Thread: Have y'all seen this

Thanks Ronnie, but their numbers of birds is way off. Their were about 65,000 or better in feb of 2014 and 2013 also.

I agree, that a season on all lakes would be good! I will say I don't really care for the fact that they let hunters just ride around on a pontoon or boat and blast them while they are going down the lake. We went to Santee a weekend in February and it was crazy the fact that people would appear to be riding around then all of a sudden they would jump on the front deck and start blasting away. Both myself and my uncle thought it was dangerous, one boat even tried to shoot one out of a tree that was directly above our heads when we were fishing.

What are they shooting them with?

I have to agree that the method was somewhat barbaric, but there really wasn't much of a option. Santee being such a shallow lake for the most part doesn't give the fish much of a chance to run and hide when a flock of a thousand or so Cormorants comes in to feed. Santee is also a nesting ground for the birds which does nothing but further increase their numbers if they go unchecked. Trust me on this, that killing did not hurt the population one bit. During the fall migration, it is not uncommon to see tens of thousands of Cormorants daily as they stop by to feed as they travel. Unfortunately, many of the birds have taken up full time residence and stay and decimate the fish populations year round. The catfish get blamed for many of the fish declines in the big lakes, and a big flat probably does eat his fair share. But it wasn't until perch and the Cormorants got out of control that these things became evident.

Sounds like on some lakes (especially on Marion) there should be an open season on 'em.