Interesting post Webfoot... my favorite of all openers happens to be dove season... but as we all know, almost all our birds are locals at this time... i'm not even going into what i think about dove migration habits because i don't know...haha...{ there is a dove banding project going to take place in my area this year}.. unlike 90% of dove hunters, ilike to chase them all year with the last season in Dec. being my favorite.. reckon the propasal will draw enough interest to make a matter? i like the seasons like they are now... i don't think that hunting pressure drives birds south as much as weather...
with the 1st of Sept. falling on a Sunday, reckon we will have a sept. 1st opening or the 1st sat. of Sept.?
judge jb
Northern States Seek Earlier Dove Seasons
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DR.DUCK2000
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Northern States Seek Earlier Dove Seasons
It sounds like they want a dove season when the doves are there...Kinda like we want duck season when ducks are here. If they pass a early opening day for those guys, will they have a shorter season? [img]images/smiles/icon_confused.gif[/img]
Northern States Seek Earlier Dove Seasons
let'em have it...altering the migratory bird treaty will open the door for us to have a later duck season...if not,we'll have another civil war!!!!!
Northern States Seek Earlier Dove Seasons
I remember a game-cons. teacher telling us that when they were setting seasons they were going to make a season for either robins or doves. They decided to make the season for doves since the robins population was down at the time.
Any of yall ever ate a robin. Had a buddy when I was in school shot some and we threw them on the grill. Not bad!!
Any of yall ever ate a robin. Had a buddy when I was in school shot some and we threw them on the grill. Not bad!!
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webfoot
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Northern States Seek Earlier Dove Seasons
Here is a link to the Resolution that was passed.
http://resourcescommittee.house.gov/press/2002/2002_0306dove.htm
http://resourcescommittee.house.gov/press/2002/2002_0306dove.htm
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webfoot
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Northern States Seek Earlier Dove Seasons
FYI: Commerical Appeal- Memphis
WASHINGTON - Blair Flynn of Overbrook, Kan., has been hunting mourning doves practically all of his 83 years. But in recent years most of the doves had flown south by the time hunting season started Sept. 1.
"Our bird season really doesn't amount to a whole lot, not like it did 10 years ago. We have good shooting for about two or three days, and it's about over with then," said Flynn.
Complaints from northern and midwest dove hunters are sparking an effort in Congress to try to pressure the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service into negotiating a new international agreement that would open the dove hunting season the last week of August for states north of 37 degrees latitude.
That would apply to any state north of the Tennessee-Kentucky border, except the dozen states where dove hunting is illegal.
But the effort is stirring concern about the impact such a move would have on the mourning dove population and whether it's wise to re-open the 86-year-old Migratory Bird Treaty.
Mourning doves are grayish-brown birds whose adaptability to building nests in trees, brush and even backyards has made them one of the most ubiquitous species in the U. S. as well as one of the most popular hunting targets.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services estimates that there are about 400 million mourning doves by the fall hunting season and that hunters kill about 25 million. Daily bag limits vary from 12 to 15 in the states.
In the South, especially, the mourning dove hunt in September is a major social occasion, often with a post-hunt barbecue.
"It's the start of the hunting season. It just kind of kicks everything off," said Ernie Worley, who hosts a dove hunt for 30 to 50 people every year at his East Shelby County farm.
Hunters don't have to get their feet wet or sit long hours in a blind. At a stand in a meadow they can often hit their limit in under an hour.
"Older people, the middle-aged, kids, they all can participate. It's not a hard hunt, just fellowship," said Worley.
"It's the single-most popular game bird in North America," which is one reason why northern hunters would like more of an opportunity, said Bill Horn, federal legislative affairs director for the U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance, a group which has lobbied to expand the season.
The House Resources Committee last week unanimously approved a non-binding resolution authored by its chairman, Rep. James Hansen (R-Utah), calling upon the Fish and Wildlife Service to negotiate with Canada, Mexico, Japan and Russia to let the dove season start the last week of August in the northernmost states. "We're trying to give everyone a fair shot," Hansen said. "This is a common-sense solution to a problem that has frustrated northern hunters for years. The mourning dove flies south at the first nip of frost in the air. By the time hunting season opens in half of the sates, a hunter is lucky to find a hardy bird or two left."
Hanson said he hopes Southern dove hunters won't be "so selfish" as to oppose the resolution.
"It will mean that it will take them 50 minutes to bag their limit instead of 45 minutes," said Hansen.
Rep. Ed Bryant (R-Tenn.), an occasional dove hunter, said, "I suspect I'm going to hear from the dove hunters and I would like to know what they think."
Worley doubts it would harm hunting in Tennessee because most of the birds he sees in September are local, not migratory.
But the proposal worries the founder of the Dove Sportsman's Society, an offshoot of Quail Unlimited, because in late August many fledglings are still in the nest.
"You're taking a chance on killing the mother and the little ones have no chance of survival," Allen said.
Gary Myers, executive director of the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, said Tennessee would want an earlier season too if the dove population could stand it.
"I think the experts feel like we should look at the biology of the bird and figure out whether it would be harmful before we do something like that," Myers said.
The mourning dove population has been in decline from a high of 475 million in the 1950s, but because of changes in farming, not hunting, said David Dolton, who tracks the population for the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service out of its office in Lakewood, Colo.
