Mourning Dove Petition
We the Undersigned request that the New York State Legislature and the Governor of New York amend ECL 11-0103 2-a- 1 to include the mourning dove (Zenaida macroura) to the list of migratory game birds.
We the Undersigned request that the New York State Legislature and the Governor of New York directs the DEC to instate a hunting season for mourning doves.
We the Undersigned also requests that upon such reclassification and directive to instate a hunting season for mourning doves; that the NY DEC develops a mourning dove harvest strategy and implements a hunting season. As part of such strategy, the NY DEC would address responsible mourning dove hunting; mourning dove conservation; and whether state-level monitoring of mourning dove populations is needed in addition to federal monitoring which is currently in place.
We the Undersigned affirm we want a mourning dove hunting season in New York, we will hunt doves responsibly, and we will use harvested doves for food.
Statement of Facts:
Worldwide, there are about 9,000 species of birds. The vast majority of bird species are not considered to be game. The Migratory Bird Convention does not recognize any passerines (robins, bluebirds, cardinals, orioles, etc.) as game; but does designate doves and pigeons (family Columidae) as game birds. Forty-one states and the US Fish and Wildlife Service, manage mourning doves as a migratory game bird. However, New York State Environmental Conservation Law 11-0103 2-a-1 does not recognize the mourning dove as a migratory game bird.
Although the DEC can implement or change regulations, it does not have the power to change statutes. That power belongs to the Governor and the New York State Legislature. Before the DEC can set regulations to allow mourning dove hunting, legislative change is required which amends Environmental Conservation Law 11-0103 2-a-1 to include mourning doves under New York State’s definition of migratory game birds.
Merely amending ECL 11-0103 2-a-1 to include mourning doves under the state’s definition of migratory game bird does not authorize hunting them. Therefore, in addition to amending ECL 11-0103 2-a-1; we are also seeking a mandate directing the DEC to set a hunting season for mourning doves.
Because migratory wildlife does not remain within the boundaries of one state; the DEC would be required to adhere to a federal framework which sets the upper limits individual states must conform to when setting hunting regulations for mourning doves. These federal parameters are determined by the US Fish and Wildlife Service based on data from surveys, harvest reports, indices, and knowledge of the reproductive and mortality rates of the species. Some examples of the population monitoring that has been in place for many decades are: Banding program, a cooperative effort between the US Geological Service’s Bird Banding Laboratory and the US Fish and Wildlife Service; Diary surveys; Harvest survey; Breeding Bird Survey; Christmas Bird Count; Parts Collection Survey; and the Call Count Survey.
There are two types of federal guidelines: Basic and annual. Basic guidelines are fixed, while annual guidelines may change year to year in response to population status. One example of a Basic Guideline is (other than certain exceptions for Canada geese and snow geese) no shotgun may be used to take migratory game birds which is capable of firing more than three shots. An example of an Annual Guideline would be daily bag limits, i.e. the maximum number of mourning doves a hunter could harvest in one day. The state, having secondary responsibility for conservation of migratory game birds, could impose a regulation more restrictive than the federal guideline, but not less restrictive. For example, if federal guidelines allow up to an 80 day season in the Eastern Management Unit, a state in that unit could set a season that was 30 days long, but could not set a 100 day season. Annual guidelines could be subject to revision any given year if deemed necessary by population monitoring or other factors.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service manages the mourning dove as a migratory game bird. Doves are hunted in 41 states under the authority of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service through the Federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918. Under this management, doves remain one of the most common and widely distributed birds in the United States.
The 1916 Migratory Bird Treaty between the United States and Great Britain (representing Canada) and the accompanying 1918 Migratory Bird Treaty Act gives the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service overall responsibility for managing migratory birds (including mourning doves) within the United States. Authority and responsibility for management of mourning doves in the United States is vested in the Secretary of the Interior. This responsibility is conferred by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 which, as amended, implements migratory bird treaties between the United States and other countries. Mourning doves are included in the treaties with Great Britain (for Canada) and Mexico. These treaties recognize sport hunting as a legitimate use of a renewable migratory bird resource.
