Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Wildlife Management Canadian Geese

Do anyone have any advice how to keep these geese off your property and really off your lake. We string 30# fishing line around our property but they still get in, eat our new grass, and then crap all over the place. I know they are federally protected and you have to go through the DNR just to get permission to scare them by firing a shotgun over their head (which does not work), but there has to be a known way other than outright murder.

Has anyone tried any of the following?

http://weedersdigest.com/goose-control/

If you are there frequently, try using a red laser pointer.

If they are eating the grass, give this a try.

we went through a little of that pain. We woke up one day to a pair with about 6 young ones swimming around in the pond. The little ones couldn't fly yet so they stayed put in the pond. We have underground dog fence around the pond so the dog barked liked crazy but didn't go in. We tried everything so scare them off but no luck. After we harrassed them enough and they started sqawking and flapping the dog had enough of the excitement and bolted into the pond and swam after them for about an hour. Try as I might I couldn't get him to come out of the pond and of course he couldn't catch them either as when he got close they just flew over to the other side.

Then at night I flashed bright lights into their eyes and I was very happy when in the morning they were gone. Just one day, poop EVERYWHERE.

I hear you just have to make it inhospitable for them and they look for a quieter place. Dogs work great to harass them and sometimes people will bring their labs (or other swimming dogs) over to chase them a bit. Probably you have to do it a few times to get them to leave.

Oh, and we wished we had a life jacket for our dog at that moment. He acted as if he wasn't going to come out of that pond till he couldn't paddle anymore even though he had no chance of catching them.

I agree with laser lights or night time harassment.

Why are these critters protected again can someone please explain?

Strike hard, strike fast, and strike frequently BEFORE you have a problem on your hands. In other words get rid of those few geese NOW.

Some have success with flashing red lights (think airport lights), others have success with fireworks (shooting roman candles you guess where and bottle rockets), and even remote controlled cars, boats and helicopters all may be used to annoy the peacefulness and therein cause unwanted inhabitants to leave.

You have to be vigilant and get them gone. They are a nightmare.

I've used bottle rockets with some success.

Once they show up with young I just use the bottle rockets to keep them away from the feed when I am feeding the fish. Otherwise I leave them alone. Eventually they move to another pond overland as they hate the bottle rockets.

Lucky for me there is a high school pond they all seem to congregate at. What really floors me is they will walk back and forth about 3/4's of a mile across yards with dogs to get there with young in trail.

Very intelligent and adaptive birds. Usually smart enough not to get hit by cars with some exceptions. Amazing they were once hunted almost to extinction.

A pair with three or four goslings doesn't bother me on my four ponds. I enjoy watching the young mimic every thing the parents do. I just can't have them sucking in the floating feed.

You have to chase them off before they nest. Once they lay eggs, it's very hard to get rid of them unless you find their eggs and addle them by coating them with corn oil. But that would be illegal without a permit!

I can't chase them off before they nest because they nest at the neighbors pond 300 yards down stream . But as soon as the young are hatched here they come because I have better clover plots around the pond, As soon as they show up I start shooting the water bugs on the pond surface. Takes about 3 target practice sessions and they usually won't come back except once in a while to "test the water". You need to be persistent.

Now they show up for early goose season and its a different story.Clover stuffed goose breast . Yum !

Curiously, I have noticed that Canada Geese have a thing for building their nests right on the water's edge. Equally mystifying, is how those eggs sometimes seem to roll down the bank and into the water. I put it down to seismic tremors.

The ones that show up here don't hatch here. They walk in from another pond similar to FinNFur.

Has anyone tried an electric wire poly tape mounted to a battery and strung along the banks or wall and grounded by a ground rod? I figure a jolt not strong enough to kill them might work.

Thoughts?

If you mean the battery is connected to an electric fence system, then sure, that may work. The voltage has to be high enough for it to make it through feathers, but I don't think you have to go that far. Just a wire or string at waist level of the geese is good enough without power. They don't like tripping over that sort of thing getting into and out of the water.