It's about hunting not breeding
I learned a very important lesson this week in terms of hunting, that’d I’d like to share with all of you.
When an editor tells you to write about the start of the “Mourning dove season,” it has nothing to do with the time of year the pigeon family birds breed. Nope. It’s about the start of when it’s legally time to hunt them. (Sept. 1 thru Oct. 31).
I really don’t know what I was thinking. First, I started the morning (yesterday) by googling Mourning Dove, which I of course I spelled it m-o-r-n-i-n-g first (thank you Google for your amazing self correcting feature for those of us oblivious to the hunting/bird species world).
And I came across this Wikipedia entry, complete with adorable little picture. As I was making the “awh cute” noise over the little bird, my editor made a comment about them not looking like they have a lot of meat to them.
Huh? What? Stop the boat. Meat? What do you mean meat? Yeah, I agree, weighing between 4 to 6 ounces a piece, I’d think you’d need like 18 to even make a chicken nugget. But these are hunted?
Of course, the “well, what were you thinking when I said mourning dove season?” came up. And then I got to feel a little less Minnesotan (which is really saying something), when I explained I thought I was supposed to write about their breeding season, which I was wondering why we were covering the topic in the first place.
As it turns out, they are eaten, and supposedly pretty tasty. However, I have a feeling since they’re so much smaller, the hunt itself is more for the sport than the food.
I also learned that there’s a lot of debate about allowing the birds to even be hunted in the state. I know that Gov. Pawlenty signed the bill allowing it to happen in 2004. Before this is was outlawed since 1946.
Even just this past March, the issue came before the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee. The issue seems to be a toss up between opponents saying there’s no trophy value to the sport (lack of meat) and the hunting could be putting a strain on the species. However, supporters are saying not that many are killed through hunting, it’s a challenge and other species, like sunfish, are allowed to be hunted (or fished) and they don’t provide that much meat either. Another argument is that 40 other states allow the mourning dove season.
I’m wondering how readers feel? Is hunting mourning doves OK, or just a waste? Are you against all hunting, or just mourning doves, or another type of species? Why?
Hunting mourning doves, they say, is a way to introduce youths to the sport of hunting. In other words, take your kids out and let them shoot some innocent birds for fun and they’ll want to become hunters. They say it’s OK to shoot mourning doves because they are migratory. So are hummingbirds, robins, rose breasted grosbeaks… and monarch butterflies. The DNR says there are 10 million mourning doves in Minnesota. Check your backyard. How many do you see?
I think that all humans have different levels of being “tender hearted”. I consider myself to be a “kind to animals” person and do not agree with the hunting of mourning doves. My son lives at home and I have seen him carry a spider outside and gently place it in my flower bed. I think to myself, it’s only a spider, but to him it is more than just a spider, it’s a living creature. I don’t dare tell you what I do if my sons not home and I see a spider!!!