Wildlife Commission Declares State’s Dove Population Healthy

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[font "Arial"][size 2]The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission reports the state has plenty of doves, perhaps more than other states in the Southeast. “When the season starts on Sept. 4, hunters should see as many birds this year as they did last year,” said Joe Fuller, a migratory bird biologist with the Wildlife Commission. “Weather systems can move birds around, so not every location experiences year-to-year stability.” The 2004-05 dove season occurs in three segments: Sept. 4-Oct. 9, Nov. 22-27 and Dec. 20-Jan. 15. “Although a lot of dove hunting occurs in September, doves are here in the later season segments, so hunting during that time can be successful, too,” Fuller said. A current dove banding program will add significant information on harvest, reporting rates and bird movements. The survey, started in 2003, has wildlife agencies in 27 states banding doves each summer over the three years of the project. We take this program pretty seriously here in North Carolina,” said Fuller. “Our crews across the state actually have an informal competition to see who can band their first 100 doves. We know the more banding we do, the better information we’ll get back from the survey. We hope our state’s hunters do their part by calling in any banded birds they harvest.” Last fall, the first year of the program, North Carolina hunters reported 54 banded birds, 53 of which had been banded in the state and one in South Carolina. For their participation, hunters receive a certificate identifying the age, sex, date and location the bird was banded. Fuller notes that although the 2002-03 season harvest of 707,700 birds and the 2003-04 season harvest of 762,500 are lower than the average for the past five years (988,000), hunters should not be concerned that those numbers indicate a population decline. Better indicators of dove populations are annual field surveys, which are immune to unstable factors such as hunter participation and success. The two survey types—call count routes and the breeding bird survey—use scientifically valid protocols to indicate whether populations are rising or falling. Although there are no definite estimates of the dove population across the country or locally, trend data in North Carolina shows a population that is stable or increasing. North Carolina had the highest call count in the Eastern United States with an average of 34 doves heard per route during the past two years. All others state in the region recorded 20 birds or less per route. Over the past decade, both surveys show an overall increase in the number of birds per route in North Carolina. “Because dove numbers are difficult to survey, and there is no technique developed yet to estimate population size reliably, wildlife managers use these yearly trend numbers to manage the dove population,” said Fuller. “Since our trend numbers are so strong I don’t foresee any changes to seasons or bag limits in North Carolina.”
Hunters can call 1-800-327-BAND (1-800-327-2263) to report a banded bird. Operators are on duty 24 hours a day during hunting seasons, Monday through Friday. Off-season hours are 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Leave a message outside of these hours. Banded birds also may be reported via e-mail, mail to bandreports@patuxent.usgs.gov". [/size][/font]
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