Battle Brewing in MIchigan Dove Hunt Up to Voters

[SteveMcD]

Alreadey posted on anogther forum.
 
"Just found out about proposal 1 and 3 on the michigan ballot this fall. A no vote on these would wipe out dove hunting's future in Mi. Now I'm no huge dove hunter, but I do think that wildlife decisions should be based on sound scientific data, not kissy kissy feel tingly emotion. I also feel that any and all attempts to abolish or prohibit any game hunting of any kind while biological evidence supports it is a horrible injustice to the people. It's lunacy like this that allows tax dollars to hire sharp shooters to kill "problem" animals and discard them like rubish, rather than earning revenues through liscense sales and allowing surplus animals to be taken by hunters, and utilized for food and hides! This is an opportunity to let our voices to be heard, and a call to action for my fell Michiganders. If you agree with any of the above, then a YES ON PROPOSALS 1 AND 3 IS THE WAY TO GO."
 
As usual HSUS is playing on the emotions of the Non-Hunting Public. If you read their story. It's a real tear-jerker. Here's their link -  http://www.hsus.org/search.jsp?query=michigan+dove&x=33&y=4

[vermonster13]

HSUS also had postal stamps issued to fund the fight against Dove hunting in Michigan. The company that was printing them is nolonger offering them due to a lawsuit brought by USSA. Their site is very involved in the fight to keep the hunt legal.

 http://www.ussportsmen.org/

The above site has a lot of information of how you can get involved in this issue.

[vermonster13]

Bitter rivals campaigning for Michigan’s top job agree that sportsmen should be permitted to hunt the nation’s number one gamebird, the mourning dove.

 

Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm and republican challenger Dick DeVos have spent millions of dollars pointing out their respective differences on many issues facing Michigan voters.  When it comes to Proposal 3, which will determine whether Michigan sportsmen will be permitted to hunt mourning doves, both candidates support a Yes vote on the issue.

 

In 2004, Gov. Granholm signed the law that made Michigan the 41st state to permit dove hunting.  Soon after, anti-hunting organizations funded a paid signature drive to send the issue to the ballot.  The governor continues to stand by her decision to permit the hunt, saying that she supported the law because she supports sound science.  When asked if her statement meant that she supports a Yes vote on Proposal 3, her staff confirmed that is the case.

 

Dick DeVos has demonstrated support for Proposal 3 several times in recent weeks.  A mailer to sportsmen from DeVos reads, “Supports the rights of Michigan sportsmen and women across the state to hunt mourning doves.  Supports a Yes vote on the passage of Proposal 3.”    

 

“This rare agreement from the candidates demonstrates that the emotional arguments of opponents of Proposal 3 have failed in their attempts to mislead Michigan voters and opinion leaders,” said Marc Somers, chairman of Citizens for Wildlife Conservation Committee.  “Michigan hunters pump millions into the state’s economy, and once this hunt is firmly established, it will produce nearly $18 million every year into our state’s economy.  We can’t allow an opportunity like this to get away just because a few extremists want to stop all hunting.”

 

Somers’ statement refers to a national anti-hunting group that has bankrolled the campaign to stop the dove hunt.  The Humane Society of the United States, which has contributed nearly three-fourths of the funding to ban the hunt, touts opposition to all recreational hunting.  The organization was also a major contributor to a ballot issue in 1996 that would have banned the most effective means of controlling Michigan’s black bear population.

[EDW]

Right now it looks bad- polls say more are for the ban. Lots of out of state money being spent to finance it. I'm voting against the ban for sure.

[MI_Bowhunter]

Every day I have to sit and listen to one of my co-workers go on and on about the evils of dove hunting.  About how its just "target practice" and that no one would actually eat them (verbage from the radio/tv adds that run constantly) I've tried on several occasions to try to talk rationally about the issues but that is not happening.

I don't know where this "target practice" philosophy is coming from.   I don't know of any sportsman that do not use what they kill as a result of a hunt.

The anti-hunters project human emotions and feeling onto the animals and truly feel that they are just like us.   That makes it really hard to make them see any other path.

Personlly I could care less if we hunt doves or not.   I have no real interest in hunting them but there is more at stake for the future michigan hunters then just shooting doves.    I'm definitly voting against the ban.

[vermonster13]

If we don't support other ways of hunting, then when we need them to support us they won't be there. So you did the right thing MI_Bowhunter

[MI_Bowhunter]

I was very disappointed to see the dove hunting proposal get shot down (i.e. continuation of the ban on dove hunting).    :(    

[RANT ON]
Based on the unofficial counts I saw this morning it looks like it was defeated by more than a 2 to 1 margin.  Less then half of our 7,180,778 voters even voted on this issue.

This tells me that not enough hunters and sportsman are voting or they didn't see the undercurrents of what the bill represented.      

A friend of mine never votes because she feels her single vote does not make a difference.  Based on election turnout there are millions of people in the state that feel the same way she does.

Personally I think exit polls and up to the minute vote counts affect this.  I hear people say a lot that that bill such and such is not going to pass anyway so why should I waste my time.   If everyone that has ever done this had gotten out and let their vote be counted then the outcome could very well be different.   That’s how the system works.
[/RANT OFF]

I want to send my heartfelt thanks to everyone out there that did go out there and do their part yesterday. Good Job!        

[ChrisS]

Well, the outcome didn't surprise me.. but I was kinda disappointed in the reason. Here in Ann Arbor, the ban is concidered a "win". What astonished me was the number of people who had no idea why a dove season would be necessary. Not a single person I talked to drew the conclusion that it was for population control.

[EDW]

It's sad this went down. Too much mis-information by the anti dove side and the "tradition" of Dove hunting wasn't entrenched in Michigan.
   One thing I'd like to see would be a Dove hunting caravan organized with a bunch of Michigan shooters heading to other states to spend their dough there .Then list the $$ spent out of state that could have been spent here.It would show the fools that backed this ban they didn't end hunting of doves only transferred it to other locales. Maybe the MUCC in Michigan can put together a survey to list money spent in other states.
   Lastly I've seen recent articles on possible big hikes in fishing & hunting licenses here in MI. How much revenue is going to be lost since Dove hunters have to out of state to pursue them? I'll bet a decent number of Dove hunters only hunt doves same as others that specialize in one facet of hunting.

[EDW]

It's sad this went down. Too much mis-information by the anti dove side and the "tradition" of Dove hunting wasn't entrenched in Michigan.
   One thing I'd like to see would be a Dove hunting caravan organized with a bunch of Michigan shooters heading to other states to spend their dough there .Then list the $$ spent out of state that could have been spent here.It would show the fools that backed this ban they didn't end hunting of doves only transferred it to other locales. Maybe the MUCC in Michigan can put together a survey to list money spent in other states.
   Lastly I've seen recent articles on possible big hikes in fishing & hunting licenses here in MI. How much revenue is going to be lost since Dove hunters have to out of state to pursue them? I'll bet a decent number of Dove hunters only hunt doves same as others that specialize in one facet of hunting.