Get ready Cormorants ?

[Rattletrap2]

On 11/20/2018 at 5:54 PM, BillM said:

My 12g is hopefully going to get quite the workout on GBay.

Mine too Bill!

[Rattletrap2]

I submitted my comments! Let's hope everyone does!

[misfish]

19 hours ago, Fisherman said:

they are very wary when you try and sneak up on them. 

This ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

Even on my pontoon just going along slowly, they seem to sense  something/invader. Instead of diving down, it will fly off.  Not even close enough for shot.

[Fisherman]

15 minutes ago, misfish said:

This ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

Even on my pontoon just going along slowly, they seem to sense  something/invader. Instead of diving down, it will fly off.  Not even close enough for shot.

I think the closest I've ever got to one is maybe 150 yards and with steel shot, even lead,  you'd have better luck with lottery tickets.  Waste of time as far as I can tell.

[grimsbylander]

21 hours ago, Fisherman said:

It's going to cost prospective hunters some serious cash,  no lead shot.  Ever try to follow one in a boat, damm things fly faster than my boat will go and they are very wary when you try and sneak up on them.  Maybe someone can come up with a way of genetically sterilizing them.

I love it when I'm flying along and a dumb-azz cormorant pops up ahead and flies along with no real sense of urgency...then they realize they can't fly 60+mph !! LOL I'll take out the front pedestal and install a turret!! 

[cisco]

Anyone who knows anything about waterfowl hunting knows it's near impossible to shoot many in a short period of time. All the armchair cormie killers here can find this out at any time. Just go and 'make believe' you are hunting them. Then say how many shots you'd have got inside of... 40 yards/metres.  Keep in mind a few dozen per outting per hunter among allot of other hunters is what is needed at a minimum to get a local pop'n down a wee bit. Go, then tell us how you did. IMHO not enough to harm the local pop'n even if multiplied by 100.  

Layout boats circling where they roost is probably best. They'd be low to the water. Still that's allot of layout boats and which only allow shooting about 110 degrees around.   Once the birds learn then odds get way worse. These are smart animals.   

 

[misfish]

18 minutes ago, cisco said:

These are smart animals.   

That was my point Chris

 

BTW

 

Nice to hear from you.

[dave524]

You are never going to reduce the population enough by shooting them to have any effect on numbers but by being able to shoot them we will able to discourage them from colonizing sensitive areas and maybe reduce the breeding success by forcing them to abandon nests.

[misfish]

1 hour ago, dave524 said:

You are never going to reduce the population enough by shooting them to have any effect on numbers but by being able to shoot them we will able to discourage them from colonizing sensitive areas and maybe reduce the breeding success by forcing them to abandon nests.

So like the old  tale of,,

Never release the first fish,as it will go down and tell the rest you are there, and they will disperse.. LOL

 

 

[Sinker]

17 hours ago, cisco said:

Anyone who knows anything about waterfowl hunting knows it's near impossible to shoot many in a short period of time. All the armchair cormie killers here can find this out at any time. Just go and 'make believe' you are hunting them. Then say how many shots you'd have got inside of... 40 yards/metres.  Keep in mind a few dozen per outting per hunter among allot of other hunters is what is needed at a minimum to get a local pop'n down a wee bit. Go, then tell us how you did. IMHO not enough to harm the local pop'n even if multiplied by 100.  

Layout boats circling where they roost is probably best. They'd be low to the water. Still that's allot of layout boats and which only allow shooting about 110 degrees around.   Once the birds learn then odds get way worse. These are smart animals.   

 

I disagree. I think if you had cormorant decoys they would work them real good at the right time of year. I know I could have shot many boxes of shells at them just this fall alone over my duck spread, easily.  Duck decoys, not so much, but you put out a spread of cormorant decoys, and its game on! 

S. 

[Garnet]

Was salmon fishing and came very close to hooking a cormorant around neck.

Little more luck and there would be horrible accident judge sir.

[Sinker]

https://shop.sportplast-decoys.com/Cormorants

[cisco]

Shane, you like shooting and eating ducks and geese.  You also enjoy walleye, musky fishing and eating among other things like crappie and turkey and deer...  Hard enough time getting out there for these.  To spend the money on dekes, steel shot and to find the time to chase cormies......

Few could/would do it. I sure wouldn't. But I'd sure be happy to enlist as a volunteer for MNR/DFO/CWS to take my old lead shot rounds and join a group to blast nests for a bit. You want to go shoot them? No problem with me. But to look at the proposed Bill vs common sense IS a big difference re getting the numbers under control. IMO as said these birds aren't dumb fly-through young migrants like many of the waterfowl we shoot. They learn quick from what I've seen. 

