Media Coverage - Schneider: Dove Hunting Inexcusable, Many Readers Say
Published September 25, 2006. John Schneider, columnist. Lansing State Journal.
My Sept. 17 column about dove hunting ruffled some feathers. A sample:
From Bonnie Moon of Grand Ledge: "I was very angered by your column.
"I stood out in the rain and cold to collect over 1,000 signatures so this issue could be placed before the people of Michigan in November.
"I know there were many hunters who signed those petitions because they believe there is no good reason to shoot mourning doves and that, in most cases, hunters would just be using them as target practice.
"I am not a vegetarian and I respect Michigan's hunting heritage, but these birds have been protected in Michigan for 100 years. Doves are not over-abundant; they do not damage crops and are not a viable human food source. Also, there are 40 other game birds in Michigan to hunt. I would no sooner eat one of these non-game songbirds than I would my pet cat or my son's pet guinea pig."
From Holly Hunting Martin of Sioux City, Iowa, formerly of Lansing: "Your column was the most sane, rational and logical thing I have ever read about hunting."
Diminishing returns
From Don Weinshank of East Lansing: "Mourning doves are not much of a game animal. As my doctoral adviser once told me, people who hunt doves try it only once. Cleaning them is just not worth the effort."
From Larry Hennessey of Okemos: "Although I'm not opposed to hunting in general, I do have a concern about dove hunting.
"Michigan has a resident population of mourning doves and, unlike most other birds, they continue breeding on into the fall. Since it would be impossible to distinguish between migrating and resident birds, there's a chance that nesting birds would be killed, orphaning their nestlings.
"This would be like allowing the hunting of does in the spring, when their fawns were dependent on them."
From Christopher Lehnert of Lansing: "I spent one spring in Maryland. In the mornings, the sky was full of geese heading north. I counted the geese in one 'V,' and counted the 'Vs' that I could see. I estimated there were about 10,000 geese above me. It was a beautiful sight and sound.
"Wouldn't it be nice if we had that many doves? Maybe the challenge of dove hunting is to find that last one, so we can shoot it."
Questionable sport
From Carl Archambeau of Grand Ledge: "There always seems to be something missing in the 'pro' and 'con' discussion about hunting.
"I am a 71-year-old ex-Yooper who grew up on hunting and have done my share of killing animals, for one reason or another. I lived on a farm and often killed the chickens for Sunday dinner.
"I hunted small and large game with mixed success. I have been in a slaughterhouse and seen cattle stunned, bled, gutted, skinned and quartered in a matter of 20 minutes.
"The question is not whether you are a vegetarian or a meat eater. The question is whether it is right for some creatures, who consider themselves to be of the highest level of intelligence to take the life of other creatures for sport."
