Vote yes to allow the hunting of mourning doves
It is true hunters don't get much meat off a mourning dove. It would take several to make a meal. But the same can be said about squirrels, rabbits, quail and woodcocks ?- small animals already hunted in Michigan.
Pheasants, foxes, pintails and minks are prettier, so the it's-such-a-cute-little-bird argument used to support a ban on hunting doves, on the ballot Nov. 7 as Proposal 3, doesn't hold up. It's an appeal to emotionalism.
Without emotionalism, there appears to be no reason to prohibit dove hunting. Forty states already allow it with no perceptible effect on their numbers. There are an estimated 400 million doves nationwide. They reproduce easily and frequently.
It is up to the Department of Natural Resources to set the bag limits so hunting does not diminish the dove population. That department seems to have done a fine job managing the populations of other game species.
Proponents of the ban claim hunters just use doves for target practice, not as a food source. That, too, appears to be untrue. The DNR estimates that during a trial hunting season held in 2004, before a petition drive placed this referendum on the ballot, sportsmen were able to retrieve 85 percent of the birds they shot, a pretty good number for most forms of hunting.
Hunting is a viable part of this state. We see no reason to give doves special protection.
We recommend a YES vote to allow hunting of this game bird.
http://www.dailypressandargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061031/OPINION01/610310311
