Media Coverage - No reason to hunt doves; no on 3

Published November 6, 2006. Editorial. Michigan Daily

Excerpt from November 6, 2006 editorial

After the state Legislature repealed a 100-year-old ban on mourning dove hunting, leading to a limited hunting season in the fall of 2004, opponents gathered enough signatures to suspend the next dove hunting season. Proposal 3 will let voters decide whether to re-establish a hunting season for mourning doves. Hunters argue that rejecting the proposal is an assault on their right to hunt other animals and keep guns. But dove hunting and deer hunting are entirely different matters, and Michigan's long tradition of hunting ensures the state Legislature would never undertake any of the doomsday scenarios that worry hunters.

The real issue comes down to whether this specific form of hunting should be permitted. Hunting fast game birds can cause accidents more easily than hunting other game - just ask Dick Cheney. Also, many dove hunters may mistake endangered bird species for doves. But perhaps the best reason to vote against Proposal 3 is simply that unlike other game, doves are little more than target practice, with even hunters admitting that each dove, weighing three to four ounces, yields little meat. There's no good reason to add doves to already lengthy list of game birds; vote NO on Proposal 3.

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