Finally, a cormorant season this fall in Ontario

dudelta

dudelta

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Today the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF) announced that they will be introducing a fall harvest for double-crested cormorants.
OFAH members, through two decades of advocacy, have been at the forefront of requesting government control of overabundant double-crested cormorants and this fall season marks the first step in utilizing hunters to help create a manageable population of cormorants and minimize their impacts on other fish and wildlife species, as well as the habitat and ecosystems that support them.

Starting this year, the season will take place from Sept. 15th to Dec. 31st, and allow hunters to take 15 birds a day under a small game licence.

"Provincial government action has been a long time coming in the eyes of many OFAH members, and today's announcement reinforces the need for persistence and determination when there is a conservation concern that threatens our fish and wildlife," says Lauren Tonelli, OFAH Resource Management Specialist.
The OFAH believes that this is just the first step in controlling cormorant populations and that more is needed from all levels of government.
"We will continue to seek additional management actions that will contribute to cormorant control where hunting or discharge of firearms is restricted such as some Provincial Parks, National Parks, and city waterfronts," Tonelli adds. "A small fall harvest will not be enough to adequately reduce the ecological damage that cormorants cause provincially, but is a recognition that something needs to be done and gives individuals a means to begin to reduce local concerns."
For more information, including the full government notice, please visit www.ofah.org/cormorants.
 
Like I said in the other thread, this is great news. Any specie that gets a regular or controlled season means that this specie is doing well!
 
If you are in the right place, they can offer great pass shooting practice. Not sure what you'd do with the carcasses.. a pile in a field somewhere to attract coyotes? If that's legal in Ontario...
 
There is a traditional Australian recipe intended for parrots that may make a cormorant appetizing.

1. You carefully pluck the feathers off and gut the bird.

2. Bring a very large pot of water with two tablespoons of salt to a boil.

3. Add the meat to the pot.

4. Add a large metal ax head to the pot.

5. Continue to boil until the ax head gets soft enough to be able to bite into.

6. Your cormorant soup should be read to eat at this time.

:)

There are some recipes online.

Most involve wine and end by telling you after cooking the bird to throw the meat into a swamp, drink the wine and go to a good restaurant.
 
Back in 2002 it was recognized by the New York State dept of fisheries that cormorants were depleting the fishery. Ontario MNR chose to blame indigenous fisherman for reductions in fish stocks. At that time the number of fishing guide outfits on the Bay of Quinty was down to two from a high of 18 due to the reduction in walleye. The first cormorant pair was identified in the area in 1981 and by 2002 there was a population of approx 7500 nested pairs. Each bird eats about 1 pound a day and considering they each smaller fish that relates to thousands of fish each year per bird.
And now almost 20 years later they take action!!!
 
I can see it all go bad though when the carcasses are not retrieved and properly disposed of. I tend to doubt many municipal landfills will allow them if they know what is in the bag. Today in Ontario you are best to leave your moose hide, head and other scrap parts in the bush unless you have a farm and want coyote bait.
 
Milanczar said:
There is a traditional Australian recipe intended for parrots that may make a cormorant appetizing.

1. You carefully pluck the feathers off and gut the bird.

2. Bring a very large pot of water with two tablespoons of salt to a boil.

3. Add the meat to the pot.

4. Add a large metal ax head to the pot.

5. Continue to boil until the ax head gets soft enough to be able to bite into.

6. Your cormorant soup should be read to eat at this time.

:)

There are some recipes online.

Most involve wine and end by telling you after cooking the bird to throw the meat into a swamp, drink the wine and go to a good restaurant.
Click to expand...

Bwahaha! Excellent!
 
billbmcleod said:
I can see it all go bad though when the carcasses are not retrieved and properly disposed of. I tend to doubt many municipal landfills will allow them if they know what is in the bag. Today in Ontario you are best to leave your moose hide, head and other scrap parts in the bush unless you have a farm and want coyote bait.
Click to expand...

Really? Here in Vancouver we have weekly green bin pickup, and all that sort of stuff goes straight to the giant compost pile in the sky (by which I mean beside the highway).
 
Milanczar said:
There is a traditional Australian recipe intended for parrots that may make a cormorant appetizing.

1. You carefully pluck the feathers off and gut the bird.

2. Bring a very large pot of water with two tablespoons of salt to a boil.

3. Add the meat to the pot.

4. Add a large metal ax head to the pot.

5. Continue to boil until the ax head gets soft enough to be able to bite into.

6. Your cormorant soup should be read to eat at this time.

:)

There are some recipes online.

Most involve wine and end by telling you after cooking the bird to throw the meat into a swamp, drink the wine and go to a good restaurant.
Click to expand...

I showed my son this recipe & he reminded me of the merganser recipe we learned on our hunting course.
Cook the bird on a cedar plank on the bbq. When done throw the bird out and eat the cedar plank.
 
reddog9x19 said:
I showed my son this recipe & he reminded me of the merganser recipe we learned on our hunting course.
Cook the bird on a cedar plank on the bbq. When done throw the bird out and eat the cedar plank.
Click to expand...

LOL :)

Those type of birds are like those Asian Carp that jump out of the water.

Not good for anything other than fertilizer while sucking the life out of the habitat, destroying fishing and boating.


They do have one good use............

We cannot enjoy it here.

This is one problem with the restriction on shooting from a moving boat here vs parts of the US.

It means that we have lost some great 'fish trap and skeet' opportunities!!!

 
cbc already has it's Bum-up in the air, Conservation groups raise concerns about Ontario hunt of cormorants this fall, Liz White, a director of the non-profit Animal Alliance of Canada and leader of the federally registered Animal Protection Party of Canada, said the alliance and party are opposed to the hunt. White said the hunt is unethical because the birds are not eaten, cruel because many birds will be wounded and will suffer, and scientifically unsound because the birds do not deplete commercial fish stocks.

"The problem is that the issues that they talk about as justification for the hunt are simply not held up in science," White said.
 
gmj said:
cbc already has it's Bum-up in the air, Conservation groups raise concerns about Ontario hunt of cormorants this fall, Liz White, a director of the non-profit Animal Alliance of Canada and leader of the federally registered Animal Protection Party of Canada, said the alliance and party are opposed to the hunt. White said the hunt is unethical because the birds are not eaten, cruel because many birds will be wounded and will suffer, and scientifically unsound because the birds do not deplete commercial fish stocks.

"The problem is that the issues that they talk about as justification for the hunt are simply not held up in science," White said.
Click to expand...

Sweet....now I know where to drop off a pile of carcasses after a hunt. Liz can put them to good use.....something that is held up in science....
 
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