John Hansen: “this is kind of a cherished thing in America, the hunting of doves. Many of us who hunt have noticed in our younger…”

“this is kind of a cherished thing in America, the hunting of doves. Many of us who hunt have noticed in our younger years that dove hunting was not a big thing. Deer season was always such a big thing in the State of Utah that they closed the schools, the churches, and everything else at the opening of deer season. Fishing was always a mass exodus out of town to get to various mass areas. Dove season was never considered as much. I do not think people understand the importance of this little elusive bird that people call the mourning dove. Actually, there are millions of them. The problem we have on this particular bill is that when the days start getting shorter and when we have a cold snap, what happens is they go south because they are a migratory bird. When they go south, the people who want to hunt in the northern areas do not get the opportunity to hunt, so they maybe can pick up a straggler here and there. But the folks from Florida, Texas, the southern States, Arizona, New Mexico, Southern California, they have a heyday. The folks in Mexico really have a heyday because they do not have a limit on it, and they go down there and shoot them by the thousands.”