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From Fred Neff today on MODO


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I got the following e-mail from Fred Neff this morning. Fred was/is involved with the NYSCC and his local federation. He is credited with being the impetus for the NY voluntary habitat and access stamp. Fred also has been a long-time advocate of dove hunting for NY and a key player in it,

 

A change was  made to PA's mourning dove season this fall.  Can you guess what it was?

Well, they added 20 more days to the total season length (including split seasons) - up from 70 days to 90 days.  This was the result of a new national dove harvest strategy cooperatively developed by state wildlife agencies and the USFWS that resulted in the 20 day addition in  positively affected states in the Eastern Management Unit (EMU) - the 27 easternmost states - whenever dove populations in the EMU exceed 36.5 million birds.  Recent EMU dove populations estimates of 95 million doves far exceeded that goal,  PA will add their 20 additional days to the front end of the season.
And what does NY get?  Zero!  Nada!  Why?  Do I really have to go there at this point?  The kindest thing I will say at this point is "uninformed state legislators". 
While we present hard scientific facts and data that proves that sound dove management at both state and federal level (remember that the dove is considered a migratory game bird by the USFWS)  poses no threat to dove populations due to hunting, NY legislators (especially our downstate Big Apple who could care less about the matter but have the vote) who fear for their political lives continue to listen to the utterly emotional drivel of our anti-dove friends.  I could list a lot, but I'll just list two of the many personal favorites that I've encountered over the years here:
"You've driven them to extinction once and they're just coming back".
"NY will have major power outages from hunters shooting doves on power lines".  Note - I'm still waiting for anyone to show me proof of that one".
I've spent 50 years on this one in NY.  And I wasn't, and am not, the only one involved in this for sportsmen.  And I've heard it all and been through it all.    But 40 out of the contiguous US states have a dove season; plus Ontario just opened a dove season. 
This pretty much sums it up - while on a visit to our home in Utica years ago, my cousin, Ted, from PA, when informed that we could not hunt doves in NY exclaimed, "What is wrong with these people; are they un-American?" 
What has to happen for NY to get their season is simple:
DEC has got to stand up and take a strong a forceful lead in pushing for the reclassification.  They hide behind the shield (probably out of fear for their pensions that would be jeopardized should they run afoul of the politicians and antis) that the legislature and the governor must first pass a law that reclassifies the dove as a migratory game bird and then they could saddle their horses and get it done (maybe - the tentacles of NY politics are many and wide).
NY sportsmen have got to get off of their butts and show DEC that they will throw their whole weight behind this one as they have in items involving major issues of the day - deer management, habitat and access, etc.  But when it comes to doves, we still are the silent majority.  Most just don't understand the concept of dove hunting since they've never had it. They remain "underwhelmed" by, and resistant to, the concept. My continuing believe is that if DEC takes a lead role in this, and our states' sportsmen become interested enough to become educated, this will happen.
Remember, the 8 states that resist a dove season are mostly northeast states where doves are not overly present.  Deer, bear, and moose are.  NY is unique in that it has everything in abundance.  I once told a friend from the Adirondacks who told me that they don't see doves up there, "Hey, you want to see a dove, come down here to Central or Western NY; I'll show you at least 500 any evening that you want in the fall when the harvesting is going on and the migration is starting.  And if I want to see a moose, I'll come up your way.  Don't see much of them down here".
I can't believe that I just wrote all of this.  I think maybe I'm still a bit unrecovered from my bout with the flu.
Fred.

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Now I have to admit...I never noticed doves much other than the mourning doves in my yard each spring. I have to say I like mourning doves...I love the sound they make. That said...since your enthusiastic hunting season push...I see them or pigeons sitting on the power lines along the farmers fields...perhaps a dozen at a time still not many...To be honest driving by I do not know which it is pigeon or dove...un like the crow and the geese I can say I've never seen flocks of them here... I now wonder how many in our area of the western finger lakes/southerntier are have...I do wish you luck though

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Now I have to admit...I never noticed doves much other than the mourning doves in my yard each spring. I have to say I like mourning doves...I love the sound they make. That said...since your enthusiastic hunting season push...I see them or pigeons sitting on the power lines along the farmers fields...perhaps a dozen at a time still not many...To be honest driving by I do not know which it is pigeon or dove...un like the crow and the geese I can say I've never seen flocks of them here... I now wonder how many in our area of the western finger lakes/southerntier are have...I do wish you luck though

 

The thing is, just like noted in the email above is that most in our state have never experienced it.  If you hunted them with the aid of a good retrieving dog you would come unglued.  It is about as much fun as you can have with a shotgun in your hands.  The weather can be spectacular, the shooting unreal, working with a dog, banging away with a sweet handling 20ga, FINE table fare.........and you can do it with friends, laughing and chit chatting the whole time as you relax on your 5ga swivel seat bucket.

 

My old pooch is pretty much out of the retrieving business unless it is an old glove or a stick in the yard and I don't think we'll get another after she is gone, UNLESS we can hunt dove here in NYS.

 

Once you figure out exactly what they look like in flight and when perched you will never make a mistake.  Numerous times we have seen some kind of small hawk that looks a little like a dove in flight but after a few times you won't mistake them.  

 

I've mentioned before that after hunting them a bunch of times whenever you see them in the off season they will always bring a smile to your face.  They are a really neat game bird.........................

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Perhaps because of the thousand and thousands of cow birds that we have here, I don't see many dove. Wouldn't mind banging away at those!...You bring up a good point though...I know we have those small hawks and would hate to think those would be shot by novice dove hunters...something that hadn't occured to me until now..

 

OH boy! That was not any sort of accusation!

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Part of the fun is identifying your target. Its also part of duck hunting. Even the dogs learn to identify birds, by both sound and sight... 

 

Absolutely on the dog, she knows usually before me.............!!

 

The noise they make when they flush or fly by close is very distinct.  Thank goodness we don't have to differentiate between male & female. :)

 

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Just for conversation sake, those little hawks are American kestrels, also known as sparrow hawks. They are North America's smallest falcon.

 

Really, you didn't think I knew the name?

 

 

 

And you'd be spot on, 100% absolutely correct-a-mundo.  :)

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Really, you didn't think I knew the name?

 

 

 

And you'd be spot on, 100% absolutely correct-a-mundo.  :)

 

And there might be 100 other names you don't know, but you know what to shoot and what not to shoot....  How many hunters can tell a fish crow from an American crow? How many even know they existed? 

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Knew...but... Thanks Pygmy

A note..we also have pygmy owls ....while on stand Years ago I had one with a sparrow hawk literal fall from the sky and "pause" for a second tumble through the air in a fight. Called DEC with a description and they told me what I saw...Also mentioned it to be a rare and neat sighting...dang if I Can remember owl name. Haven't seen one since..

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  • 2 weeks later...

Very hard to distinguish, especially on the wing, generally you need to ID by sound. The wonderful state of NJ only recently reclassified the fish crow as a game species, they had been hunting American crows for years, no doubt taking fish crows as by-catch....

 

Another thing we can tie crows in with, is that they are oscines. Oscines are "song birds".... Mourning doves are not oscines..... They are not even sub-oscines... 

 

Its time to hold individuals and entities accountable to the facts.... 

 

 

 

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