Dove Hunters Please Read

[Mary Of Exeter]

Here in NC, as in most states, Dove season is currently in. Ours started Saturday.

I have nothing against dove hunters, except one thing. There are many irresponsible, trigger happy hunters out there. I'm not putting you all in a sterotype, I'm just saying there are SOME (actually a lot) 'bad' hunters out there. Keep in mind that there is a reason it is called DOVE season. You are to shoot mourning doves. If there aren't many out that day, don't go shooting everything else that flies. If you injure/kill a native species of wildbird, that's against the law! So be careful. You all know the flight pattern of doves and what they look like. Stick to mourning doves.

The reason I am ranting about this, is because I have racing pigeons. Every year our birds are in danger because hunters think it's funny to kill pigeons while they're at it. Yesterday I trained my birds 40 miles. Hunting in NC on Sundays is against the law. I heard no shots and thought all was safe. Well my birds must have gotten mixed up with some others, because I only had half home by nightfall. Not totally uncommon. They're young birds and things happen. Hawks chase them and they tire out, etc.
Well this morning I was happy to see more come in. But those who were out overnight and this morning are VERY stressed out. I have several with shot holes in their tails and wings.

And one, which was one of my favorites, has a piece of shot lodged in its chest. Luckily (or unluckily, we'll see) it is in its crop, so I'm hoping it passes through its system before lead poisoning comes. I've done my best to doctor it up, and I'm hoping for the best.

You might think pigeons are pests, stupid, and diseased. But they aren't. Mine aren't, for sure. I take good care of my birds. They are pedigreed racers. Pigeon racing isn't just for old people. the pigeon hobby is my passion, and I'll be heartbroken if that bird dies on me. I'm HIGHLY upset right now. Nervous and anxious for the arrival of my 16 missing babies. And totally disappointed and disgusted at the local dove hunters around here. I'm a hunter too. Of deer, because I like birds too much. But I know better than to shoot something that isn't in the current season.


So be responsible. Hunt what and when you are supposed to. And if you happen to injure or kill a banded bird, at LEAST have enough respect to look up the band info and contact the owner. It makes me feel better knowing whether the bird is dead and I'm sitting here waiting for no reason, or if I actually have a chance of seeing it again.

A racing pigeon will have a band on it, usually saying either IF or AU, then a year, more letters (club letters), and a serial number. You can trace IF bands here: http://www.ifpigeon.com
And AU bands here: http://www.pigeon.com
NPA bands: http://www.npausa.com
IPB bands: http://www.foyspigeonsupplies.com


Thank you for your time, if you actually read all of this, and enjoy the rest of the season.

 

[tfpets]

I want to thank you for your detailed post and I hope your pigeons come home safe too. I am not a hunter, and I only have wild type pigeons as pets, up in the foothills.

But I want to say, right now it is not safe to depend on the individual smarts of a majority of the hunters who have a gun in their hands to be able to distinguish between a dove or a pigeon, or even care. If it flies, they will likely shoot it. I dont think it is safe for our birds to take flight right now.

A good example of the lack of basic safety practiced by dove hunters in our area is the number of calls logged to the sherriff's office in a two day period with reports of pellets hitting people, animals, and houses, from short distances.

A large number of complaints come in, one of note 2 days ago is a gentleman who called, his call was transferred to Fish and Game (it is their issue here)...he did not feel they were responding fast enough...so he called the Sherriff back and said he had decided if the Sherriff did not respond he was going to get his own guns, actual .22's, and return fire. The Sherriff's office decided to respond to stop the Dove Hunters too close to the residence.

My suggestion, if you get your birds back, is keep them home. I wish you the best of luck, I am so sorry your bird got hurt.
Tina

 

[SarahBeth9394]

You have some good information there and I can see why you ranted. You can't depend on others to not shoot your birds so it just may be best to not let them out during dove season. Not even on a Sunday.

 

[Mary Of Exeter]

Oh I know, these guys won't be flying anymore until dove season has died down.

I have personally heard some kids my age in class say if it flies, it dies. That is really sad that someone isn't teaching them better than that. But I did manage to talk to one kid in my class, and hopefully when he agreed he wouldn't shoot any pigeons, he was serious. My dad's crew at work, who dove hunt, also keep on the lookout for pigeons since they know I race, and try not to hit them.

 

[SarahBeth9394]

Quote:
Holy cow Tina I can't believe the Sheriff tried to pass that call off on Fish and Game. The fact is that someone is out shooting a weapon where they shouldn't be. I think I would have told the Sheriff the same thing.

 

[BOBHOPE]

Quote:
I agree 100% and I am a hunter of dove as well as many other small game and big game. Dove is the animal hunted by most weekend warriors who have shot a gun about 10 times in their life to be honest, its cheap and easy to go dove hunting so a lot of inexperienced ppl go try it.

I live out in the country and hunt our own lands or our neighbors and my neighbors even shot the phone lines in half shooting birds perched on the line lol . I let em all know what I thought of shooting perched birds much less perched on OUR phone line .

I have also been to dove hunts and management lands with 100s of other hunters and watched them shoot everything that came by and most of them were not doves.

I guess they should call it uncommon sense and not common sense anymore cuz not alot of ppl have it anymore.

I hope your birds return safe and sound, best of luck!

 

[Acre of Blessings]

I just wonder now if the pigeon that used to land on our front porch and hang out ther for 2 or 3 days was one of yours. It hasn't been in a couple of years. It was a whitish/cream color with grey or black markings. I couldn't get close enough to read the ID band. I sure hope more come back soon.

Also maybe you should think of having your parents post that article you posted above int he local newspaper....in the letter to the editor column. That column gets a lot of attention. Or maybe you could get front page with picks of your family and your birds.....talk about an attention getter though.

Sure hope all works out for ya.

 

[Eggs4Sale]

It's dove season here, too, and as usual, we have all sorts of birds hiding out in our trees. Every year, we find birds that have been shot that are very obviously not doves. American Kestrels, falcons, orioles.... I saw a pigeon clinging to the side of my date palm looking like she had the mob after her. It's odd how they can look so panicked and scared with so few facial features.

 

[patman75]

The best thing you can do is just lock them up until the season is over. You can't count of anyone else but yourself to do the right thing.

Common sense is not too common.

I hope more come back.

 

[cassie]

Hunters are not very discriminating. It doesn't seem to matter what they are hunting. In the news I have read where one shot a white horse that was being ridden by a teenage girl. Personally I know of a lady that got shot hanging up her wash, one idiot shot my mare out in the pasture, and locally some genius was showing off this nice big goose he bagged. It was a pelican.