Think big game is not effected by mute swans?

[Dove Huntress]

Sign the petition:

 

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/832/485/616/veto-s-065889-a-and-a-08790-a/

 

Mute swans overgraze submerged aquatic vegetation, more impacts of mute swans:

 

http://nydovehunting.weebly.com/mute-swans.html

 

[LI OUTDOORSMAN]

I'm all in favor of a sustainable harvest

Lets add one to the daily bag limit

Need one for the trophy wall

[Doc]

Are those things edible?

[Mr VJP]

Sure!  You can eat Bobcat too if you want to.

 

[landtracdeerhunter]

Wouldn't be surprised that it taste like chicken, LOL.

[greg54]

I saw them at Golden Hill State Park in the spring and they were chasing away Canadian geese that were nesting there. They dwarfed the geese, they are huge. Must be a lot of meat on them, but if they taste good is another thing.

[jjb4900]

I always wondered why there wasn't a huntable population of moose in NY, that explains it.

[wooly]

These silly little captioned photos in every category really missed their mark with me.

I thought the whole point of the mute swan issue was to bring attention to who's in charge of making environmental/conservation regulations and decisions....

All these posts about mute swans performing abortions, and feeding on orphans at the playground are a bit of a stretch from the end goal here don't ya think?

 

[wooly]

Just to clarify my point.... you don't really expect me to believe that moose has small paddles all because of mute swans do you?

Yes, I saw the all of the other goofy captioned pics in the other threads too. This crusade seems to be taking on a different approach in the wrong direction from where it started. Kinda wishing I hadn't signed at this point.

[mike rossi]

These silly little captioned photos in every category really missed their mark with me.

I thought the whole point of the mute swan issue was to bring attention to who's in charge of making environmental/conservation regulations and decisions....

All these posts about mute swans performing abortions, and feeding on orphans at the playground are a bit of a stretch from the end goal here don't ya think?

 

The interference with who is guiding management decisions and/or influencing how the DEC proceeds certainly is part of the issue. However, stop and think why political interference is wrong.

 

The reason the decisions were being misguided was because the politically driven revisions  were not addressing ecological issues. One ecological issue is with the mute swans overgrazing of SAV. Moose depend largely on SAV as do a variety of native wildlife. If you reduce just one source of natural foods which an antlered animal historically uses, that would at a bare minimum cause that animal to expend more energy. Expending energy (calories) would compromise antler size. If the alternate food source was less nutritious or calorie dense than the SAV that would further compromise antler size. Keep in mind animals of all species usually select what kinds of plants they eat based on how calorie dense and nutritious it is, so if a moose is head bobbing for plants, it probably is because it is of superior nutritive value.  

 

Moose may not be the best example of a species impacted by the spread of mute swans, but with the species spreading across NY AND numbers of them increasing 13% a year, who is to say they are not or will not impact either populations or health status/antler size? There are better documented examples of impacts in other species here is a new slideshow we just completed:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_i5XJNQdJT8

[mike rossi]

I'm all in favor of a sustainable harvest

Lets add one to the daily bag limit

Need one for the trophy wall

The DEC's original plan, which is consistent with a cooperative effort with the FWS and  all of the states in the Atlantic Flyway was not a sustainable harvest, but to eradicate them. Every state, as far as we know, except NY and NJ has implemented very similar strategies for mute swan under this agreement among the flyway council. This has also been adopted in other flyways and in Canada as well.

 

It is also notable, that two of the larger organizations which influenced NY's policy are actually animal rights organizations from JERSEY... What makes it more outrageous, is that Jersey's Governor, Chris Christy, is very likely to VETO any proposals to interfere with mute swan management; while the same Jersey anti hunting groups may have failed in their own state, yet succeeded in neutering the DEC in NY, unless Governor Cuomo VETOS this legislation...  

[mike rossi]

Are those things edible?

Since Mute Swans according to a recent supreme court court decision which overruled an earlier decision of a law suite by the Humane Society of the United States against the FWS and the states of Pennsylvania and Maryland; the mute swan is not protected under the Migratory Bird treaty Act, therefore it is not subject to Federal wanton waste laws. Since NY's state designation (done in 1970 by the way) is "game bird" the state might impose wanton waste laws.

 

A limited harvest of native swans is allowed in certain states and hunters certainly do eat tundra and trumpeter swans. I am sure hunters also eat mute swans as well, in the majority of states where they can be taken. I think we are playing out this "can they be eaten" thing way too much. There is a prevalent belief on this forum that geese or other waterfowl do not taste good. This is ridiculous and we have hashed this over and over. Don't hunt them, we need to move on, not reinvent the wheel every day.

 

Your question, although relevant to hunting, obscures the fact that hunting was only ONE strategy that the DEC proposed in its mute swan management plan. The DEC was blocked from carrying out most of its plan, not just opening a hunting season. Even at this point, most people are not informed enough about what has happened and the issue at hand to discuss table qualities without a gross distraction of the issue. I am not accusing you of doing this intentionally, but this is often done intentionally.

 

I will shoot a couple in Pennsylvania this fall and let you know what they taste like. Hopefully they will taste like goose and not like chicken or venison....  

Edited July 21, 2014 by mike rossi

[EspressoBuzz]

I guess I'll have to get rid of this blind if they open up a mute swan season.