The Truth About Dove hunting

[Mr VJP]

The Truth About Dove Hunting

 

  It is becoming a full-time job keeping up with the misinformation  distributed by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS).

 

  On March 24, Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad signed NRA-backed legislation  allowing the state to hold mourning dove hunting for the first time in  nearly a century.

 

  The day before, when the Iowa Legislature sent the bill to the governor,  HSUS issued the following statement:

 

  "We are disappointed that the Iowa Senate and House of Representatives  have voted to  allow the target shooting of mourning doves for the first  time since 1918," said Carol Griglione, Iowa state director for The Humane  Society of the United States. "This bill repeals nearly a century of dove  protection policy in our state, yet lawmakers rushed it through the process  with hardly a word of debate or a serious vetting of the issues. Doves are  not overpopulated, there is very little meat on their bodies, and there is  no management rationale for a new hunting season - they will simply be shot  for target practice. We urge Governor Branstad to veto this bill and keep  the century-long tradition of dove protection in Iowa."

 

  There is an outright lie or a meaningless argument in every sentence of  this statement, not to mention omission of facts that anyone who really  cares about wildlife would want to know.

 

  Lie # 1: Use of the terms "target shooting" and "target practice." 

  Hunting is not target shooting-practically or legally. In fact,  Iowa law  specifically prohibits "target shooting of game species" under two  regulations, both carrying fines, surcharges and court costs. Shooting  doves for "target practice" would amount to illegal wanton waste, something  ethical hunters abhor. 

 

  Lie # 2: "Lawmakers rushed it through the process..." 

  Baloney. The "process" and debate have been going on since 1918, the year  dove hunting was banned. Hunters have been objecting ever since. Gov.  Branstad recently told radioiowa.com, "I also was a state representative in  1973 when we brought the dove bill out of committee. I got more hate mail  on that issue than anything else." Moreover, the state Legislature passed a  bill to allow dove hunting in 2001, but the governor vetoed it. If the ban  has been opposed since 1918, and written and debated in the legislature  since at least 1973, how much more "process" do we really need?

 

  Meaningless Argument #1: "...there is very little meat on  their  bodies."

  Many game fish and birds might subjectively be considered "small" by some,  but that doesn't mean they don't provide healthy meals for millions. Plenty  of foods Americans love are small, from woodcock and quail to sardines and  chicken McNuggets. And dove breast wrapped in bacon is well-known delicacy.  HSUS would use this irrelevant statement to oppose not just dove hunting,  but all small game hunting.

 

  Meaningless Argument #2: Doves are not overpopulated.

  No, they aren't--and one of the reasons is that they are the most commonly  hunted game bird in America.  How many would there be without hunting?  There are an estimated 350 million doves in the United States, according to  the report, Mourning Dove Population Status 2010 by the U.S. Fish and  Wildlife Service. The total annual hunter harvest is between 5 and 10  percent of the population. Study after study has failed to show hunting has  any detrimental impact on dove populations, even  considering liberal bag  limits. Doves have high mortality rates from disease, predation and  weather, but even these factors don't offset their high reproductive rates. 

 

  Lie #3: "There is no management rationale for a new hunting  season."

  Then why do the game and fish departments of 40 states support it? One  rationale is that game management in this country is virtually all funded  by hunters and fisherman. A new season means more people hunting, providing  more funding for wildlife conservation. Hunting is the foundation of  wildlife conservation in this country, and that model applies to doves the  same as it does deer and wild turkeys.

 

  Major Omission #1: With a hunting season open for doves, the Iowa  DNR will likely undertake dove habitat projects. Anyone who really cares  about wildlife might want to know that habitat work benefits many other  birds and animals in addition to the priority species. If HSUS really cared  about birds, they'd  tell you that dove management practices benefit  everything from bobwhite quail to the yellow-rumped warbler. Foxes, rabbits  and other mammals benefit, too.

 

  Major Omission #2: HSUS constantly ignores the economic benefits of  hunting. The Iowa DNR estimates dove hunters would contribute $6.9 million  to the state's economy and generate $462,000 in state sales tax revenue. 

 

  While no hunter will be surprised at HSUS's statements, it's important  that we don't get complacent about refuting them just because they are  predictable. HSUS is intensifying its attempts to reach our children  through so-called "educational" outreach to our school system. It's bad  enough that so many adults believe what HSUS says. It is horrible to think  how they might affect our kids.

 

  --J.R. Robbins

 

  Robbins is Managing Editor, www.NRAhuntersrights.org

[Lawdwaz]

Good info.  It would be great if we could hunt them here.

Thanks for posting.

[firehunter48]

I truly do understand that living here in the United States, which i PROUDLY SERVED (back in the early 90's when nothing was happenin), means that every one is entitles to there own opinion. Unfortunatly it also means that we allow these "organizations" like the Humane society, and "PETA" and other so called animal loving groups to form. With that being said, WHY is it so hard for these people to see or understand that this animal in particular, has been reproducing for over 90 years???? Does anyone besides me know what this does to an animal population? I have no idea how many eggs a dove produces or how many hatch out of that but i mean come on!!!!!!!

I completely agree with MR VJP when he talks about the "lies" and "meaningless arguments". Do these people even think before they open their mouths? Dont get me wrong here, i have said a ton of stupid $h!t before i thought about what i was saying. These people are beyond stupid, thinking hunting doves is target practice? they ever watch one of these things fly in the air? OMG, they are just a tad fast, I have a hard enough time trying to hit a pheasant, and they are 5x as big and twice as slow!!! But, what's my problem, it's just like target practice right?

There's hardly any meat on them? Have they ever seen the size of a quail? last time I checked they were a lot smaller then a dove and i dont hear them complaining about quail seasons

Obviously everyone on here could probably go on and on about this NONSENSE that this so called "animal right" group is complaining about but the facts are obvious. YES we hunt, YES we all KILL animals. Does that make it wrong for people like myself or the rest of us to go out, enjoy a SPORT, take in nature, and TRY ( and you all know what I mean when I say TRY) to HARVEST, not kill an animal for myself and my family to consume to sustain life? But then again, what do I know? I'm just an outdoors man who spends a TON of money in this country, I'm not an owner of a slaughter house killing animals that are bred for the sole purpose of being killed.

[steve863]

I actually don't like the word "harvest" when it comes to killing an animal such as in a hunt.  We harvest corn, wheat, etc., but we do "kill" animals, and I don't have any guilty feeling about using that word.  With that said, I don't think shooting doves is target practice, but it isn't exactly a hunt in it's purest sense either in my opinion.  One will most likely fire more rounds at doves in one sitting compared to any other animal that one could legally shoot at.  I call it for what it is, and to me it is a "shoot" instead of a typical "hunt".

[Fantail]

I bet some of these humane society F-tards wouldn't like it so much if they couldn't eat any more shrimp. I mean gooly gee a single tear rolls down my cheek there such little meat on their bodys..

[firehunter48]

Thats EXACTLY what i was trying to say Fantail. You, of course, happened to do it in a h-e-double hockey sticks, of a lot fewer words....