I don’t believe that the…

I don’t believe that the hunting season for double crested cormorants should be any different than for other ducks or at least Canada geese.

Having hunting season during breeding time will also greatly negatively affect other birds that breed near the cormorants ( Great blue herons, Green herons, Herring and Ring-billed gulls).

I also don’t believe they should be allowed to spoil. If people want to shoot the cormorants they should also have to eat them.

Shooting 50 a day with no possession limit seems way to high for these large birds.

I can believe that this idea must be driven by fishermen and other landowners that simply don’t want the cormorants around and have no intention of using the birds for consumption. They just want to get rid of them.

These birds should be treated no different than other game birds if they are going to be put into that classification.

What is the difference is between cormorants and other diving birds that there is no hunting season for (gannets, pelicans, etc).

As you can probably see I am not negatively affected by these birds so I don’t see a need to hunt them at all but especially not during breeding season.

There are boating tours specifically set up to observe birds during breeding season and having other boaters sitting blasting away at the cormorants and then landing in the breeding grounds to gather the dead cormorants for disposal will certainly negatively affect the birds nesting near them, as well as the companies giving these tours. Specific breeding locations should be exempt from hunting.