# HELP!!! I shot a Cormorant! (And got a ticket)



## newbie2011

Ok so Im the new guy and was out for my first Duck hunt with 2 buddies who are very accomplished waterfowl guys. Shortly after first light my buddy takes a Mergie. About an hour later in the rain another (so we thought) comes in. Both told me to take it. Although it was a poke...I still made the shot. Took the boat out to get it and sure enough it was not a Merg! It was a cormorant. As such we were incredibly careful the rest of the morning as Hundreds came and went. Many times locking up and landing right in the middle of the Decoys. So because my buddy identified it as a non game bird he said we could not take it. We left it on shore. Pulling the boat back in we were met by 2 officers of the DNR. We just saw these guys a couple weeks ago for early goose season. Everything was in order then. However, they saw the bird go down and wanted to see it. Everyone was truthful and we even took the ODNR out to recover the bird. Now I have a ticket for shooting the Cormorant and must appear in Jefferson County. Unreal! Guys were stand up guys and said they were trying to make it as painless as possible and wanted to set a court date for when they could make it. So i have several questions.
1. What am I looking at for this type mistake fine etc? 
2. Is this like a traffic citation? If they dont show will it get dismissed?
3. Why with all the articles about how these are nusciance birds are they not allowed to be hunted?
4. Did they have to issue a ticket for an honest mistake? 
Thanks in advance. The ticket is certainly not helping me get into Waterfowl hunting. WOW!


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## freyedknot

mistakes like that are what gets swans killed every year . hard to belive your buds are accomplished waterfowlers and told you to shoot an unidentified bird. could have been a blue heron? don't shoot and THEN identify game. ticket wil be prolly in the range of $100.00 swans are $500.00 not sure of the heron amount.


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## killingtime

if you cant identify it dont shoot it. i dont see how you made the mistake for a merganser. i am not being an ass by any means but your buddies dont seem to acomplished. you were wrong. honest mistake or not they did there job giving you the ticket. you shot it not them.


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## newbie2011

Thanks for the help boys. I must admit that this was not a shoot and id. Bottom line....It was my mistake. I certainly am not looking to place blame. Just wanna know what kind of trouble Im in.


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## freyedknot

COPPIED FORM ANOTHER SITE WAS THIS YOU? Birds or no birds, we always have a great time in the blind. 
Apparently, there were birds all over the lake. We heard shots fired around us all morning long. Skybusters 300 yards in front of us, 200 yards to the side and 100 yards behind us. We had birds work a few times, only to be shot at by the guy behind us 100 yards away blowing a call all morning long that sounded more like a yelping dog than a goose. He had NO DECOYS whatsoever. Just posted up in some reeds and shooting at birds 60 yards away.

What else can you expect though on opening day in a public marsh.

The blind in front of us were shooting all morning. It was quite a spectacle. On one occassion, 3 geese came into their spread...world war III broke out...and 3 geese left their spread and hauled a$$ out of there. We are also 99% sure that there was a cormorant shot also. 

All in all, it was what it was. We made it a good time. 

It will get better in the next couple of months.


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## newbie2011

Yup! Not Me. We only had one shot one kill. No dog. And about 30 decoys mixed. Thanks for being a big help! Arse!


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## russ9054

Just a fine. Be honest. No excuses. Don't b.s. the judge. 
To be quite honest,my first duck hunt when i was 16 i shot a grebe. I was pretty proud until a couple duck hunter's near by came over and explained to me what the deal was. I was thoroughly embarrassed and it sure lit a fire under my ass to do my homework. Don't worry mistakes happen and the more you do it the better you'll get. Its been 13 year's since my experience and now i can identify a silhouette of a flying duck.


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## WalleyeGuy

hang in there kid.
Pay the fine and consider it a hard lesson learned.
Go get some color photo bird books and start getting it out to look at every day. You still have a lot to learn buddy.
At least you have balls enough not to BS the ODW guys, you have some ethics and it shows here.


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## I_Shock_Em

I find it a bit funny that you said that your buddies are accomplished waterfowlers and they told you to shoot. They don't sound too accomplished to me  I don't blame you at all, it was your first time out and mistakes are made. As for your questions

1) Two years ago, I was told that the fine for shooting a cormorant or a seagull was dropped from $100 to $25. I always joked that you could now kill 4 for the price of 1. Whether this is true or not, I'm can't tell you one way or the other with 100% certanty. If it is true, then I would assume $25 fine + court costs. When you find out, let us know. 

2)No idea

3)They are protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918

4)That's their job. I'm guessing that they are required to ticket anyone they witness taking non-game bird species since the are protected by the MBTA and that is a federal law

It shouldn't be to bad. You did the right thing by being honest and not giving the wildlife officer a hard time. Just look at it this way, at least it wasn't a bald eagle


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## firstflight111

newbie2011 said:


> Ok so Im the new guy and was out for my first Duck hunt with 2 buddies who are very accomplished waterfowl guys. Shortly after first light my buddy takes a Mergie. About an hour later in the rain another (so we thought) comes in. Both told me to take it. Although it was a poke...I still made the shot. Took the boat out to get it and sure enough it was not a Merg! It was a cormorant. As such we were incredibly careful the rest of the morning as Hundreds came and went. Many times locking up and landing right in the middle of the Decoys. So because my buddy identified it as a non game bird he said we could not take it. We left it on shore. Pulling the boat back in we were met by 2 officers of the DNR. We just saw these guys a couple weeks ago for early goose season. Everything was in order then. However, they saw the bird go down and wanted to see it. Everyone was truthful and we even took the ODNR out to recover the bird. Now I have a ticket for shooting the Cormorant and must appear in Jefferson County. Unreal! Guys were stand up guys and said they were trying to make it as painless as possible and wanted to set a court date for when they could make it. So i have several questions.
> 1. What am I looking at for this type mistake fine etc?
> 2. Is this like a traffic citation? If they dont show will it get dismissed?
> 3. Why with all the articles about how these are nusciance birds are they not allowed to be hunted?
> 4. Did they have to issue a ticket for an honest mistake?
> Thanks in advance. The ticket is certainly not helping me get into Waterfowl hunting. WOW!


the only one to blame is yourself... if you dont know what it is dont shoot it .....ever till you learn what you are shooting at .....

so Im the new guy and was out for my first Duck hunt with 2 buddies who are very accomplished waterfowl guys. ....

well then they suck and need to go back and learn duck I D ...good waterfowlers... i think not


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## newbie2011

You sir should perhaps go town to town telling motivational stories! You are the best waterfowl man in the business!


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## cmiller

Hey guys, Not meaning to hijack a thread but..... I am new to waterfoul also. Can you tell me some good books what I should get?


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## I_Shock_Em

I suggest researching online. Youtube has lots of instructional videos available. Check ducks unlimited website and they will get u started in the right direction


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## killingtime

google duck identification and there will be some good places to start with alot of good information.


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## cmiller

Thanks Killingtime.


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## Redheads

Was the ticket written just for shooting the cormarant or was there anything else included in the charge ?


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## newbie2011

Nope. Just for the bird. All in all as I said the DNR guys were pretty nice. As they said if they wanted to they could take the gun and boat. Only one citation and one charge.


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## cmiller

In my search, Here's what I found:

http://www.identicards.com/productcart/pc/Waterfowl-Ident-I-Cards-Set-p5075.htm


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## killingtime

try www.flyways.us/duck-identification-resources


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## Redheads

It will be a minimal charge with court costs im sure.

Re evaluate your buddies and chalk this one up as a lesson learned.

Good luck
redheads


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## Dopey Fudd

get ducks at a distance, and an audobon book on waterfowl. 

different species of ducks can be difficult to identify for the first few seasons. sometimes you cannot identify it until its in your hand. i/e mallard to black to gadwall, teal from teal, red head to bluebill.

but there is a big difference between comorants, and ducks. we've all tagged something we shouldn't have when we were starting. accidents happen, chalk it up to inexpierience. pay your dues, and practice. go to parks, spend time on field, read your books.

and get partners that know how to id birds better.

good luck


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## onthewater

Your got a ticket for shooting a "protected" bird and yet the Div. of Wildlife paid people to shoot a couple thousand of them off a couple islands on lake erie last summer to save the vegetation on those islands. Something just doesn't seem right about that, does it?
I don't think your in too much trouble. Pay the fine, learn from it and give your buddies who told you to shoot grief about it for the rest of there lives.
Good to know the Wildlife Officers weren't too hard on you. As for the ticket, they had to give you one.


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## FISNFOOL

Best advice has already been posted except in addition too:

*give your buddies who told you to shoot grief about it for the rest of there lives.*

Have them study too. They should know not to shoot at a target in the rain that is not clearly identified as opposed to them guessing what it was. Even if they never admit it, they guessed.

While learning, I let birds pass except mallards until I was able to be positive.

And the dam bird you shot should be on an invasive species list not a protected one.


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## firstflight111

Snakecharmer said:


> Wow. That 's real nice welcome to a new member to the OGF forum. Try a sugar pill.


You sir should perhaps go town to town telling motivational stories! You are the best waterfowl man in the business! 


that why the hard time i can take it but i can give it back 10 times ..ask the guys that know me on here i ..am really a nice guy ...but i dont take crap from anybody


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## russ9054

Firstflight111. That is blasphemy! Im the waterfowl god! And as penance i need you to send me all your bands and a dozen fully flocked mallard dekes. If not i shall have to send an endless rath of coots to your spread! So let it be written so let it be done. LOL


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## freyedknot

i really didn't mean to be so hard on you ,specially you being a newb. but the other post about shooting geese and not having a way to retrieve them got my blood flowing. kinda like shooting a deer on the other side of a river or even a high fence. wish i coulda hunted with the waterfowl commander fella from ravenna. FF111


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## firstflight111

russ9054 said:


> Firstflight111. That is blasphemy! Im the waterfowl god! And as penance i need you to send me all your bands and a dozen fully flocked mallard dekes. If not i shall have to send an endless rath of coots to your spread! So let it be written so let it be done. LOL


i only have 1 dozen fully flocked mallards and they turned pink you can have them for 200 $$ ...and my bands sorry only have 35 and most of them are on my kids lanyards..... you never said any thing about my neck collars 

hey dont laugh i shot a bannded coot 3 years ago ...i would do it again .. if the day is slow...... and i said i may be the waterfowl god never said i was 

wish i coulda hunted with the waterfowl commander fella from ravenna. FF111 sorry i am not from ravenna


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