Some heros will go and shoot a bunch and brag...... enter the antis.  If you and the few others who would carve or buy cormie dekes and then find the time to DISCRETELY (no pictures) shoot some, fine. IMHO this sure it won't do the job. I bet some would even pay to be on a guided cormie hunt. But in general terms the gov't needs to be honest and to be going with a better solution than to put heat on hunters.  

 

[HTHM]

How about rock salt at the nests? Or an inert substance like vermiculite or perlite.  

[cisco]

6 hours ago, HTHM said:

How about rock salt at the nests? Or an inert substance like vermiculite or perlite.  

Aerial spraying of a percentage of nests would be how gov't would do it if forced to do it themselves. But again, what impact on other species would be a concern. Fake eggs replacing the wild ones is also good idea, but to get into the nests is the general problem. That's why the lead-shot idea came to mind.

[pics]

Birds clue in pretty quickly when it comes to hunters. The first time they are shot at it sticks in their mind. We may have to get creative.. My buddy shoots European house sparrows at his feeder so he has very few around but it doesn't affect the other birds because they know that they aren't the target.. 

[ch312]

A cull, which is what this is with a 50 bird limit, is the best option and most cost effective for reducing populations quickly. You guys should be thankful the government is actually considering saving money by allowing hunters to kill some cormorants instead of the usual business of the government hiring someone to do the job. 

I doubt anyone is going to be targeting them and this is simply a matter of letting waterfowlers shoot some cormorants if the opportunity presents itself while they're out for ducks and geese. Landowners won't need to shoot very many before the rest of the birds catch on and move away for good as birds learn quick after they've seen their buddies get shot. 

 

[Sinker]

I'm all for hunting these dirty birds. I'm not saying there will be hunters out in masses, with boat loads of decoys setting up killing them in piles, but at least if we can shoot them while waterfowling it would help, even just a little. I just want the protection removed from them. I'd shoot every single one that came in range, and if I found a spot that had a few, I"d set up on them just for fun.  

Do I think hunting them is a good way to control their population? Nope. Not at all. 

Is it better than nothing? Absolutely. 

Would I invest in some gear to target them? Hell yeah I would. 

The bottom line is more needs to be done to control these vermin, but being protected isnt helping. I think this bill is the first step to removing protection, so its better than nothing, and I fully support it, and I hope all anglers and hunters do as well. 

 

S. 

[Garnet]

I think it should be a requirement to tie a rock to each corrmerant shot with bio degradable cord

for turtle bait. Circle complete.  

[AKRISONER]

theres enough of these buggers around that in a good blind in a "commorant area" you are sure to bag a few, Once again I have no idea what the regular duck hunter would do with the the dirty bird, but for real, sitting in a duck blind out on the water, they might help pass the time a bit lol

[cisco]

Going forward with the proposed Bill means we are stuck with the cormies. UNLESS under it shooters can descend on the rookeries and scare off the adults and blast the nests during breeding season. I will work with anyone here on this. I have a boat. Would rather use lead. Maybe since we are shooting nests we can do this.

 

 

 

[dave524]

9 hours ago, cisco said:

Going forward with the proposed Bill means we are stuck with the cormies. UNLESS under it shooters can descend on the rookeries and scare off the adults and blast the nests during breeding season. I will work with anyone here on this. I have a boat. Would rather use lead. Maybe since we are shooting nests we can do this.

 

Forget about lead near water where there is a chance of waterfowl ingesting it when feeding, heck, we even have to use steel on woodcock in a woodlot or field shooting waterfowl in grainfields miles from any waterbody.

[grimsbylander]

If you're out scouting for cormorant hunting spots this spring, be careful you don't "accidentally" step on their nests. 

[Sinker]

13 hours ago, cisco said:

Going forward with the proposed Bill means we are stuck with the cormies. UNLESS under it shooters can descend on the rookeries and scare off the adults and blast the nests during breeding season. I will work with anyone here on this. I have a boat. Would rather use lead. Maybe since we are shooting nests we can do this.

 

 

 

No need for lead. Steel shot works fine. 

[G.mech]

3 hours ago, grimsbylander said:

If you're out scouting for cormorant hunting spots this spring, be careful you don't "accidentally" step on their nests. 

 

I'll hold your beer while you climb up the crap covered dead tree full of angry birds to step on their nests!