Post by FWS on Aug 3, 2014 18:17:59 GMT -6
Dove hunting gets research treatment
By Shannon Tompkins
Houston Chronicle
August 2, 2014
Results of a national survey of dove hunters indicate most are older, better- educated and better off financially than the average American and have strong opinions about swapping the lead pellets in their traditional dove loads for shotshells carrying non-lead pellets. Photo: Picasa
Most of the nation's 1 million or so dove hunters - a quarter of them Texans - are long on field experience and passion about their recreation, short on support of any moves to restrict use of the lead shot they almost universally employ and seemingly conflicted about how they and other dove hunters would react if faced with rules requiring use of non-lead shot.
They also are, on average, more affluent, well-educated and older than the national average, take 30 or fewer doves over the course of a season and likely to also hunt big game such as deer.
Those insights into dove hunters' attitudes, opinions, behaviors and demographics come from the recently released results of the National Dove Hunters Survey 2013, the first nationwide survey exclusively focused on this subset of the nation's 15 million hunters.
"It's important that we have this kind of information," Shaun Oldenburger, dove program leader for Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, said of the survey. "Looking at the results helps us better understand dove hunters' preferences and opinions, and that helps us make more informed decisions when we're looking at management options and helps us see areas where there are opportunities to better educate hunters."
The future of lead
The survey, a cooperative effort between the American Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, the four state/federal Flyway Councils involved in management of doves and other migratory game birds and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, was triggered by discussions of research on possible effects of doves ingesting spent lead shot and the possible prospect, somewhere down the road, of changes in statewide or national policy on use of non-lead shot by dove hunters.
Use of lead shot by waterfowl hunters has been prohibited, nationwide, since 1991, a result of convincing research that showed significant losses of ducks and geese from the birds' ingestion of spent lead shot and the resulting toxic effects. Over the past two decades, rules requiring use of non-lead shot - pellets made of "steel" (iron), tungsten and other materials proven to be non-toxic if ingested by birds - have been imposed for all wingshooting, including dove hunting, on all federally controlled refuges and other public lands and some state-controlled public hunting areas. In Texas, which holds more doves (as many as 50 million mourning doves) and dove hunters (as many as 250,000 in some recent years) than any state, dove hunters on federal- and state-owned public hunting areas are required to use non-toxic shot when hunting doves, but lead is allowed on private land.
While neither federal nor state wildlife managers have proposed statewide or nationwide bans on use of lead shot by all wingshooters, their hands could be forced if research links ingestion of lead shot to significant loss of doves or through legal action by groups pushing for bans on lead shot. And many of the 26 questions included in the survey focus on dove hunters' attitudes and opinions concerning lead/non-lead shot.
Weighing the results
The survey, conducted by DJ Case and Associates, involved sending surveys to 800 dove hunters, randomly selected, in each of the 40 states holding dove seasons. The effort resulted in 11,402 usable responses, with 262 completed surveys coming from Texas dove hunters. Compiled results were weighted to account for the overall national percentage of dove hunters in each state, but the initial report does not break down results by individual states.
Some of the results:
1Two-thirds (62 percent) of dove hunters are 45 years old or older, considerably older than the national median age of 37.3 years.
1Forty percent of dove hunters have a household income of $100,000 or more - almost twice the national median household income - with 26 percent reporting household income of $120,000 or more.
1Almost half of dove hunters have college degrees - 32.5 percent have undergraduate degrees and 12.5 percent with advanced degrees.
1A slight majority (51 percent) of the survey respondents reported they had hunted doves for 20 years or more. Almost one-third (32.7 percent) reported hunting doves for 31 years or longer.
1Almost half (45.6 percent) classified dove hunting as "one of my most important recreational activities," with 3.4 placing it as their "most important recreational activity." Most (83 percent) also hunted deer or other big game, with about 60 percent also hunting small game, upland game birds or waterfowl.
1Almost 40 percent hunt doves on private land, exclusively, and 71 percent hunt only or mostly on private land.
1Most (60 percent) take 30 or fewer doves each season. But about one-third (33.2 percent) reported taking 31-100 doves per season.
