By Staff
LANSING - An EPIC-MRA poll shows that a vast majority of likely Michigan voters oppose shooting mourning doves.
The poll of 600 likely voters surveyed May 1 through 8 found that 57 percent of Michigan residents wish to continue Michigan's 100-year-old protections for mourning doves, while only 32 percent favor creating a new dove shooting season. Eleven percent were undecided. 
The numbers are consistent with polls dating back to 2004, including polls conducted by pro-dove shooting organizations. According to the Flint Journal, a poll by the U.S. Sportsman's Alliance, a pro-dove shooting organization, found that approximately 60 percent of those polled - including more than 50 percent of hunters polled - said they are opposed to a dove shooting season in Michigan.  Other polls have consistently shown that a majority of hunters oppose the shooting of mourning doves.
The Committee to Restore the Dove Shooting Ban seeks to restore Michigan's 100-year ban on the shooting of mourning doves by urging Michigan voters to vote ‘no' on the mourning dove referendum in the election Nov. 7.
The group collected more than 275,000 petition signatures to place a referendum to stop the shooting of mourning doves on the November ballot.