Section 11-0303 of New York’s Environmental Conservation Law directs the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) to develop and carry out programs that promote the maintenance of desirable species in ecological balance, with due consideration of ecological factors, the importance of fish and wildlife resources for recreational purposes, and public safety. Additionally, the Department lists the following goals of the Bureau of Wildlife: Goal 1. Ensure that populations of all wildlife in New York are of the appropriate size to meet all the demands placed on them. Goal 2. Ensure that we meet the public desire for: information about wildlife and its conservation, use, and enjoyment; understanding the relationships among wildlife, humans, and the environment; and clearly listening to what the public tell us. Goal 3. Ensure that we provide sustainable uses of New York’s wildlife for an informed public. Goal 4. Minimize the damage and nuisance caused by wildlife and wildlife uses. Goal 5. Foster and maintain an organization that efficiently achieves our goals.
In regard to the previous paragraph, while maintaining a closed season for mourning dove is not neglecting to address overpopulation, nuisance, public safety, or disease, providing regulated hunting opportunities is consistent with the NYSDEC Bureau of Wildlife’s goal number 3; to Ensure that we provide sustainable uses of New York’s wildlife for an informed public and its stated mission “to provide the people of New York the opportunity to enjoy all the benefits of the wildlife of the state, now and in the future.” NY Dove Hunting interprets that mission to mean that these benefits include opportunities to harvest abundant species such as the mourning dove. It is also consistent with stipulation about “recreational purposes” contained in Section 11-0303 of New York’s Environmental Conservation Law.
The Hunting Heritage and Wildlife Conservation Executive Order 13443 of August 16, 2007 directs the Department of the Interior and its component agencies, bureaus and offices “to facilitate the expansion and enhancement of hunting opportunities and the management of game species and their habitat.” Federal agencies shall work in coordination with the Sporting Conservation Council Federal Advisory Committee, State and Tribal Fish and Wildlife agencies and the public to achieve this goal. Agencies are required to consider the effect their actions have on hunting participation, consider the economic and recreational values of hunting, and manage wildlife and wildlife habitats on public lands in ways that will enhance hunting opportunities to the public. In addition, Federal agencies shall work with State and Tribal governments to establish goals to manage and conserve wildlife and their habitats to ensure healthy and productive populations, and in a manner that respects private property rights and provides opportunities for individuals to hunt those species.
In 2011 mourning dove hunting ranked 8th in hunter participation, with 1,271,000 dove hunters in the 41 dove hunting states. Mourning dove hunting is allowed in 41 states, the US territory of Puerto Rico; three Canadian provinces, and throughout Mexico and Central America. Mourning doves were introduced to the Hawaiian Islands for hunting purposes in the 1960s. Bones found in cave-like rock shelters in the vicinity of Lake Amistad in Val Verde County Texas indicate man used mourning doves for food at least 9,000 years.
Mourning doves are a ubiquitous species, populations are large, widespread, and stable across their range except in the Eastern Management Unit; which includes NY, where dove numbers have been increasing and spreading, a trend that has been observed for 50 years. Unlike most species, which are negatively impacted by human activity, land use changes in NY and elsewhere will increasingly favor mourning dove populations. Currently only 4% of the population is harvested. Random events that do not occur every year and cause increased mortality are not a threat to mourning dove populations as evidenced by decades of population monitoring. United States Fish and Wildlife Service monitoring, which has existed for many years alongside dove hunting, has shown mourning dove populations have remained abundant without dropping precipitously; which indicates the existing dove conservation strategy is sound. Nevertheless, the US Fish and Wildlife Service Migratory Shore and Upland Bird Support Task Force and the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies periodically review and update mourning dove conservation needs, seek new information, and add or adapt strategies as needed. (The US Fish and Wildlife Service calls this “Adaptive Harvest Management Strategy”). Likewise, when local situation warrants it, the DEC may impose stricter regulations.
NY’s mourning dove population was estimated by Cornell researchers in the 1980s to be around 10 million birds. By contrast, the current estimate of wild turkey in NY is around 275,000 birds. New York’s whitetail deer population is estimated to be slightly over one million.
Future large scale land use changes, as well as the cumulative impact of small scale practices such as permaculture; are likely to increase both the continental population and NY State’s population of mourning doves. Nearly every activity of people creates favorable conditions for mourning doves. Grains and other row crops, dairy farms and other livestock areas, orchards, tree nurseries, cemeteries, gravel pits, utility lines and corridors, landscaping and gardening, even housing subdivisions. To prevent erosion, conserve soil, water, and energy; blocks of trees are planted, this creates even more roosting and nesting habitat for mourning doves, further facilitating their populations. NY recently approved hemp farming. Hemp is a preferred food of mourning doves.
NY’s doves have been subject to hunting for many decades by hunters in other states. Most mourning doves migrate, and all southern states hunt doves, as do several states surrounding NY (Ohio, Ontario, Quebec, Pennsylvania).
In neighboring Ohio 8,600 hunters harvest 136,000 mourning doves; in Pennsylvania 18,000 hunters harvest 203,200; 2,400 Delaware hunters harvest 39,000 ; 100 Rhode Island hunters harvest 500. In 2013 Ontario, Canada reinstated dove hunting and it is estimated 1,200 to 2,000 hunters participate each year. Ontario’s autumn population of mourning doves is estimated to be 3.7 million and its spring (breeding) population is estimated to be 1.3 million. In 2016, Quebec instated a 107 day hunting season, allowing hunters to harvest 8 mourning doves per day. Quebec’s population estimate for breeding mourning doves is 760,000 and the fall population is estimated to be 988,000.
A mourning dove hunting season will create hunting opportunity for people who are compromised in some way making participation in other forms of hunting difficult or impractical. Although this refers to an array of limitations, in regard to physical limitations the Olney, Texas Amputee Dove Hunt, formally the One Arm Dove Hunt; should be noted.
We understand that some people do not approve of neither hunting nor the use of hunting as a conservation funding strategy, in accordance with the North American Wildlife Conservation Model; and seek to eliminate both. However, additional hunting opportunity from a mourning dove hunting season would produce a modest increase in conservation funding and general economic activity; offset the decline of small game hunters, and help preserve the American tradition of hunting.
We are not suggesting that dove hunting will create an economic windfall for NY; however, increased revenue is a reasonable expectation of a new hunting opportunity, especially considered over the long term. Revenue derived from hunting is two-pronged. One prong is conservation funding. The second prong is general economic activity. Therefore, both non-hunters and non-game species benefit from hunting.
Trivializing the immediate and long term revenue mourning dove hunting will generate is misleading. Nationally mourning dove hunters expend 120 million shotgun shells or 4.8 million boxes of shells annually. Winchester Xpert #7 Steel Dove ammunition, a non-lead product, costs $6.47 per box. Thus, each year mourning dove hunting generates over $31,056,000 for shells alone; which are subject to an 11% wildlife restoration tax which generates $3,416,160 in wildlife conservation funds annually.
The locavore movement and books authored by advocates of wild game meats such as Michael Pollan, Tovar Cerrulli, and others are inspiring a growing segment of the hunting community to which mourning dove hunting would appeal. It is naive to believe that those hunting primarily to obtain wild game meats are only interested in venison and wild turkey. The average national harvest of mourning doves is around 20 million birds which provide approximately 5 million pounds of meat alternative to beef, thereby reducing the nation’s carbon footprint by 7.4 million pounds of the greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide.
Mourning dove hunting may provide incentive for better agriculture practices such as conservation plantings that conserve soil, water, prevent erosion, and improve habitat for the greatest biodiversity.
It is customary and within the scope and responsibilities of the DEC to create sustainable hunting opportunities. New York State Environmental Conservation Law (11-0303), the mission statement of the DEC Bureau of Wildlife, and its promulgated goals, are consistent with expanding hunting opportunity when it is sustainable.
Mourning doves have been subjected to hunting and population monitoring for decades, and the 50 year trend data shows their population is large, increasing, and spreading. Not many hunters will pursue doves in NY and the annual harvest in the USA is only four to ten percent of the population. Therefore, there is no biological or conservation reason to deny a regulated dove hunting season in NY.
We the Undersigned request that the New York State Legislature and the Governor of New York directs the DEC to instate a hunting season for mourning doves.
We the Undersigned also requests that upon such reclassification and directive to instate a hunting season for mourning doves; that the NY DEC develops a mourning dove harvest strategy and implements a hunting season. As part of such strategy, the NY DEC would address responsible mourning dove hunting; mourning dove conservation; and whether state-level monitoring of mourning dove populations is needed in addition to federal monitoring which is currently in place.
We the Undersigned affirm we want a mourning dove hunting season in New York, we will hunt doves responsibly, and we will use harvested doves for food.
Statement of Facts:
Worldwide, there are about 9,000 species of birds. The vast majority of bird species are not considered to be game. The Migratory Bird Convention does not recognize any passerines (robins, bluebirds, cardinals, orioles, etc.) as game; but does designate doves and pigeons (family Columidae) as game birds. Forty-one states and the US Fish and Wildlife Service, manage mourning doves as a migratory game bird. However, New York State Environmental Conservation Law 11-0103 2-a-1 does not recognize the mourning dove as a migratory game bird.
Although the DEC can implement or change regulations, it does not have the power to change statutes. That power belongs to the Governor and the New York State Legislature. Before the DEC can set regulations to allow mourning dove hunting, legislative change is required which amends Environmental Conservation Law 11-0103 2-a-1 to include mourning doves under New York State’s definition of migratory game birds.
Merely amending ECL 11-0103 2-a-1 to include mourning doves under the state’s definition of migratory game bird does not authorize hunting them. Therefore, in addition to amending ECL 11-0103 2-a-1; we are also seeking a mandate directing the DEC to set a hunting season for mourning doves.
Because migratory wildlife does not remain within the boundaries of one state; the DEC would be required to adhere to a federal framework which sets the upper limits individual states must conform to when setting hunting regulations for mourning doves. These federal parameters are determined by the US Fish and Wildlife Service based on data from surveys, harvest reports, indices, and knowledge of the reproductive and mortality rates of the species. Some examples of the population monitoring that has been in place for many decades are: Banding program, a cooperative effort between the US Geological Service’s Bird Banding Laboratory and the US Fish and Wildlife Service; Diary surveys; Harvest survey; Breeding Bird Survey; Christmas Bird Count; Parts Collection Survey; and the Call Count Survey.
There are two types of federal guidelines: Basic and annual. Basic guidelines are fixed, while annual guidelines may change year to year in response to population status. One example of a Basic Guideline is (other than certain exceptions for Canada geese and snow geese) no shotgun may be used to take migratory game birds which is capable of firing more than three shots. An example of an Annual Guideline would be daily bag limits, i.e. the maximum number of mourning doves a hunter could harvest in one day. The state, having secondary responsibility for conservation of migratory game birds, could impose a regulation more restrictive than the federal guideline, but not less restrictive. For example, if federal guidelines allow up to an 80 day season in the Eastern Management Unit, a state in that unit could set a season that was 30 days long, but could not set a 100 day season. Annual guidelines could be subject to revision any given year if deemed necessary by population monitoring or other factors.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service manages the mourning dove as a migratory game bird. Doves are hunted in 41 states under the authority of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service through the Federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918. Under this management, doves remain one of the most common and widely distributed birds in the United States.
The 1916 Migratory Bird Treaty between the United States and Great Britain (representing Canada) and the accompanying 1918 Migratory Bird Treaty Act gives the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service overall responsibility for managing migratory birds (including mourning doves) within the United States. Authority and responsibility for management of mourning doves in the United States is vested in the Secretary of the Interior. This responsibility is conferred by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 which, as amended, implements migratory bird treaties between the United States and other countries. Mourning doves are included in the treaties with Great Britain (for Canada) and Mexico. These treaties recognize sport hunting as a legitimate use of a renewable migratory bird resource.
