Mourning our local doves

Political notebook: Dove hunt interest difficult to gauge

By Janell Cole and Don Davis

The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead - 06/07/2004

A new law some legislators promised would be a boon for western Minnesota doesn't appear on the radar of many area tourism or public officials.
A mourning dove hunting season did not pop up in a recent state survey of hotels, motels and resorts. Rep. Tom Hackbarth, R-Cedar, sponsored the dove bill, saying 30,000 hunters would converge on western and southern Minnesota during the two-week season expected to start Sept. 1.

Wadena Mayor Wayne Holden, a hunter himself, said he has heard estimates that 60,000 hunters will turn out. But he has not heard of much interest in his area.

However, Holden said he will investigate whether there is a market.

"If this is an opportunity to market to hunters, we certainly will advertise our hotels and motels and other amenities," Holden said.

Rep. Bud Nornes, R-Fergus Falls, also hasn't heard much about the topic although doves are plentiful in his area.

He asked about the topic in a recent survey and only about 40 percent of adults favored a dove hunting season, while about 75 percent of a Pelican Rapids seventh-grade class backed it. He said that seems to support an argument that a dove season would get more young hunters involved.

Nornes himself is not much of a dove season supporter.

"I almost ran over a dove today," he said. "I was happy I missed it."