A Cortes Island goose hunt

Max Thaysen /Cortes Currents - Today we hear a first-hand account of a concerning hunting episode On October 24 in Smelt Bay, Cortes Island. We'll hear from Conservation Officer Brad Adams, a local authority on the laws around hunting. And then we'll take a deeper dive with Sabina Leader Mense into the some ecological considerations of hunting around Cortes.

Cortes Currents learned of the reports on a local facebook page, We Heart Cortes Island, that described a scary situation.

Kim Lotnick tells us the story.

Kim was walking on the beach with her dog. The weather was stormy and the seas were rough. She saw someone canoeing and thought that it was wierd that someone would be out on the water.

Through her large headphones, she heard a loud blast like a gunshot. She turned to look and saw a flock of birds flying away from the canoe, and something flopping in the water that looked like a seal.

She would later learn that another witness to the scene saw that it was a goose.

Kim began filming. And the person in the canoe was watching her as something was pulled into the boat.

Kim describes feeling terrified and many terrible thoughts flashed through her mind about what revenge the hunter might take on her for filming his actions.

The canoe followed her as she hurried to her vehicle.

She says the hunter was probably just heading in the same direction, and might have spoken to her, to discuss the situation. But she was not going to stick around to find out. At the time, she felt like she was being chased.

She called 911, and was transferred to the Quadra RCMP. They told her that seal hunting was out of their jurisdiction, and suggested she call the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

Kim says she understands that illegal hunting would be out of RCMP jurisdiction, but would expect them to express more interest in shots fired at smelt bay.

Safely at home, Kim sought support from friends and from the Cortes Island facebook group, We Heart Cortes Island. Another person replied to her post about the situation, saying that another witness had seen that it was a goose that was shot. And another respondent informed the group that it was goose season and if properly licenced, the hunt was probably legal.

Kim says that she did feel a little better knowing that the hunt may have been legal, but it still made her feel, “totally uncomfortable”.

To get some clarity on the laws around hunting, we contacted the Conservation Officer for the North Island Region, Brad Adams.

Officer Adams informs us that in Management Area 1, our area, there is an open hunting season that includes Canada geese, ducks, coots, snipes, snow geese, ross geese, “there's quite an assortment”, he says. The season is October 3rd to January 22nd.

Photo credit: Smelt Bay by Djun Kim via Flickr (CC BY SA, 2.0 License)