Media Coverage - Detroit Free Press - Editorial: To Ban Dove Hunting, Vote No on Prop 06-3
Published October 13, 2006. Editorial. The Detroit Free Press
The campaign to allow the hunting of mourning doves in Michigan leans heavily on the idea that stopping the dove season would just encourage more efforts to crimp hunting in the state, culminating in an end even to that mainstay of the sport, deer season.
That hardly seems likely and should not deter a NO vote on Proposal 06-3.
Voters petitioned to put dove hunting on the ballot after the Legislature passed it in 2004 amid much emotional bickering back and forth. But people who signed the petitions were more likely objecting to changing the non-dove-hunting status quo, which had lasted a century, than scheming to use it as a wedge to go after all other forms of hunting. If the rumored attempt by out-of-state activists to limit other hunting practices materializes in Michigan, as did an attempt to change bear hunting rules in 1990s, voters can be expected to slap them down again.
Michigan has plenty of mourning doves, enough that city folk recognize them and hear them cooing gently into the dusk. The idea of shooting them evokes a wince; some hunters will use the birds for target practice, rather than clean and cook them in line with good hunting practices.
Proposal 06-3 is officially a referendum. Voters are asked whether they approve of the 2004 law, which permits dove hunting and gives the Natural Resources Commission the authority to set the rules. One limited, six-county season was held in 2004, with about 5,000 people buying dove stamps for their small game licenses. Then the referendum signatures were filed and dove hunting was suspended until the Nov. 7 vote.
Hunting is very much a part of Michigan's culture and deserves continued support. But birders and backyard observers have every bit as much right to draw the line on targeting a gentle species that they enjoy. Vote NO on Proposal 06-3.
