Proposed Sept. 1 Iowa dove hunting season remains on track

DES MOINES – Plans for a September mourning dove hunting season got a green light May 11 despite continued opposition from a conservation group.

The Legislature's Administrative Rules Review Committee declined to block or delay Department of Natural Resources rules for a 70-day season starting Sept. 1. The daily bag limit is 15 with a possession limit of 30.

The review committee was not the final step in making Iowa the last state west of the Mississippi River to allow dove hunting. That would reverse nearly a century of protection for the migratory game bird in Iowa. However, it appears neither federal agencies nor the state Natural Resources Commission will block dove hunting.

The Iowa Chapter of the Sierra Club renewed its “disgruntlement” with the way lawmakers approved dove hunting and told the review committee there is no good reason to change Iowa's prohibition on dove hunting.

The legislation deserved a public hearing and a debate, said Neila Seaman, the chapter director. Instead, it was “sneaked in” by lawmakers without giving the public so much as a peep in either the House or Senate before the measure was approved and landed on the governor's desk for his promised signature.

“There is no historic tradition of dove hunting I Iowa,” she said, “and there is no good reason to change that.”

She questioned the reasoning for a hunting season, saying mourning doves are neither over-populated nor a nuisance.

However, Matt O'Connor of Hopkinton, representing Pheasants Forever, referred to doves as the “rabbits of the air” because of their “dynamic” population.

“All the evidence suggests that they are a game bird that is numerous and the effect of hunting is minimal on the population,” added Willie Suchy, wildlife research supervisor for the DNR.

O'Connor said dove hunting will offer opportunities for Iowa youth to be introduced to hunting as well as give older Iowans an opportunity to hunt again despite dramatic declines in pheasant numbers.

Dove hunting is not just about shooting, as critics suggest, but involves scouting and wildlife habitat development and preservation, O'Connor said. “It's a real piece of hunting.”

There's also a social aspect of families and friends hunting together, he added.

Lawmakers did raise questions about the use of lead shot and food plots.

Suchy explained the agency could ban the use of lead shot – the pellets in shotgun shells, but would prefer the Legislature or the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to make that decision. The wildlife service banned lead shot in waterfowl hunting.

The Legislature showed little interest during the dove hunting debate in banning lead shot, which is considered toxic and a threat to both wildlife and humans. The House rejected a ban 30-51.

The DNR considers lead shot a “serious issue,” Suchy said. “We would like to find alternatives that are acceptable and worked well."

However, “steel shot is not necessarily widely available or at an economic cost that is completely comparable,” he said. “You can find cheap lead, can't find cheap non-toxic.”

As for food plots, Suchy said the DNR may establish them as part of its habitat development not only for doves, but song birds and other wildlife.

Seaman called that a waste of the DNR's limited resources.

A public hearing on the open season for hunting mourning doves will be at 1 p.m. May 24 in the second-floor auditorium in the Wallace State Office Building in Des Moines.

Comment on the proposed season can be directed to Willie Suchy at DNR Wildlife Bureau, Wallace State Office Building, 502 E. 9th St., Des Moines, Iowa 50319-0034 or

wildlife@dnr.iowa.gov, or by fax at (515)281-6794.