1Most (54.7 percent) reported shooting five or fewer boxes of shotshells over a dove season. About a quarter (24.6 percent) reported shooting 6-9 25-round boxes of shotshells over a season.
1More than half (54.5 percent) reported spending $50 or less on shotshells for dove hunting. And most (68.7 percent) reported using only shotshells firing lead pellets, with another 18 percent saying they "mostly" shot lead. Less than 10 percent reported using only non-toxic shotshells when dove hunting.
1Most are opposed to requiring non-lead shot for dove hunting, with 43 percent "strongly opposed" and 22 percent "somewhat opposed." Only 9 percent support a move to non-lead shot.
1Cost, performance, availability and a lack of convincing evidence of a need for abandoning lead shot are behind the opposition to requiring use of non-toxic shot.
Although available "steel" dove loads are sold for around the same price and lead dove loads, almost 70 percent said non-toxic dove loads are "too expensive."
A majority (54 percent) agreed non-lead shot doesn't perform as well as lead, and 49 percent agreed use of non-lead shot increased crippling. Most (54 percent) agreed non-lead loads appropriate for dove hunting were "hard to find" in their local stores.
Asked their opinion of the statement, "Most doves that eat lead pellets become severely ill or die," 45 percent of dove hunters said they "don't know." And about 55 percent agreed that "concerns about effects of wildlife consumption have not been explained to hunters."
1A majority (59 percent) agreed they would use non-toxic shot for dove hunting if they thought it would help wildlife, and 54 percent agreed they would use non-lead shot if scientific evidence showed the dove population was being harmed by spent lead pellets.
Half (49 percent) of dove hunters agreed that wildlife agencies have a responsibility to "take action" if scientific evidence identifies negative spent lead shot has a negative impact on dove populations.
But a significant number (36 percent) said they would "probably quit hunting doves" if required to use only non-lead loads for dove hunting.
Dove hunters won't have to make that decision when the 2014 dove season opens Sept. 1 across most of the country; lead shot remains legal to use for dove hunting in most areas. But that could change in coming years with more research into the lead shot ingestion by doves and studies on the efficacy, or lack thereof, of non-lead shotshells. If it does, a lot of dove hunters will have to ask themselves some hard questions.
By Shannon Tompkins
Houston Chronicle
August 2, 2014
Results of a national survey of dove hunters indicate most are older, better- educated and better off financially than the average American and have strong opinions about swapping the lead pellets in their traditional dove loads for shotshells carrying non-lead pellets. Photo: Picasa
Most of the nation's 1 million or so dove hunters - a quarter of them Texans - are long on field experience and passion about their recreation, short on support of any moves to restrict use of the lead shot they almost universally employ and seemingly conflicted about how they and other dove hunters would react if faced with rules requiring use of non-lead shot.
They also are, on average, more affluent, well-educated and older than the national average, take 30 or fewer doves over the course of a season and likely to also hunt big game such as deer.
Those insights into dove hunters' attitudes, opinions, behaviors and demographics come from the recently released results of the National Dove Hunters Survey 2013, the first nationwide survey exclusively focused on this subset of the nation's 15 million hunters.
"It's important that we have this kind of information," Shaun Oldenburger, dove program leader for Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, said of the survey. "Looking at the results helps us better understand dove hunters' preferences and opinions, and that helps us make more informed decisions when we're looking at management options and helps us see areas where there are opportunities to better educate hunters."
The future of lead
The survey, a cooperative effort between the American Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, the four state/federal Flyway Councils involved in management of doves and other migratory game birds and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, was triggered by discussions of research on possible effects of doves ingesting spent lead shot and the possible prospect, somewhere down the road, of changes in statewide or national policy on use of non-lead shot by dove hunters.
Use of lead shot by waterfowl hunters has been prohibited, nationwide, since 1991, a result of convincing research that showed significant losses of ducks and geese from the birds' ingestion of spent lead shot and the resulting toxic effects. Over the past two decades, rules requiring use of non-lead shot - pellets made of "steel" (iron), tungsten and other materials proven to be non-toxic if ingested by birds - have been imposed for all wingshooting, including dove hunting, on all federally controlled refuges and other public lands and some state-controlled public hunting areas. In Texas, which holds more doves (as many as 50 million mourning doves) and dove hunters (as many as 250,000 in some recent years) than any state, dove hunters on federal- and state-owned public hunting areas are required to use non-toxic shot when hunting doves, but lead is allowed on private land.
