Local Column River Currents 8-25-08
gengberg August 25th, 2008
September 1st is the opening of the dove and Early September Canada Goose hunting seasons in the Badger state. September 6th is the opener in Wisconsin for lake sturgeon.We are lucky to be in an area of Wisconsin where hunters and anglers can participate in all of these early seasons and have a chance of very good success.The first dove hunting season in the state was in 2000 after much debate and discussion. The number of dove hunters statewide is between 20,000 and 30,000 hunters who harvest between 100,000 and 150,000 birds. The number of dove hunters is slowly increasing as more hunters find that hunting doves is fun, improves your wing-shooting, gets you out in the fields and woods in September and October when the weather is nice, and provides excellent table-fare. This fall, there has been an increase in the length of the season with 10 more days being added. This fall, the season runs from September 1st to November 9th with a daily bag limit of 15 birds. Another change is that if you’re hunting on state managed lands, you must use non-toxic shot like bismuth.
The DNR guesses that the average hunter shoots 5 doves during the season which is a low figure considering that between 4 and 5 million doves migrate through Wisconsin on their way to their wintering grounds in Texas, Louisiana, Georgia, Florida, and Mexico. Many doves also winter in Wisconsin and the Midwest despite the record winter of 2007-2008. Before last winter, the last decade of winters had warmer than normal temperatures. People should know that only 10-15% of the dove’s mortality comes from hunting while most of the mortality comes from predators, disease, accidents, and weather extremes. The DNR firmly believes that hunting doves does not affect the number of dove in the state. Continue Reading »
- Fishing , Conservation , Hunting , Waterfowl , My Local Column , River Currents , Doves , Wisconsin River , Birds , Sturgeon , Geese
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