Is there a sustainable population of mourning doves in NY to support quality hunting?
YES!
Four premises that allege mourning dove hunting is not sustainable or worthwhile in New York:
- Mourning doves are not abundant in NY. Our Response: There are more mourning doves in NY than the total number of whitetail deer, black bear, coyote, and wild turkey combined.
- Mourning doves are not distributed throughout NY. Our Response: Mourning doves are found in every county of NY.
- Mourning doves do not exist in sufficient numbers in NY to provide worthwhile hunting from the perspective of recreation. Our Response: This premise is a matter of opinion which is subjective, not shared by everyone, and is not cause to deny others the opportunity to hunt mourning doves.
- Mourning doves do not exist in sufficient numbers in NY to provide worthwhile hunting from the perspective of obtaining wild game meat. Our Response: We addressed this subject in three reports and defer to them: