Cormorant hunt

[captpierre]

Guys are shooting cormorants sitting on rocks on Pigeon  from a drifting pontoon boat. Then picking up the dead birds by fishing net.  Warms my heart 😎

[Terry]

Great

happy hunting 

[CrowMan]

Warms my heart too. 

Just as a heads up...if you shoot them from a boat, the reg's state the boat can't be "in motion or under power". Obviously, you can't have the motor turned on ... but it seems that the "in motion" part could be up for interpretation, if their boat was drifting. Just don't want the hunters getting into any trouble with an over zealous CO, just because the boat wasn't anchored.

The biggest issue with the Cormorant hunt is disposal of the dead birds. The reg's state you can take them to "an approved waste disposal site that permits the disposal of dead animals"...which are few and far between...or "bury them on the hunter's own private land"...Not sure I would want a bunch of them in my backyard where my dog would dig them up...besides that's a lot of shoveling...lol

Other than that...the new season for them couldn't have come too soon.

Edited October 6, 2022 by CrowMan

[BillM]

Saw some boys out in Gbay blasting a few this past weekend.  

[chessy]

20 hours ago, CrowMan said:

Warms my heart too. 

Just as a heads up...if you shoot them from a boat, the reg's state the boat can't be "in motion or under power". Obviously, you can't have the motor turned on ... but it seems that the "in motion" part could be up for interpretation, if their boat was drifting. Just don't want the hunters getting into any trouble with an over zealous CO, just because the boat wasn't anchored.

The biggest issue with the Cormorant hunt is disposal of the dead birds. The reg's state you can take them to "an approved waste disposal site that permits the disposal of dead animals"...which are few and far between...or "bury them on the hunter's own private land"...Not sure I would want a bunch of them in my backyard where my dog would dig them up...besides that's a lot of shoveling...lol

Other than that...the new season for them couldn't have come too soon.

motion is by the motor .. you can float.. or drift.. just not by momentum from the motor 

 

[mukluk]

I was up perch fishing last Wednesday on Lake Simcoe and there were approx. 350 to 400 cormorants just south of the sand islands. Would be nice to see those numbers drop too around 2 for the sake of the fishery and the environment.

[Big Cliff]

I would love to get into one of those hunts, have 12g and willing to travel

[GBW]

Someone care to post the legal side of this (reg's) as I don't really see them where I am in FMZ15 (Gooderham) but I do see them at my folks place 4ML in Burnt River.  I DON'T have my PAL but I have BB and pellet gun's for target shooting fun.

[CrowMan]

16 hours ago, GBW said:

Someone care to post the legal side of this (reg's) as I don't really see them where I am in FMZ15 (Gooderham) but I do see them at my folks place 4ML in Burnt River.  I DON'T have my PAL but I have BB and pellet gun's for target shooting fun.

You will need an Ontario Small Game Hunting license, and since you can only use a shotgun ...you will also need proof of firearms accreditation. Season is open until December 31st...daily limit is 15.

Here's what the reg's state:

Cormorants can only be hunted using shotguns, including muzzle-loading shotguns, not larger than 10 gauge with non-toxic ammunition. You cannot use a shotgun loaded with a shell containing a single projectile. Hunters are permitted to hunt double-crested cormorant from a stationary motorboat.

[Dara]

22 hours ago, GBW said:

Someone care to post the legal side of this (reg's) as I don't really see them where I am in FMZ15 (Gooderham) but I do see them at my folks place 4ML in Burnt River.  I DON'T have my PAL but I have BB and pellet gun's for target shooting fun.

Maybe you can shoot his eye out🙂

[GBW]

38 minutes ago, Dara said:

Maybe you can shoot his eye out🙂

My current are target only gun's so YEAH I could shoot it's eye out.  However I asked what it is to be legal so thanks for the 'help' there.  

[Weeds]

I’m pretty sure Dara’s post was intended as a friendly reference to “A Christmas Story” 

[Dara]

10 hours ago, Weeds said:

I’m pretty sure Dara’s post was intended as a friendly reference to “A Christmas Story” 

It was thank you.

And to kinda answer the question I guess, with a pellet gun you would have to hit it in the eye for it to even notice. To knock one down a 12 gauge with 5 shot is minimum and not a guaranteed kill either.

Rules are basically the same as migratory bird hunting except you don't have to clean them, but you do have to pick them up and dispose.

You can't use a dog to retrieve either because a wounded one will tear your dog apart with its sharp beak.

This hunt will do nothing to the population because it is too restrictive for hunters to bother with them, at least this hunter.

[GBW]

17 hours ago, Weeds said:

I’m pretty sure Dara’s post was intended as a friendly reference to “A Christmas Story” 

I was hoping it was too.

However, one never knows...

[Snidley]

I was fishing at Bronte Creek yesterday and cormorants are now so bold there that they were fishing at my feet (I'm in a Hobie pontoon rowboat ie. very small and feet in the water).  I have no idea what they were fishing for because they can't swallow a 20lb Chinnie. They are nasty looking birds up close but the good news is that I see far fewer of them on Lake Ontario from Oakville to St Catharines or on Erie at Chrystal Beach area.

To shop the stupidity of some of our ecoligical community the 3 part series on the Great Lakes watershed on TVO made a point that it's "GOOD NEWS" that cormorants have "RECOVERED" from DDT inflicted die offs to take their rightful place in the pantheon of Great Lakes fauna. Clearly the same people that work at the MNR and spend millions of taxpayer dollars to plant (massively unsuccessfully) Atlantic Salmon knowing from the get go that it could not possibly work. Thank goodness there is now a governmental permission to get these things down to minimal numbers. Have at them

[Dara]

It is good news that many species have recovered from DDT

we see many more eagles and hawks now

Due to our governments inactivity over the years we have many species we would rather not be here.

With some action on past research the Cormorant resurgence may not have been the problem that it is.

All I can suggest is that if they are that close to your feet, bring a hockey stick next time you go fishing

[Snidley]

I'm all for banning DDT, Roundup etc That stuff is going to kill us all. I watched a guy the other day claim that in some parts of the world now humans are consuming a credit card's worth of nana and micro plastic a week. The plastic can be detected in placentas and brain tissue in the consuming humans and their unborn kids. What is worse is that plastics use is increasing in leaps and bounds expected to double the current levels by 2030. That is a scary prediction to me.

[BillM]

I've been eating plastic via Pizza Hut cheese for a while.  I'm doomed lol.

[Freshtrax]

I'm not wasting one moment of my hunting season chasing cormorants unless there is a bounty

    The government should have grown some balls on this one and done a cull or egg kill years ago before it became a problem. Instead of taking the PR hit  they are hoping hunters will do their dirty work And have no issues with hunters looking bad instead of themselves.

Edited October 19, 2022 by Freshtrax

[Sinker]

On 10/18/2022 at 10:46 PM, Freshtrax said:

I'm not wasting one moment of my hunting season chasing cormorants unless there is a bounty

    The government should have grown some balls on this one and done a cull or egg kill years ago before it became a problem. Instead of taking the PR hit  they are hoping hunters will do their dirty work And have no issues with hunters looking bad instead of themselves.

I hear ya. I have shot every one that came in range, but I haven't gone out of my way to target them either. 

S. 

[outllaw]

lol. you may be using a slingshot in the near future .

Edited January 1, 2023 by outllaw

[Dara]

12 hours ago, outllaw said:

lol. you may be using a slingshot in the near future .

All depends on the citiots in southern ontario

[outllaw]

Dara the same fools that like dump bears lol.