Midland Daily News.
Let voters decide on mourning dove hunt

In a state that already allows the hunting of duck, geese, pheasants, quail, woodcock, snipe, coots, rails and grouse, we've often wondered why state sharpshooters need another, albeit tiny, airborne target to shoot at.

And we've often wondered why, after being a protected songbird since 1905, the mourning dove showed up in the sights of hunters just in the past few years.

We've also often sympathized with those people who draw the innocent birds into their backyards with a steady supply of bird feed.

Then again, we've oft editorialized that the Department of Natural Resources should be allowed to manage the populations of the birds and animals within its vast territory, and with few exceptions it does a great job.

Even with all those caveats, we still were pleased to see the Committee to Restore the Dove Shooting Ban turn in more than 275,000 signatures toward putting on the ballot a question that would ask residents whether to ban future hunts of the migratory bird or not.

In its first hunt last fall, nearly 5,000 Michigan hunters took to the fields, killing 28,000 state mourning doves. That compares to about 300,000 each in Indiana and Ohio.

This was, and still is, a highly controversial topic, with mud being hurled from all parties close to the vote.

We believe it is time for Michiganders to weigh in on the issue. Since it appears this will be on the ballot in 2006, we ask that residents become knowledgeable about the topic, and head for the polls when it is time to speak out on this issue.

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