Dove hunting is not a tradition in Wisconsin. There are plenty of other species for hunters to shoot. Pheasants, geese, ducks, woodcock, and dozens of other bird species give sport hunters more than ample shooting opportunities. Mourning doves live in close proximity to people, and people like to watch and feed these gentle backyard birds, developing a special affinity for them. Dove hunting serves no useful or important management purpose.
Doves are ground-feeding birds and pose no threat to agricultural crops in Wisconsin.
Doves are actually helpful to Wisconsin farmers because they eat weed seeds on the ground, acting as a natural herbicide. There is an unacceptably high wounding rate for dove hunting. Studies indicate a wounding rate of 20 to 30 percent, meaning that one in four birds is wounded and not retrieved after being shot. In Wisconsin, where few hunters have had experience shooting doves, we can expect an even higher wounding rate. If hunters kill 500,000 mourning doves each hunting season, they can be expected to wound and fail to retrieve more than 125,000 others.