Dolton said the Service does not have a position on Hansen's resolution. But he said it could not assess the impact of changing the season "without conducting a very costly, major study. It's questionable for one week of hunting."
Re-negotiating the treaty to change the dove season opens it up to changing other seasons too, wildlife officials warn.
"Provinces of Canada might well like to hunt ducks in August instead of September," said Roy Grimes, deputy commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources and chairman of the technical committee for the mourning dove population in the eastern U.S.
WASHINGTON - Blair Flynn of Overbrook, Kan., has been hunting mourning doves practically all of his 83 years. But in recent years most of the doves had flown south by the time hunting season started Sept. 1.
"Our bird season really doesn't amount to a whole lot, not like it did 10 years ago. We have good shooting for about two or three days, and it's about over with then," said Flynn.
Complaints from northern and midwest dove hunters are sparking an effort in Congress to try to pressure the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service into negotiating a new international agreement that would open the dove hunting season the last week of August for states north of 37 degrees latitude.
That would apply to any state north of the Tennessee-Kentucky border, except the dozen states where dove hunting is illegal.
But the effort is stirring concern about the impact such a move would have on the mourning dove population and whether it's wise to re-open the 86-year-old Migratory Bird Treaty.
Mourning doves are grayish-brown birds whose adaptability to building nests in trees, brush and even backyards has made them one of the most ubiquitous species in the U. S. as well as one of the most popular hunting targets.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services estimates that there are about 400 million mourning doves by the fall hunting season and that hunters kill about 25 million. Daily bag limits vary from 12 to 15 in the states.
In the South, especially, the mourning dove hunt in September is a major social occasion, often with a post-hunt barbecue.
"It's the start of the hunting season. It just kind of kicks everything off," said Ernie Worley, who hosts a dove hunt for 30 to 50 people every year at his East Shelby County farm.
Hunters don't have to get their feet wet or sit long hours in a blind. At a stand in a meadow they can often hit their limit in under an hour.
"Older people, the middle-aged, kids, they all can participate. It's not a hard hunt, just fellowship," said Worley.
"It's the single-most popular game bird in North America," which is one reason why northern hunters would like more of an opportunity, said Bill Horn, federal legislative affairs director for the U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance, a group which has lobbied to expand the season.
The House Resources Committee last week unanimously approved a non-binding resolution authored by its chairman, Rep. James Hansen (R-Utah), calling upon the Fish and Wildlife Service to negotiate with Canada, Mexico, Japan and Russia to let the dove season start the last week of August in the northernmost states. "We're trying to give everyone a fair shot," Hansen said. "This is a common-sense solution to a problem that has frustrated northern hunters for years. The mourning dove flies south at the first nip of frost in the air. By the time hunting season opens in half of the sates, a hunter is lucky to find a hardy bird or two left."
Hanson said he hopes Southern dove hunters won't be "so selfish" as to oppose the resolution.
"It will mean that it will take them 50 minutes to bag their limit instead of 45 minutes," said Hansen.
Rep. Ed Bryant (R-Tenn.), an occasional dove hunter, said, "I suspect I'm going to hear from the dove hunters and I would like to know what they think."
Worley doubts it would harm hunting in Tennessee because most of the birds he sees in September are local, not migratory.
But the proposal worries the founder of the Dove Sportsman's Society, an offshoot of Quail Unlimited, because in late August many fledglings are still in the nest.
"You're taking a chance on killing the mother and the little ones have no chance of survival," Allen said.
Gary Myers, executive director of the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, said Tennessee would want an earlier season too if the dove population could stand it.
"I think the experts feel like we should look at the biology of the bird and figure out whether it would be harmful before we do something like that," Myers said.
The mourning dove population has been in decline from a high of 475 million in the 1950s, but because of changes in farming, not hunting, said David Dolton, who tracks the population for the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service out of its office in Lakewood, Colo.
Dolton said the Service does not have a position on Hansen's resolution. But he said it could not assess the impact of changing the season "without conducting a very costly, major study. It's questionable for one week of hunting."
Re-negotiating the treaty to change the dove season opens it up to changing other seasons too, wildlife officials warn.
"Provinces of Canada might well like to hunt ducks in August instead of September," said Roy Grimes, deputy commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources and chairman of the technical committee for the mourning dove population in the eastern U.S.
Northern States Seek Earlier Dove Seasons
Over my deadgum dead body! Buncha yellow-bellied, skum suckin', no grit eatin', gonna-whine-about-our-duck-season-and-try-and-get-away-with-this, YANKEES! I saved my Confederate money. I say bring it on!
But really....I say we sail the Cairo right up the Mississippi and turn it against 'em. I know where some cannonballs are. Meet me in V'burg tomorrow at dinner and we'll fire that baby off and plow up the Mighty Mis'sip. Long live the Bonnie Blue!
Wingman
But really....I say we sail the Cairo right up the Mississippi and turn it against 'em. I know where some cannonballs are. Meet me in V'burg tomorrow at dinner and we'll fire that baby off and plow up the Mighty Mis'sip. Long live the Bonnie Blue!
Wingman
Northern States Seek Earlier Dove Seasons
Thats a bunch of crap and everyone knows it. If you hunt doves in sept. you know the majority of the birds killed are big fat locals.
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