Section 11-0303 of New York’s Environmental Conservation Law directs the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) to develop and carry out programs that promote the maintenance of desirable species in ecological balance, with due consideration of ecological factors, the importance of fish and wildlife resources for recreational purposes, and public safety. Additionally, the Department lists the following goals of the Bureau of Wildlife: Goal 1. Ensure that populations of all wildlife in New York are of the appropriate size to meet all the demands placed on them. Goal 2. Ensure that we meet the public desire for: information about wildlife and its conservation, use, and enjoyment; understanding the relationships among wildlife, humans, and the environment; and clearly listening to what the public tell us. Goal 3. Ensure that we provide sustainable uses of New York’s wildlife for an informed public. Goal 4. Minimize the damage and nuisance caused by wildlife and wildlife uses. Goal 5. Foster and maintain an organization that efficiently achieves our goals.
In regard to the previous paragraph, while maintaining a closed season for mourning dove is not neglecting to address overpopulation, nuisance, public safety, or disease, providing regulated hunting opportunities is consistent with the NYSDEC Bureau of Wildlife’s goal number 3; to Ensure that we provide sustainable uses of New York’s wildlife for an informed public and its stated mission “to provide the people of New York the opportunity to enjoy all the benefits of the wildlife of the state, now and in the future.” NY Dove Hunting interprets that mission to mean that these benefits include opportunities to harvest abundant species such as the mourning dove. It is also consistent with stipulation about “recreational purposes” contained in Section 11-0303 of New York’s Environmental Conservation Law.
The Hunting Heritage and Wildlife Conservation Executive Order 13443 of August 16, 2007 directs the Department of the Interior and its component agencies, bureaus and offices “to facilitate the expansion and enhancement of hunting opportunities and the management of game species and their habitat.” Federal agencies shall work in coordination with the Sporting Conservation Council Federal Advisory Committee, State and Tribal Fish and Wildlife agencies and the public to achieve this goal. Agencies are required to consider the effect their actions have on hunting participation, consider the economic and recreational values of hunting, and manage wildlife and wildlife habitats on public lands in ways that will enhance hunting opportunities to the public. In addition, Federal agencies shall work with State and Tribal governments to establish goals to manage and conserve wildlife and their habitats to ensure healthy and productive populations, and in a manner that respects private property rights and provides opportunities for individuals to hunt those species.
In 2011 mourning dove hunting ranked 8th in hunter participation, with 1,271,000 dove hunters in the 41 dove hunting states. Mourning dove hunting is allowed in 41 states, the US territory of Puerto Rico; three Canadian provinces, and throughout Mexico and Central America. Mourning doves were introduced to the Hawaiian Islands for hunting purposes in the 1960s. Bones found in cave-like rock shelters in the vicinity of Lake Amistad in Val Verde County Texas indicate man used mourning doves for food at least 9,000 years.
Mourning doves are a ubiquitous species, populations are large, widespread, and stable across their range except in the Eastern Management Unit; which includes NY, where dove numbers have been increasing and spreading, a trend that has been observed for 50 years. Unlike most species, which are negatively impacted by human activity, land use changes in NY and elsewhere will increasingly favor mourning dove populations. Currently only 4% of the population is harvested. Random events that do not occur every year and cause increased mortality are not a threat to mourning dove populations as evidenced by decades of population monitoring. United States Fish and Wildlife Service monitoring, which has existed for many years alongside dove hunting, has shown mourning dove populations have remained abundant without dropping precipitously; which indicates the existing dove conservation strategy is sound. Nevertheless, the US Fish and Wildlife Service Migratory Shore and Upland Bird Support Task Force and the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies periodically review and update mourning dove conservation needs, seek new information, and add or adapt strategies as needed. (The US Fish and Wildlife Service calls this “Adaptive Harvest Management Strategy”). Likewise, when local situation warrants it, the DEC may impose stricter regulations.
NY’s mourning dove population was estimated by Cornell researchers in the 1980s to be around 10 million birds. By contrast, the current estimate of wild turkey in NY is around 275,000 birds. New York’s whitetail deer population is estimated to be slightly over one million.