While neither federal nor state wildlife managers have proposed statewide or nationwide bans on use of lead shot by all wingshooters, their hands could be forced if research links ingestion of lead shot to significant loss of doves or through legal action by groups pushing for bans on lead shot. And many of the 26 questions included in the survey focus on dove hunters' attitudes and opinions concerning lead/non-lead shot.
Weighing the results
The survey, conducted by DJ Case and Associates, involved sending surveys to 800 dove hunters, randomly selected, in each of the 40 states holding dove seasons. The effort resulted in 11,402 usable responses, with 262 completed surveys coming from Texas dove hunters. Compiled results were weighted to account for the overall national percentage of dove hunters in each state, but the initial report does not break down results by individual states.
Some of the results:
1Two-thirds (62 percent) of dove hunters are 45 years old or older, considerably older than the national median age of 37.3 years.
1Forty percent of dove hunters have a household income of $100,000 or more - almost twice the national median household income - with 26 percent reporting household income of $120,000 or more.
1Almost half of dove hunters have college degrees - 32.5 percent have undergraduate degrees and 12.5 percent with advanced degrees.
1A slight majority (51 percent) of the survey respondents reported they had hunted doves for 20 years or more. Almost one-third (32.7 percent) reported hunting doves for 31 years or longer.
1Almost half (45.6 percent) classified dove hunting as "one of my most important recreational activities," with 3.4 placing it as their "most important recreational activity." Most (83 percent) also hunted deer or other big game, with about 60 percent also hunting small game, upland game birds or waterfowl.
1Almost 40 percent hunt doves on private land, exclusively, and 71 percent hunt only or mostly on private land.
1Most (60 percent) take 30 or fewer doves each season. But about one-third (33.2 percent) reported taking 31-100 doves per season.
1Most (54.7 percent) reported shooting five or fewer boxes of shotshells over a dove season. About a quarter (24.6 percent) reported shooting 6-9 25-round boxes of shotshells over a season.
1More than half (54.5 percent) reported spending $50 or less on shotshells for dove hunting. And most (68.7 percent) reported using only shotshells firing lead pellets, with another 18 percent saying they "mostly" shot lead. Less than 10 percent reported using only non-toxic shotshells when dove hunting.
1Most are opposed to requiring non-lead shot for dove hunting, with 43 percent "strongly opposed" and 22 percent "somewhat opposed." Only 9 percent support a move to non-lead shot.
1Cost, performance, availability and a lack of convincing evidence of a need for abandoning lead shot are behind the opposition to requiring use of non-toxic shot.
Although available "steel" dove loads are sold for around the same price and lead dove loads, almost 70 percent said non-toxic dove loads are "too expensive."
A majority (54 percent) agreed non-lead shot doesn't perform as well as lead, and 49 percent agreed use of non-lead shot increased crippling. Most (54 percent) agreed non-lead loads appropriate for dove hunting were "hard to find" in their local stores.
Asked their opinion of the statement, "Most doves that eat lead pellets become severely ill or die," 45 percent of dove hunters said they "don't know." And about 55 percent agreed that "concerns about effects of wildlife consumption have not been explained to hunters."
1A majority (59 percent) agreed they would use non-toxic shot for dove hunting if they thought it would help wildlife, and 54 percent agreed they would use non-lead shot if scientific evidence showed the dove population was being harmed by spent lead pellets.
Half (49 percent) of dove hunters agreed that wildlife agencies have a responsibility to "take action" if scientific evidence identifies negative spent lead shot has a negative impact on dove populations.
But a significant number (36 percent) said they would "probably quit hunting doves" if required to use only non-lead loads for dove hunting.
Dove hunters won't have to make that decision when the 2014 dove season opens Sept. 1 across most of the country; lead shot remains legal to use for dove hunting in most areas. But that could change in coming years with more research into the lead shot ingestion by doves and studies on the efficacy, or lack thereof, of non-lead shotshells. If it does, a lot of dove hunters will have to ask themselves some hard questions.