# Swan shooting



## bounty hunter (Aug 7, 2002)

My uncle who has a cottage on the st clair flats was out today and said he seen a few boats out today shooting and collecting swans. This sounds really hard to believe but he was taking with his neighbors and they said it was a planned kill due to too many swans? Does any one know about this or heard of this today?


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## malainse (Sep 2, 2002)

Michigan does have a Swan Management plan and has taken out Mute Swans (Orange bill) in the past. It is a homeowners/lake association that asks the States for permission to cull XXX number of them in the given area. That is done in the Spring. So, odds are the neighbor is correct.

Give a call to the DNRE service center for that area and they would know for sure. 

DNR contact link: 

http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-42199-24666--,00.html


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## Moosekill (Mar 16, 2005)

Shhhhh.....:lol:


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## Ken Martin (Sep 30, 2003)

It should be noted that Mute Swans are not native to North America. In 2005 the United States Department of the Interior officially declared them a non-native, unprotected species.

Ken


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## bombcast (Sep 16, 2003)

Yet our state, unlike many others, doesn't trust its citizenry enough to shoot/kill on our own. Our local nesting mallard populations have plummeted over the years, and we can shoot other nuisance birds, but mute swans still have a layer of protection.

I'd make it my mission to kill every single one I encounter if allowed to. Nasty, horrible birds.


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## Ken Martin (Sep 30, 2003)

If they did then it would just get yanked by another fuzzy bunny campaign like the "Bird of Peace" one a couple of years ago. Voted by people who have or will never set foot off of a paved/groomed surface. 

Ken


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## TSS Caddis (Mar 15, 2002)

I'd love it if they would open up mute's for public hunting, but the sad fact is 99% of duck hunters can not tell the difference between a mute and tundra so it is probably better left to the DNR or other groups.


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## KLR (Sep 2, 2006)

TSS Caddis said:


> I'd love it if they would open up mute's for public hunting, but the sad fact is 99% of duck hunters can not tell the difference between a mute and tundra so it is probably better left to the DNR or other groups.


refresh my memory...which ones are these again??


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## ESOX (Nov 20, 2000)

malainse said:


> Michigan does have a Swan Management plan and has taken out Mute Swans (Orange bill) in the past. It is a homeowners/lake association that asks the States for permission to cull XXX number of them in the given area. That is done in the Spring. So, odds are the neighbor is correct.
> 
> Give a call to the DNRE service center for that area and they would know for sure.
> 
> ...


Why not just cull them all? I don't understand the States logic in protecting any of those aggressive habitat hogs.


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## Ruger-44 (Apr 2, 2009)

ESOX said:


> Why not just cull them all? I don't understand the States logic in protecting any of those aggressive habitat hogs.


X100 

I HATE the #*^! things. Saw a couple trying to chase a goose off its nest earlier this year. I so wanted to put a .45" hole in each of the swans.


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## M1Garand (Apr 12, 2006)

I don't know why either, they're not native. Starlings, house sparrows and rock doves (pigeons) aren't....


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## foxriver6 (Oct 23, 2007)

ESOX said:


> Why not just cull them all? I don't understand the States logic in protecting any of those aggressive habitat hogs.


Being that they're migratory, cullling them all would be a USFWS decision as opposed to the State of Michigan.


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## M1Garand (Apr 12, 2006)

The objective of the USFW migratory bird program is to maintain bird populations and habitat. The mute swan is non indigenous so why would they care to maintain it? And if by some chance they did, IMO, it's not only wrong, it's a huge waste of tax payer money that could be put towards native migratory bird populations and habitat.


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