News

Bay City Times Editorial

Published February 20, 2004. Editorial Board. Bay City Times.
We don't love the proposal to hunt doves

Here we go again.

Seven times, hunter-rights groups have lobbied hard in the Michigan Legislature to legalize mourning dove hunting.

Seven times, the proposals have gone down in defeat.

Now comes the eighth try.

Why do they bother?

It's not a part of Michigan's long and popular hunting tradition, that's for sure. The bird hasn't been hunted here since 1905.

So when we see a crowd of orange hunters' hats gathered at the Capitol, as in a recent demonstration to demand dove hunting here, we wonder what, or who, is whipping these few into such a frenzy.

It's been a trend across the Great Lakes states in recent years.

Indiana, Ohio and Wisconsin all have fairly new seasons on mourning doves. Minnesota is on its 20th try to pass a law allowing this traditionally Southern-states sport.

Now, a full vote in the Michigan Senate is expected any day to make the Great Lakes State the next domino.

If senators don't have the gumption to kill it, the least they can do is get this question out of the lobbies of the Legislature and onto the street, where everybody can have their say.

Put it on the ballot.

And we'll send it down in flames, once and for all.

We don't do dove-hunting here.

- Our View is the editorial opinion of The Bay City Times, as determined by the newspaper's editorial board, which includes the editorial page editor, the editor and the publisher.

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