Future large scale land use changes, as well as the cumulative impact of small scale practices such as permaculture; are likely to increase both the continental population and NY State’s population of mourning doves. Nearly every activity of people creates favorable conditions for mourning doves. Grains and other row crops, dairy farms and other livestock areas, orchards, tree nurseries, cemeteries, gravel pits, utility lines and corridors, landscaping and gardening, even housing subdivisions. To prevent erosion, conserve soil, water, and energy; blocks of trees are planted, this creates even more roosting and nesting habitat for mourning doves, further facilitating their populations. NY recently approved hemp farming. Hemp is a preferred food of mourning doves.
NY’s doves have been subject to hunting for many decades by hunters in other states. Most mourning doves migrate, and all southern states hunt doves, as do several states surrounding NY (Ohio, Ontario, Quebec, Pennsylvania).
In neighboring Ohio 8,600 hunters harvest 136,000 mourning doves; in Pennsylvania 18,000 hunters harvest 203,200; 2,400 Delaware hunters harvest 39,000 ; 100 Rhode Island hunters harvest 500. In 2013 Ontario, Canada reinstated dove hunting and it is estimated 1,200 to 2,000 hunters participate each year. Ontario’s autumn population of mourning doves is estimated to be 3.7 million and its spring (breeding) population is estimated to be 1.3 million. In 2016, Quebec instated a 107 day hunting season, allowing hunters to harvest 8 mourning doves per day. Quebec’s population estimate for breeding mourning doves is 760,000 and the fall population is estimated to be 988,000.
A mourning dove hunting season will create hunting opportunity for people who are compromised in some way making participation in other forms of hunting difficult or impractical. Although this refers to an array of limitations, in regard to physical limitations the Olney, Texas Amputee Dove Hunt, formally the One Arm Dove Hunt; should be noted.
We understand that some people do not approve of neither hunting nor the use of hunting as a conservation funding strategy, in accordance with the North American Wildlife Conservation Model; and seek to eliminate both. However, additional hunting opportunity from a mourning dove hunting season would produce a modest increase in conservation funding and general economic activity; offset the decline of small game hunters, and help preserve the American tradition of hunting.
We are not suggesting that dove hunting will create an economic windfall for NY; however, increased revenue is a reasonable expectation of a new hunting opportunity, especially considered over the long term. Revenue derived from hunting is two-pronged. One prong is conservation funding. The second prong is general economic activity. Therefore, both non-hunters and non-game species benefit from hunting.
Trivializing the immediate and long term revenue mourning dove hunting will generate is misleading. Nationally mourning dove hunters expend 120 million shotgun shells or 4.8 million boxes of shells annually. Winchester Xpert #7 Steel Dove ammunition, a non-lead product, costs $6.47 per box. Thus, each year mourning dove hunting generates over $31,056,000 for shells alone; which are subject to an 11% wildlife restoration tax which generates $3,416,160 in wildlife conservation funds annually.
The locavore movement and books authored by advocates of wild game meats such as Michael Pollan, Tovar Cerrulli, and others are inspiring a growing segment of the hunting community to which mourning dove hunting would appeal. It is naive to believe that those hunting primarily to obtain wild game meats are only interested in venison and wild turkey. The average national harvest of mourning doves is around 20 million birds which provide approximately 5 million pounds of meat alternative to beef, thereby reducing the nation’s carbon footprint by 7.4 million pounds of the greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide.
Mourning dove hunting may provide incentive for better agriculture practices such as conservation plantings that conserve soil, water, prevent erosion, and improve habitat for the greatest biodiversity.
It is customary and within the scope and responsibilities of the DEC to create sustainable hunting opportunities. New York State Environmental Conservation Law (11-0303), the mission statement of the DEC Bureau of Wildlife, and its promulgated goals, are consistent with expanding hunting opportunity when it is sustainable.
Mourning doves have been subjected to hunting and population monitoring for decades, and the 50 year trend data shows their population is large, increasing, and spreading. Not many hunters will pursue doves in NY and the annual harvest in the USA is only four to ten percent of the population. Therefore, there is no biological or conservation reason to deny a regulated dove hunting season in NY.