Dove hunt defense begins Thursday, June 14, 2007 10:23 AM EDT
By Joe AlbertAssociate Editor, MN Outdoor News
http://www.outdoornews.com/articles/2007/06/14/news/news3.txt Lakeville, Minn. - Three years ago, dove hunters were flying high, having just watched state lawmakers vote to allow a dove season in the state.
Three years later, dove hunters are working to make sure their season isn't lost again (there was no dove season in the state for nearly 60 years before 2004).
Legislation was introduced in the waning days of the session that would repeal the dove hunt. Legislators don't come back to the Capitol until next February, but dove-hunt supporters aren't wasting any time as they work to preserve their season.
That began last week, when Kevin Ausland, chair of the Eden Prairie-based Dove Sportsman's Society-Minnesota Chapter, convened a meeting to talk about doves and to begin laying the groundwork to defend the season. Additional sessions are planned this summer.
'We've got to nip this in the bud,' Ausland said. 'We can't see it go down the tubes now.'
The hope is that Minnesota doesn't end up like Michigan. That state held its first season for doves in years, then anti-hunters gathered enough signatures - the state has initiative and referendum - to get a question on the ballot to ask voters about the dove season. By a 2-to-1 margin, voters rejected the season and it ended.
Minnesota doesn't have initiative and referendum, so the bills (SF2329, HF2501) will have to go through the regular legislative process. Still, Ausland and others are concerned by the number of co-authors on the bills. To date, 12 legislators have signed on to them.
They are - House: Mike Jaros, DFL-Duluth, Phyllis Kahn, DFL-Minneapolis, Ron Erhardt, R-Edina, Gene Pelowski, DFL-Winona, Thomas Huntley, DFL-Duluth, Ken Tschumper, DFL-La Crescent, and Diane Loeffler, DFL-Minneapolis.
Senate - Sandra Pappas, DFL-St. Paul, John Doll, DFL-Burnsville, John Marty, DFL-Roseville, Ellen Anderson, DFL-St. Paul, and David Senjem, R-Rochester. Harvest and hunter numbers haven't been tallied from the 2006 dove season, but the state DNR estimates 16,000 hunters killed 97,000 doves in 2004, and 11,000 hunters killed 78,000 doves in 2005.
The Humane Society of the United States, which supports the ban, says those numbers are proof the season isn't popular.
'After three seasons of dove hunting, the experiment has failed, and it's more important than ever that Minnesota lawmakers know where the public stands on the hunting of mourning doves,' said Jill Fritz, state director for the HSUS.
Ausland acknowledges that he would like to see more dove hunters, but stands by his belief that dove hunting is a good way to recruit people to the sport of hunting.
The DNR hasn't officially taken a position on the bills, but did support opening the season, said Bob Meier, DNR assistant commissioner. At a time when the agency is doing everything it can to get people into the field, he doesn't see any reason the agency would support limiting or closing the season.
'I would anticipate we would oppose any positions to shut it down,' he said. 'It's clear the hunting resource isn't affecting the population. There's a sustainable population to be harvested.'
When other states have opened a dove season, it's been typical for challenges to them to occur, said Ed Boggess, deputy director of the DNR Fish and Wildlife Division. Those challenges tend to end once the problems some people say dove hunting will cause - damage to power lines from doves being shot off them, a decline in dove numbers at backyard feeders, among them - don't materialize, he said.
'Really, we haven't seen any of those problems,' Boggess said. 'The fact that we've had a few seasons since it opened and we haven't had widespread problems like some of the opponents predicted, I think will make it more difficult for this effort.'
But Ausland isn't taking any chances. He hopes to have five Dove Sportsman's Society chapters set up in the state by the end of the year, and 24 within two years. And on Aug. 11, he plans to convene another dove meeting, this one including manufacturers, retailers, hunters, and others with an interest in maintaining the dove season.
'If we just sit on our thumbs, we will lose the season in the next two or three years,' he said.
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Those in bold above, if you live in their district, you should call them and tell them politely to remove themselves as coauthers of the anti Dove hunting legislation. Mention you live in their district, and you are pro hunting and for the the law that allows dove hunting in MN, and it should not be repealled.
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