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Knimrod
11-04-2005, 03:29 PM
Michigan battleground state against anti-hunting movement
Outdoors with Babe Winkelman
Babe Winkelman
The Pilot-Independent
Tuesday, November 01st, 2005 02:13:05 PM

Dan Potter isn't a dove hunter, a fact he readily admits. That said, he doesn't want anyone to get the wrong impression. Potter, you see, is an avid, avid hunter, with ruffed grouse, woodcock and pheasants at the top of his fall pecking order. Mourning doves, well, he'd just as soon hunt other game birds. No crime in that, right?

So it may be surprising to some that Potter of Hazel Park, Mich., a Detroit suburb, is spearheading an effort to combat animal rights groups hell bent on stopping the mourning dove hunt in the Wolverine state.

Potter is the chairman of Citizens for Wildlife Conservation, a pro-hunting committee formed recently to save the dove hunt. Two years ago, the Michigan Legislature approved a three-year trial dove hunt in six counties on the Indiana and Ohio borders. After the 2004 season, the Humane Society of the United States, the well-heeled and highly organized animal rights group, and other anti-hunting organizations collected enough valid signatures to place an anti-dove-hunting referendum on the November 2006 ballot. As a result, there will be no 2005 dove-hunting season.

Potter, a retired government employee, is in charge of organizing a campaign to beat the potentially-damaging referendum, a task that won't be easy, given the fact that much of Michigan's non-hunting public, at least right now, is sympathetic to the anti-dove-hunting cause.

"I don't consider myself a dove hunter, but I certainly support the hunt," Potter said. "Truth is, this issue is more than the right to hunt doves in Michigan. It's about our hunting heritage, and the fact that anti-hunting groups want to steal it, one species at a time."

Put another way, "They (anti-hunting groups) see the dove issue as a low-hanging fruit that's easy for them to pluck," said Rob Sexton, vice president of governmental affairs with the Ohio-based U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance.

Potter and Sexton are right. If the anti-hunting movement has success in one of the "Big Three" hunting states of Michigan, Pennsylvania or Texas, it would be a major victory and only embolden the antis to pursue their overriding agenda elsewhere: the complete and total abolition of all sporting hunting in the United States.

That's why Michigan sportsmen and women, whether they hunt doves or not, cannot afford to become complacent, Sexton warns. "The antis are going to come to this fight with a big war chest," he said. "That's why we need to raise enough money to beat back their challenge."

Potter and Sexton are calling on all U.S. hunters and dove-hunting supporters to donate money so that the group can mount a media educational campaign to combat the antis' challenge.

And the price tag is steep. "The goal is to raise $3.2 million," Sexton said. "If we raise that much money, I'm confident we will win. If we don't, we only have ourselves to blame. We hunters cannot afford to be apathetic."

For those of you who are sitting on the dove-hunting fence, I have one request: that you consider the facts about the sport, and not the propaganda being spewed by the Humane Society and other anti-hunting groups.

Fact: The mourning dove, say state and federal wildlife officials, is the most abundant game bird in the United States, with an estimated fall population of 475 million birds.

Fact: Mourning doves are among the most widely distributed birds in the United States, found equally in urban and rural areas. In addition, urban doves are not susceptible to hunting, as many opponents claim. A three-year study conducted by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and Clemson University showed that less than 1 percent of the doves killed came from urban areas.

Fact: Mourning-dove hunting already has a rich tradition, particularly in the southern United States. In fact, 41 states have regulated dove hunting seasons.

Fact: Dove hunting mortality is low. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, predation from other animals and disease are the most common causes of mortality. Mortality rates from hunting are roughly 10 percent of the continental population. From a biological standpoint, hunting has no measurable impact on dove populations, even though roughly 25 million doves are harvested annually in the United States — more than the total annual harvest of ducks and pheasants.

Fact: Dove hunting is highly regulated. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which oversees migratory birds, regulates dove hunting and sets bag limits and season lengths. The service sets regulations the same way it does with ducks and geese and other migratory birds — through population monitoring and studies. Breeding populations have been monitored nationwide since 1966.

Fact: Mourning doves, despite their relatively small size, are terrific table fare. A limit of doves provides more than enough high-quality protein to satisfy the hungriest bunch of hunters.

If you'd like to help save the dove hunt in Michigan, donations may be sent to Citizens for Wildlife Conservation at 692 W. Coy Ave., Hazel Park, MI, 48030. Potter can be reached at 248-548-2036.

Babe Winkelman is a nationally known outdoorsman who has been teaching people to fish and hunt for 25 years. Watch his award-winning "Good Fishing" television show on WGN-TV, Fox Sports Net, The Men's Channel, Great American Country Network and The Sportsman's Channel. Visit www.winkelman.com for air times.

Link to story (http://www.walkermn.com/placed/index.php?sect_rank=6&story_id=210561)

One of Many
11-04-2005, 04:20 PM
How many ANTs does it take for a meal? What is the daily limit?

I am sure you meant ANTI, but this caught my attention, in a humorous way.