After months of heated debate, the battle over a bill legalizing the hunting of mourning doves is all but over, according to state officials.

Majority Leader Brent Siegrist said the bill is probably dead for this session of the Iowa General Assembly, during Friday’s taping of “Iowa Press,” an Iowa Public Television program broadcast Sunday.

The bill narrowly passed the Iowa Senate, and Siegrist said during the meeting that it appears there will not be enough votes for it to pass in the House.

The debate on whether to legalize dove hunting has been lingering for months, said Cecelia Burnett (D), state representative of District 61.

“This has been a hot issue with both sides, and this is one of the most popular issues since I have been in office,” she said. “Most of the people in my district are against the proposal; it is about four or five to one against the dove hunting.”

State Senator Johnnie Hammond (D) of District 31 said she believes “there are better things” for the representatives to be concentrating on.

“We have spent an unbelievable amount of time receiving and responding to phone calls and letters,” she said.

Hammond also said many people are not in favor of the measure.

“Most of [my constituents] are opposed to the bill. Most of them do not feel that it is worth it,” she said. “I have gotten e-mails saying, ‘I am a member of the [National Rifle Association], and I don’t even want the hunting of mourning doves.'”

Burnett, who was involved with environmental issues before becoming a member of the Iowa Legislature, said she believes in hunting as a management tool. However, she does not believe it is necessary in this situation.

“We already have deer and countless other seasons,” she said. “Somebody came up to me the other day and explained to me that there is no biological reason why we should not have a [dove hunting] season. I simply told them that there is no biological reason why we should have a hunting season.”

Hammond voted against the bill because she said it is simply not needed.

“I don’t think that we need to kill any more living things,” she said. “There is no overpopulation of the mourning dove, and the only reason they want to hunt them is for food.

“Doves come in my backyard, and I enjoy them,” she said. “If they want to hunt something, they should shoot those black birds — they are the real pests.”

Proponents are concerned Iowa is losing hunting revenues to neighboring states, and they also argue that mourning doves are technically game birds and plentiful in the state.

Hammond said these arguments just don’t “hold water.”

“They say that people are going to other states to hunt and spend money for hunting outside of Iowa. Proponents of the bill say that if we legalize it, people will come here to hunt,” she said. “Why would they? They can kill them in their own state.”