Fact Sheet: Restore Protections for Minnesota's Mourning Doves |
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Doves may still be nesting and feeding their babies during the hunting season. |
Mourning doves were a protected species in Minnesota for more than a half century—beginning in 1946—until 2004 when the legislature narrowly passed a bill to allow a dove shooting season.
The Humane Society of the United States, on behalf of its 154,876 members and supporters in Minnesota, urges legislators to restore Minnesota's longstanding tradition of protecting mourning doves from being shot for target practice.
Mourning doves had been continuously protected in Minnesota for 58 years; they should not be shot for target practice. Banned since 1946, the shooting of doves is not a tradition in Minnesota. Doves are essentially shot for target practice, not for food or management.
Dove hunting has not been popular with Minnesota sportsmen. The Department of Natural Resources told lawmakers during the legislative debate three years ago that 30,000 hunters would initially participate in a dove season, and eventually 50,000 would do so annually. But according to the Star Tribune, the new dove hunting season "started with a dose of disinterest," and DNR officers called the season a "non-event" and stated that "dove hunting interest and success seemed low." The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that 597,000 people hunt in Minnesota, but only about 1 percent of them—6,000—hunted doves during the 2005-2006 season.
Hunting doves is unnecessary and serves no wildlife management purpose. There is no reason to have a shooting season on doves. Mourning doves—also known as the farmer's friend—are ground-feeding birds that eat pest weed seeds; they pose no threat to agricultural crops, homes, or anything of value to people. Other northern states also have long-standing policies of protecting doves. There are no management problems within those states, and no one has suggested that doves are overpopulated.
Mourning doves have significant economic value as live songbirds. Doves are beloved backyard birds and are an important part of the multi-million dollar bird watching and feeding industry in Minnesota. As a backyard songbird, scientific research studies show the mourning dove as "the second most-frequently reported bird at feeders." More Minnesota residents participate in wildlife watching and spend more doing it than any other outdoor activity—including all forms of hunting combined.
Doves are not a viable human food source. As small birds, even if shot properly, doves have very little "edible" flesh on them. During the 60-day shooting season that takes place in September and October, doves are actually at their lightest body weight for the entire year. However, doves are an important source of food for protected birds of prey such as eagles, falcons, hawks and owls.
Shooting doves is known to produce orphaned young. Doves are scientifically known to still be nesting during the 60-day shooting season of September and October. Doves mate for life because both parents are required to successfully fledge squabs. The killing of one parent is known to cause unnecessary suffering of dependent young who will die in the nest of starvation.
There is an unacceptably high wounding rate for dove hunting. Scientific research studies confirm an average wounding rate of 30 percent in hunted areas—meaning that nearly one in three birds is wounded and not retrieved after being shot. In Minnesota, where there is no tradition of dove hunting and where few Minnesota hunters have had the experience of shooting at doves, there may be an even higher wounding rate.
There are plenty of other species for the sporting community to pursue and shoot in the state. At least 109 species are considered game species in Minnesota. Not counting unprotected birds, at least 48 of these game species are birds. Turkeys, pheasants, geese, ducks, woodcock, rails, snipe and dozens of other bird species give recreational hunters more than ample shooting opportunities at all times of the year in Minnesota. In fact, hunting seasons are longer and bag limits are larger than ever for many species. The Pioneer Press wrote in an editorial, "Minnesota already has more birds that can be legally shot than any other state in the country."
Shooting at doves produces mistaken identity kills, including American kestrels, sharp-shinned hawks and several other federally protected species. Many "non-target" avian species are often unavoidably and mistakenly shot by mourning dove hunters.
Dove shooting contributes to the discharge of enormous amounts of toxic lead shot in the environment. For every dove shot and bagged, hunters discharge an average of eight shots, according to a long-term study conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey and the Fish and Wildlife Service. Densities of greater than 860,000 pellets per hectare have been reported in dove fields, which are usually crop-growing soils. Cumulative lead deposits pose a significant risk to ground-feeding mourning doves and to other wildlife that directly and indirectly ingest toxic shot, including birds of prey and other animals who scavenge on downed birds.
Minnesota voters oppose dove hunting. A poll conducted by the Minnesota House of Representatives during the 2003 Minnesota State Fair found that Minnesota voters overwhelmingly opposed the establishment of a mourning dove hunting season by a three-to-one margin. The survey, sampling a total of 7,329 Minnesotans, revealed that 18.8 percent favored dove hunting, 56.5 percent opposed dove hunting and 23.2 percent were undecided.
Minnesotans are not alone in opposing dove hunting. In November 2006, Michigan voters were asked whether to open a new dove hunting season after a century of dove protection. They overwhelmingly rejected Proposal 3, a statewide referendum which would have allowed dove hunting, by a landslide vote of 69 to 31 percent. Proposal 3 was backed by the National Rifle Association, U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance, Safari Club International and other national hunting groups, and it was opposed by The Humane Society of the United States, Michigan Humane Society, Michigan Audubon Society, Michigan State Grange and a diverse coalition of organizations and businesses. Michigan is one of the biggest hunting states in the country, but voters rejected dove hunting in each of the 83 counties in the state—from the most urban to the most rural.
Nearly every major newspaper in Minnesota opposes dove hunting. The Duluth News Tribune, St. Paul Pioneer Press, Rochester Post-Bulletin and other newspapers have published editorials calling on lawmakers to keep doves protected.
For more information please contact The Humane Society of the United States’ Minnesota office at (651) 291-5308.
See the Video
Dove Hunting
Related Links
Dove Hunting: The Bird of Peace as Target Practice
Minnesota Doves: Under the Gun
