[Bigjake]

do these horible canadian poop machines eat soybeans? i think they might be responsable for the big patch of nothing by the pond, but i'm not sure. if i do find out they eat beans, can i zing em and say they are varmits?

[redneck]

1st, they seem to eat all sorts of grain. Always see them out in corn/bean stubble after the combine, and seems like they don't leave till its completely overgrown with the next crop :mad:

2nd, and more importantly. Geese are considered migratory waterfowl, not easily written off in the pest animal category with racoons, groundhogs, coyotes, skunks and the like. To my knowledge, its federal law that you can only kill them in season with a permit, with a shotgun. And since they're supposed to be SO good to eat, hunting obviously manages the population really well :banghead:
You would have to talk to your department of fish and game about a depredation permit, in order to legally start popping them. Its also illegal to destroy the nest. You may destroy the eggs now I believe (the first and only step made towards thinning the population back to reasonably levels) :banghead:


All that said...............
hypothetically speaking of course..........

There is this little method we ( could ;) ) employ out in the boonies from time to time called shoot shovel and shut up!

Which hypothetically, could be the best course of action, rather than getting fish and game involved.

[dakotasin]

poaching is disgusting.

to advocate poaching on a public forum like this is reprehensible.

[Bigjake]

then name a better way to eliminate a gov't protected pest.

Redneck- thanks for the help. i'd rather not contact the dnr, so i'll have to see what pans out. problem is they know thier safe by the road where theres people...

[redneck]

Sorry Dakotasin
Its hard enough to make a living farming without having animals destroy all your crops. If the geese aren't eating it, they're crapping on it and that stuff is toxic. I haven't had any serious problems with geese so far and haven't done anything too them, I'd have a damn hard time swallowing the idea of killing off the groundhogs just to leave more for the geese though!
I don't agree with poaching, but canadian geese should NOT be considered a protected species anymore! What other options are there? Would you like to adopt some ? ;)

[NRA4LIFE]

Out here in Seattle, the parks department or WDFW (or whoever) is rounding them up and gassing them. The HSUS and PETA just love this. One way to (legally?) keep them in check is to find the nests and addle the eggs. This involves coating the eggs with vegetable oil or some such substance. It suffocates the egg and the goose-to-be dies inside. I believe the parents abandon the nest then.

[dakotasin]

i have all the sympathy in the world for farmers. i work a farm and have firsthand knowledge of crops and the damage they are prone to from various sources. however, poaching federally protected species is not a viable solution. be creative and come up w/ something better - you don't kill something everytime you can't come up w/ a solution (what do you do w/ your tractor when the hydraulic lines go bad?).

on october 1st, how many hunters knocked on your door? how many did you let on? i know you are not obligated to let people trespass... i don't allow anybody on to hunt, either, except to help me if i have a trouble spot - geese for example.

geese are pretty smart critters and capable of taking a strong hint.

i thought this was the high road? what you do on your farm is your business and of no consequence to me. my point is that poaching federally protected species (regardless of your feelings on whether or not they need protection) is not the best solution, if for no other reason (and there are) than it is illegal.

[Art Eatman]

Bigjake, I imagine you'll cause less trouble for yourself if you try various scare tactics, and by staying within the law--no matter your opinion of the law. The USF&WS folks are noted for an absence of a sense of humor in such matters.

Certainly you can try your state's website for the DNR folks, regarding pestiferous depredations...And, you can always play the old game of "calling on behalf of a friend".

Goose poop is toxic? Huh. Sez who? Cow poop must not be toxic, given the amount of exposure on ranchers. BS can be toxic, of course. :D

Art

[redneck]

Well, I have a neighbor who sort of falls under the nerd category, and he just happens to have just built a new house with a 4 acre pond. He treats that pond on a regular basis, and has it lookin like swimmin pool.
Then the geese started moving in, and when his arm got tired from the aimless rock tossing and he lost his voice from yelling at them he started doing research, and for some reason had some specialist send him a chemical analysis of goose crap. Its quite surprising the chemicals those little fellas are putting out! It will kill plants.


I didn't say that killing them was the best choice, or should be the first choice. I said it was a possibility. Notice I also mentioned depredation permits and all that. I'm not the first on to bring this up on the high road, and I don't remember anyone else getting called on it.

As far as scaring them, I hope your luck is better than all the locals. We actually have yahoos around here that are professional goose chasers. They had one on the news awhile back right as nesting season was starting. He let a border collie loose to chase them around a pond in a housing development, and was launching 12 gauge bird bombs out over the water at them. They couldn't have cared less.

[Art Eatman]

Several years back, there were various "cutsie-poo" newspaper/TV stories about geese moving into downtown areas where there were small lakes--and even more attractive, power-plant cooling ponds. These latter, not freezing during winter, sometimes persuaded the geese to migrate no further for the winter.

Big problem. The migratory gamebird laws didn't help, of course, nor did the "assistance and advice" from such as PETA.

My personal attitude is like many: Predation is predation, be it against plants or animals...

Art

[Bigjake]

Friend brought his mutt over..... leme tell ya, geese don't like big mean dogs. this sucker is half german shepard half clydesdale horse, and he don't like geese. i don't know how many he got, but the feathers fly last night!

I hear ya on the useless scare tactics, they don't work at all. roman candles used to work, but dumb critters get used to em. what i really want to try is them dragons breath rnds. cook their gooses but good :evil:

I'm going to attempt to stay within the law (as long as people are watching anyway), but they are a pestilence. i really doubt if the DNR will help me out on this one, but i'm calling on behalf of a friend that has some serious goose issues.....;)

Hey redneck, saw the profile, whereabouts from ohio do you hail from? i'm up lorain county way

[seldomseen]

For what it is worth. Ohio has an early goose season that runs from the 1st of Sept thru the 15th of Sept. This has been the norm for at least the past ten years. If you still have the problem in August, let me know. Myself and my two sons can help you thin that herd down. Can't help much with the goose doo doo, but eliminating the source will go a long way in that dept. Incidently, they are good eating, if you like dark meat. I'm not that far from Lorain, and I do enjoy rare roasted Canada goose.

[Bigjake]

whereabouts are ya from? that would be great if you want to shoot some of these darn things. i really don't hunt them, i'm more of the when in season, shoot all posible type. i just walk up to them and turn it loose, no real stalking or decoys. drop me a line closer to then and we'll set something up.

[seldomseen]

Bigjake,

I live east of you bout 40 or 50 miles. Little town called Middlefield Ohio. You may have heard of it. Anyways, sure thing, I will keep in touch when we get close to the season. I've found that most times, if the geese get hit hard a couple of times, they find somewhere else to rest and feed. However, I have seen them pitch into corn fields with me standing right in the middle of it trying to get back to my blind. They can be extemely wary and difficult to get at and othertimes, they seem almost blind and stupid. If they get their mind set on something, it takes a lot to change it. I think we can change their minds about your soybeans though. I'll be in touch.