Michigan

Songbird Protection Coalition

Wisconsin's First Season (2003) - Facts They Don't Tout

In spite of the new season "victory" hype, only 8.4 percent of those holding a small game license chose to hunt doves in Wisconsin.  Participation rated dove hunting near the very bottom of the list - between crow and coyote hunting.  Most hunters did not take the time or preferred other concurrent seasons.  24.8 percent of small game hunters polled answered they did not believe in hunting doves.

Not counting the crippling loss rate, which averaged 28.5 percent (with one region, where doves are most common, reporting a loss rate of more than 40 percent), an estimated 202,000 doves were legally bagged.  Shooters reported an average of only 4 days in the field and hunted locally on private land - proving no real "economic value."  The most common sites used to hunt doves was over crop growing soils (43.2 percent) and bodies of water or protected wetlands (21.9 percent).

It is important to note: Lead shot is only banned on the use of "waterfowl" over water - and NOT upland birds such as the mourning dove.  Lead is a known environmental contaminant with deadly long-term consequences and is most commonly used to hunt doves.  An enormous amount of lead is deposited at a cumulative rate by dove hunters. See the most recent scientific research here.

Despite the indisputable reality of lead poisoning, special interest lobby groups who claim "conservation" and "environmental" missions, openly oppose the ban of toxic lead shot on doves -- that would set precedent in accountability based on consumptive and recreational use of resources.  In Florida, Governor Jeb Bush (5/2004) signed a law giving those who knowingly pollute the environment with large amounts of lead shot almost total immunity from lead cleanup lawsuits.

Data Source: Bureau of Wildlife Management, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.