## Facts

- In 1971, the Wisconsin Legislature designated the mourning dove a state “symbol of peace” and removed it from a statutory list of “game birds.”
- Wisconsin law separately authorized the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to set open and closed seasons and other conditions for taking “fish and game,” with “game” defined broadly to include wild mammals or birds.
- In 2001, the Natural Resources Board promulgated Wis. Admin. Code § NR 10.01(1)(h), creating an open season for mourning doves with bag and possession limits.
- An organization and individual plaintiffs opposed to dove hunting sued for a declaratory judgment, arguing the rule exceeded the DNR’s delegated authority in light of the 1971 legislative changes.
- The circuit court invalidated the rule and enjoined the DNR from promulgating a dove season absent further legislative authorization.
- The court of appeals reversed, concluding the statutory text authorized the DNR to establish mourning dove seasons.
- The Wisconsin Supreme Court granted review.

## Issues

1. Whether Wis. Stat. § 29.014(1) authorizes the DNR to establish a mourning dove hunting season because “game” includes wild mammals or birds, notwithstanding the Legislature’s 1971 removal of mourning doves from a “game birds” list and designation of the dove as a “symbol of peace.”
2. Whether the 1971 enactments implicitly limited the DNR’s broad authority over wild birds so that mourning doves were exempt from hunting regulation absent a clearer legislative statement.

## Decision

- The Wisconsin Supreme Court affirmed the court of appeals and reversed the circuit court.
- The Court held the DNR had statutory authority under Wis. Stat. § 29.014(1) to establish a mourning dove hunting season.
- The Court upheld the administrative rule as within the DNR’s delegated authority.
- The Court concluded the statute was unambiguous, making agency deference unnecessary.
- A dissent would have read the 1971 actions as at least creating ambiguity and as signaling legislative intent to withdraw mourning doves from huntable game.

## Legal Principles

- When a statute grants an agency authority to regulate “game” defined broadly to include “wild mammals or birds,” that authority reaches species within the definition unless the Legislature clearly withdraws them.
- A legislative act conferring symbolic status on an animal, without express regulatory language, does not itself prohibit hunting or restrict an agency’s preexisting delegated regulatory authority.
- Courts disfavor implied repeal or implied limitation of statutory authority and will construe provisions to give effect to both where possible.
- If the statutory text is unambiguous, courts apply it as written and do not defer to an agency’s interpretation.
- Policy objections to regulated hunting do not substitute for statutory limits; changes to hunting permissibility are for legislative action.

## Conclusion

The Wisconsin Supreme Court held that the DNR’s broad statutory power to regulate “game,” defined to include wild birds, authorized a mourning dove hunting season despite the dove’s designation as a symbol of peace and its earlier removal from a narrower “game birds” list, because the Legislature did not clearly prohibit hunting or limit the DNR’s delegation.


Wisconsin Citizens Concerned for Cranes & Doves v. Dep’t of Nat. Res., 270 Wis. 2d 318, 677 N.W.2d 612 (Wis. 2004)