The statistic I have seen is that whitetailed deer represent 2% of hunted animals and are the only really overpopulated animals out there. Either way, you yourself are discussing shooting doves which are not overpopulated correct? So what I am trying to get at is that you hunt for sport. The fact that you get to eat the animal after is icing on the cake. And the fact that hunting may be used for animal control wasn't even an issue in the case of these doves.

Listen you asked why I was against it and I explained it. I don't tell people not to eat meat or not to hunt for food, but I don't agree with hunting for sport and I explained why to you. It is you who keeps trying to justify himself by insulting everyone else that doesn't agree with you.

-Rudey

They only person I somewhat insulted was you.....and I don't think I took it as far as you have in this thread. If you want to call me a rednec/Cleetus/etc. etc. etc. ....thats fine, I really don't care....but don't make me responding back to you in a negative way an isssue.

As I said before....I made the thread to ask if anyone went dove hunting over opening day weekend......I guess noone on this board hunts for some reason or another...but the thread turned into more than just shooting dove.

I honestly can't tell you if Dove are overpopulated or not in North America.....its hard to say becasue they are migratory. Last year we didn't really see any on our first hunt....this year we saw thousands. I've gone to Argentina for Dove hunts and you can shoot 1500 shells per day. On average there are around 30,000,000 Dove per year in the area that we hunted....there are so many there isn't even a season for it. So i'm really not sure what would constitute an area being "overpopulated" with dove.

You were just waiting on my "ditto" I know ;)

My neighbor is an avid hunter (good lord, one day my dog wouldn't come home so I went up to his yard to look.... BIG mistake - I nearly passed out) - and we always have this convo. He starts with "you know, I am helping deer by controlling the population" and my reply is always "and if hunters hadn't killed all their natural enemies - such as wolves & coyotes - we wouldn't be in this mess would we?" ;)

Coyotes are FINALLY making a reappearance in our area - and the first thing the news says on their "coming up at 5 o'clock" commercials Coyotes are making a comeback - how to protect your pets & avoid rabies - coming up at 5 o'clock Okay IDIOTS - way to use the old scare tactics to freak out 80 year old grandma's with toy poodles!

Every freaking time you hear a story on the news about a rabid animal (possum, fox, skunk) the next week or so, you hear about a million follow-ups of how many have been killed by people who were worried that the animal was rabid. Here's a clue people... if it is in the middle of the night, and you have cat or dog food on your porch... you can EXPECT a critter to show up & eat it. That's what they do. Freaking idiots :mad:

http://www.dove.ca/images/home/dove_logo_big.gif
I thought this thread might be about a weekend promo for DOVE soap...LOL.

I don't know where you are....but down here there is absolutely no reason to kill wolves and coyotes.........they don't kill enough deer to have an impact whatsoever on the population. You should watch a mature 10 point buck manhandle a coyote.....its quite impressive. Killing deer on a ranch or a seasoned hunting area actually does help control the population...significantly. You should talk to a wildlife biologist sometime...its pretty interesting.

Opossums rarely carry rabies (they are thought to have a natural immunity to the virus)-not to say they could never be infected but it is not likely-this message brought to you by your friendly opossum guru :).

I am just curious do you have deer feeders on this ranch? If so does providng all of this food help contribute to the overpopulation problem? Is there really an overpopulation problem, or does it seem this way due to urban sprawl?

I know this because we have always lived in "the woods" -- but try to get the "good ol boys" where I live to figure it out. No - its wild, it came on my front porch in the middle of the night to eat the cat food - it MUST be rabid. ARGH -- any excuse to kill something. It always reminds me of early South Park where the uncle goes hunting & the little rabbit runs by & he says (with his DecTalk synthesizer) "He's coming right for us" and then they shoot it to pieces.

About the coyotes - isn't a big part of the "controlled population" argument that the sick & weak deer are being weeded out? Don't coyotes eat sick & weak deer... cause they do around these parts.

I'm not here to argue that you can or can't hunt - I'm just saying that the "over population" excuse is lame because thanks to hunters, the natural predators have been decimated. You don't need an excuse to shoot an animal - have at it - but don't pretend as if you are some kind of loving conservationist who is doing the world a favor.

N,

I hear what you are saying. I hate it when animal control brings me a opossum (or even healthy raccoon) and says I have to euthanize it and they need the head for rabies testing b/c some dumbass dog decided to pick a fight with the creature and now the owner is insisting on rabies testing even though the dog is current on vaccs (with opossums it is always the dogs fault cause possums are very passive and will not attack unless threatened, most of the time they play possum (dead)). I can understand testing the bats they bring me b/c we tend to see quite a bit of rabies in these guys and humans are usually the ones picking the sick ones up.

The coyotes around here probably don't eat that many deer. They are pretty small and prefer to feed on the neighborhood cat or poodle. The deer can be very aggressive and coyotes likely stay away for them for this reason. I have had a few small dogs (mainly dachshunds) that were critically injured while trying to attack a deer.

What point is there for a hunter to kill coyotes and wolves?......absolutely none......or atleast its like that from where I have been.

I haven't acted or spoke of myself as some "loving conservationist." If you knew anything about hunting or ranch maintanence then you wouldn't claim my actions as an excuse or "lame."