Columbidae - The Doves and Pigeons

One of my very first blogs was about my dove, Aileen, (The Light of the Sun -August 20,2009) and how much I love doves - white doves, mourning doves, turtle doves, ring neck doves; doves in the wild and doves in cages.

 All my life I've been proud to be an Iowan. I've even blogged about that - Iowa - Beautiful Land - November 27, 2009. But last year, the powers that be in our fair state really upset me.

The Turtle Dove by Sophie Gengembre Anderson 1823-1903

After many tries over the years, Iowa became the 42nd state to have a hunting season for mourning doves. Why? Why on earth would you want to kill doves? Aren't they supposed to be the sign of peace?

It's not like you hunt doves for food. Even though you can eat them, I doubt very much if any of those brave dove hunters are going to take the time to dress them for the tiny bit of meat they would provide. So now young kids are being taught to hunt doves. Why not crows or starlings? When I was young there was a bounty on crows.

I remember how thrilled I was the first time I realized we had a nesting pair of Ringnecks when we lived on the farm. I named them George and Martha. The Ringnecks we have in Iowa are descended from the domestic ones once raised and kept in cages. Are those mourning dove hunters going to notice or care about the differences in doves?
Iowa DNR Wildlife Bureau chief, Dale Garner, is quoted as saying "Determining accurate harvest levels for game species, such as doves, are critical to the scientific management of game populations." In other words the hunters are supposed to report how many doves they kill, in order "to give biologists the information they need to ensure conservation of migratory bird populations." Yeah, right. And if those numbers aren't reported will the doves go the way of the Passenger Pigeons?
I can only hope that in the near future the dove hunting season in Iowa (September 1 - November 9) will be rescinded. In the meantime, I'm going to turn in my DNR license plate. I've thought about dispensing with the extra cost of it before, but have continued to pay the extra fee annually just because I've had that license plate for so many years. (On three different vehicles.) This year I am going to turn it in - not to save money - but as my little protest against the DNR.