LANSING -- A group that wants to stop mourning dove hunting in Michigan says it expects to meet a March deadline in its campaign.

The Committee to Restore the Dove Shooting Ban must submit the signatures of at least 158,879 valid Michigan voters by late March to qualify its referendum for the November 2006 election.

Voters then would decide whether to allow dove hunts in Michigan.

The state held its first dove season in nearly a century this fall. The group circulating petitions wants to reinstate the dove hunting ban.

"We'll get to where we need to be to have this on the ballot in 2006," said Michael Markarian of The Fund for Animals. "We are still out gathering signatures, and the signatures are still coming in."

Wayne Pacelle, chief executive officer of the Humane Society of the United States, said the coalition has collected more than 100,000 signatures.

The group has raised more than $50,000, he said, relying mostly on the volunteers.

Organizers want volunteers to turn in their signatures by March 1. The petitions must be turned in to state officials by late March to qualify for the ballot.

Advocates of dove hunting say they will wait to see if the coalition has enough signatures to qualify for the ballot before launching a counter-campaign.

Sam Washington, executive director of the Michigan United Conservation Clubs, said the petition drive has been organized by national groups that are against all hunting.

"We're hoping citizens will have the good sense to realize that," Washington said. "It has nothing to do with doves."

Michigan allowed a limited dove hunt in six southern counties from Sept. 10 through Oct. 30.

About 5,000 permits to hunt doves were issued.

Washington said he expects that many of those who bought the $2 dove stamp did not actually hunt and that the trial season had "next to no impact on the dove population."

Estimates from state game officials were unavailable Thursday.

Michigan is scheduled to have similar trial hunts in 2005 and 2006 before state officials decide whether the hunt should be expanded to other parts of the state or discontinued.

But if the petition drive is successful, the future trial hunts could be suspended pending the outcome of the 2006 vote.

Washington said the trial hunts are important to gauge the effect on the dove population.

"It is ridiculously premature for them to do what they're doing," Washington said of the opposition group.

Dove hunting opponents said the birds should classified as songbirds and protected, as they had been in Michigan for 99 years.

Mourning dove hunting is allowed in 40 other states. Hunts have not hurt dove populations, Michigan game officials say.

At least 4 million mourning doves migrate from Michigan each year, according to conservative estimates.

The birds, which look like slender pigeons, are most prevalent south of a line stretching from Bay City to Ludington areas.

"We'll get to where we need to be to have this on the ballot in 2006. We are still out gathering signatures, and the signatures are still coming in."