spectr17
09-05-2003, 08:07 PM
Aug. 31, 2003
Inaugural dove hunt a learning experience
By Jim Lee, Bob Riepenhoff, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
When dawn arrives Monday, Wisconsin will become the 40th state to hold a mourning dove hunting season.
Jim Weix expects to be on hand for the event.
“It’s taken us five years to get this far,” said the 53-year-old chairman of the Wisconsin Dove Hunters Association, “three years after it was approved” by the Department of Natural Resources.
The season is scheduled to run Sept. 1 through Oct. 30 with a daily bag limit of 15 doves.
The possibility of hunting mourning doves long has been a controversial issue in the Badger State, but the concept received even more attention after Weix’s group began resolutely pushing for a season in 1998.
The Natural Resources Board approved a dove hunting season two years later, an action that drew court challenges from opponents.
Even Monday’s opener barely escaped legal hurdles. The Wisconsin Supreme Court refused to issue a temporary injunction sought by Wisconsin Citizens Concerned for Cranes and Doves. However, the high court said it will rule — after the 2003 season ends — on an appellate court decision that allowed the dove hunt to proceed.
Opponents claim the dove is a song bird, the state’s designated “bird of peace” and should not be hunted.
Proponents say the pursuit of doves is allowed in nearly 80 percent of the states. With an estimated nationwide population of 400 million to 500 million (4 million to 5 million in Wisconsin), the bird is the most numerous game bird in this state as well as North America. Hunting would provide an additional recreational opportunity without harming the dove population, they contend.
Keith Warnke, DNR upland wildlife ecologist, has estimated up to 30,000 hunters will participate in the Wisconsin season and will kill 150,000 to 200,000 doves.
“I don’t believe it will be that high,” Weix said.
“I think a lot of the dove hunting will be incidental. I’ve talked to a few people who plan to hunt on private land during the early goose season (which runs Sept. 2 to 15) and they plan to take along some light steel loads in case they see any doves.
“I think that’s the way most people will hunt them.”
Tom Meier, DNR wildlife biologist for the 28,000-acre Mead Wildlife Area, said people in central Wisconsin have little experience in hunting doves and don’t even know where to begin looking for suitable places to hunt.
“I think it’s something people are going to have to learn how to do,” he said.
A majority of dove hunting is expected to take place in rural southern Wisconsin where the dove population is the highest in the state.
Inaugural dove hunt a learning experience
By Jim Lee, Bob Riepenhoff, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
When dawn arrives Monday, Wisconsin will become the 40th state to hold a mourning dove hunting season.
Jim Weix expects to be on hand for the event.
“It’s taken us five years to get this far,” said the 53-year-old chairman of the Wisconsin Dove Hunters Association, “three years after it was approved” by the Department of Natural Resources.
The season is scheduled to run Sept. 1 through Oct. 30 with a daily bag limit of 15 doves.
The possibility of hunting mourning doves long has been a controversial issue in the Badger State, but the concept received even more attention after Weix’s group began resolutely pushing for a season in 1998.
The Natural Resources Board approved a dove hunting season two years later, an action that drew court challenges from opponents.
Even Monday’s opener barely escaped legal hurdles. The Wisconsin Supreme Court refused to issue a temporary injunction sought by Wisconsin Citizens Concerned for Cranes and Doves. However, the high court said it will rule — after the 2003 season ends — on an appellate court decision that allowed the dove hunt to proceed.
Opponents claim the dove is a song bird, the state’s designated “bird of peace” and should not be hunted.
Proponents say the pursuit of doves is allowed in nearly 80 percent of the states. With an estimated nationwide population of 400 million to 500 million (4 million to 5 million in Wisconsin), the bird is the most numerous game bird in this state as well as North America. Hunting would provide an additional recreational opportunity without harming the dove population, they contend.
Keith Warnke, DNR upland wildlife ecologist, has estimated up to 30,000 hunters will participate in the Wisconsin season and will kill 150,000 to 200,000 doves.
“I don’t believe it will be that high,” Weix said.
“I think a lot of the dove hunting will be incidental. I’ve talked to a few people who plan to hunt on private land during the early goose season (which runs Sept. 2 to 15) and they plan to take along some light steel loads in case they see any doves.
“I think that’s the way most people will hunt them.”
Tom Meier, DNR wildlife biologist for the 28,000-acre Mead Wildlife Area, said people in central Wisconsin have little experience in hunting doves and don’t even know where to begin looking for suitable places to hunt.
“I think it’s something people are going to have to learn how to do,” he said.
A majority of dove hunting is expected to take place in rural southern Wisconsin where the dove population is the highest in the state.