TPW to wrap up dove lethality bird collecting
State officials said this week they have enough dove — 1,360 birds — collected during two years of field research, to accurately compare the effectiveness of lead and non-lead shot for doves.
The goal of the dove lethality study was to collect between 1,050 and 1,500 one-shot-kill doves under real hunting conditions. The benchmark for a study of this type is 1,500, but the researchers say they will forego a third collection effort this year after preliminary statistical evaluations and discussions with ballistic and university consultants.
“Statistical analysis of the existing data indicates that one more year of dove collection will not significantly enhance our understanding derived from the data collected thus far,” said Corey Mason, Texas Parks and Wildlife’s dove program leader. “Additionally, given the cost and effort needed to obtain a couple hundred more samples, we feel that further collections are not warranted.”
The study parameters call for between 5,000 and 7,000 shots fired. After two years of collection, TPW has recorded about 6,300 shots taken by 58 volunteer shooters.
Five hundred dove are being studied using x-ray and necropsy, and about 360 previously collected birds will be examined in 2011. TPW anticipates publishing its findings in summer 2011.
Public concern about the incidence of lead in the environment is growing. This issue has been discussed by the Central Flyway migratory bird managers for five years. It is conceivable that non-lead shot requirements could be proposed for the hunting of all migratory game birds, including dove, at some future date. This could have considerable impact in Texas, which boasts the nation’s largest dove population at an estimated 20 to 25 million breeding birds and a rich hunting tradition that sees from 300,000 to 350,000 hunters take to the field each fall. Texas hunters harvest about 6.4 million doves annually or roughly 30 percent of all doves taken nationally.
The situation also has an economic consideration. Based on a 2005 survey conducted for the U. S. Census Bureau and the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service by Southwick and Associates, Texas dove hunting has an economic impact of $316 million annually. Texas dove hunting produces 3,145 jobs in the private sector and $21 million in sales tax revenue.
TPW’s study was designed by an internationally recognized shotgun ballistics expert, who has designed more than a dozen similar studies involving waterfowl and upland game birds. The research is supported by many organizations, including the Central Flyway Council, the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies and the Wildlife Management Institute.
