I'm well aware of the drawbacks of Canada geese at a pond. But I have a question: Are a few geese better than a number of cormorants?

Do a few territorial geese help keep cormorants away? Considering that cormorants are so fish oriented, is that a good thing?

Anybody know or at least have an educated guess?

I have seen geese make an occasional run at GBH. I suspect they see them as a threat to their goslings. IMO geese view cormorants like they do ducks, no threat.

IMO there is absolutely no value in having geese on your pond. They will negatively impact water quality and introduce hazardous agents such as E coli that threatens the health of your family.

Thanks, Bill. I know that large numbers of geese are bad news, was hoping maybe that a nesting pair wouldn't be so bad.

There's a pair hanging around my pond now, so I need info to make a good (and legal) decision what to do.

I understand. One pair is no big deal on your size puddle. The thing to consider is that geese return to where they successfully raised their young last year and they are very determined to stay. Geese live about 20 years. Those young also return to nest at the pond where they were raised and learned to fly. Their young do the same and so on and so on and so on .....and 5 years down the road you have a whole bunch and can't walk around the pond without stepping in goose crap!

The male of my pair chase all the other geese away during nesting season. Once the babies are born, a bunch seem to show up for the baby shower:) Soon after, they all leave. I suspect this is due to the local predator population.

I have a "nesting" pair on my pond that I've learned are actually a good thing. They chased off 8 other geese just last week. To combat baby geese, I keep a close eye out and raid the nest(s) any time I suspect there are eggs. Sometimes, this can be a 2 person job. This year has been rather uneventful.

Another thing that makes control more challenging is it is against federal law for anyone to destroy a Canada goose nest that contains one or more eggs without first securing permission through the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.

Yup - Federal offence. Glad that you posted this so others know.

We haven't had any geese in a while but when we did a few months ago a cormorant landed on the pond at the same time a pair of geese were there. The geese flipped out and chased him off. They didn't mind the ducks but the cormorant they definitely didn't like. We haven't had much of anything lately. Just a few mallard ducks. My Great Pyrenees/Border Collie mix does a pretty good job of scaring anything off. She is very proud of herself when she chases off the GBH and dives in the water to swim after ducks.

I discovered a few years ago that having a pond much smaller than the neighbors is a good thing when it comes to geese. The geese flying over see my little 1/2 acre pond and think about landing... then they see a glorious 3 acre pond nearby with a bunch of buddies on it already and leave mine alone! That 3 acre pond is positively stuffed with geese.

It helps to chase them off before they call in their friends. Once a few are comfortable, it is almost impossible to chase them off without constant harassment since more will keep coming.

Bill, thanks for educating me. I'll have to go back to deterring their presence when they first arrive at the pond.

Canadian geese would not be so bad if they tasted good. They taste like liver. If you like liver and can hunt them giver.

We have a pair drop in once in a while but don't set up nesting.

Here's an excellent short video on how to egg addle Canada geese legally & effectively. Note that it requires registration with the Fish & Wildlife Service and can only be done between 1 March and 30 June.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CLIL-381Lw

Here's a six minute video showing how to legally & effectively addle Canada goose eggs. Note that the government must be notified and that it cannot be done later in the year than 30 June.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CLIL-381Lw

Breaking the eggs or simply taking them may not work, as the goose likely will just lay more. Inhumane, too.

Away with Geese apparently has had good success with their tech to deter geese from nesting in the first place.

Oh my. Dono, maybe you Canadians just don't know how to properly prepare Canada geese. I don't think their taste changes while they are south of the border. I know that my above-the-border relatives from the Toronto-Ottawa corridor, to Thunder Bay and Winnipeg, enjoy them as much as us below the border.

Typically, we do not take anything but the breasts. At least for us, the remainder of the goose just isn't worth it.

I would put fresh-harvested Canada Goose breast up against good beef filet-mignon any day. The color and texture are extremely similar. I immediately bleed mine out in a saltwater solution for at least and hour or two before cooking. Lightly rub them in vegetable oil. Best yet, is marinating them for an hour or two in a vinegar-oil-herb dressing (like Italian dressing). It can really make a huge difference. I like to add just a little garlic powder to each side after putting them on a very hot grill for just a couple of minutes per side. Don't over cook them. When a trusted meat thermometer gets to about 160F/70C degrees in the thickest parts o9f the meat, they are ready.

Back in the last page archives of a Pond Boss magazine there is an article of how we took some of ESSHUPS (Scott's) duck (coot??) breasts, marinated them, and then slightly grilled them at Pond Boss LL2. They were more popular than great mid-western beef filet mignon -- although there were no left-overs of either that evening.

Don't give up on those pesky geese. They can provide fantastic gourmet meals if prepared correctly.

Ken

Canada geese were almost extinct by the mid 1930's. My father told me, while growing up in east-central Arkansas in the late 1930's to mid 40's, that he very rarely saw a Canadian goose then, and he was an avid duck hunter. He was amazed at the number of geese he saw as he approached old age after 1990. By then they had started to become a nuisance around here.

A similar situation occurred for whitetailed deer. The issue is modifying regulations when warranted (like for coyotes). The difference may be Federal vs. State oversight?

Ken, those were Gadwall breasts. Shot the day before in Miller Grove, Texas.

Keep taking them and they will eventually stop laying them.



Well I have printed this off and will trust you for another try at them.

The texture was fantastic but the liver tastes I just could not handle. We just breasted them out too. Three just landed in the pond as I am typing this out.

If we can prepare them so they are tasty my son would be in heaven hunting this fall.

Cheers Don.

I've tried many ways to prepare wild goose. Including saltwater soaked, marinated breasts. I think I would pick the prime fillet. I have found a place in western Nebraska that takes the goose breasts, adds beef, pork, and antelope, and makes a fantastic jerky. Can hardly taste the goose. The best part is, we just dump them off at his shop. He does the rest.
I was walking in a park in Champaign IL the other day. It had a long pond across the back of the park. They had those orange lights on floats all over the pond. I don't think they were replacing the batteries in the lights, because there were 100s of geese swimming all around them.
My pond is surrounded by trees. I don't think the geese have a long enough flight path to use it. They fly over all the time. So far this year, just a pair of woodies. Not sure if they are using the box I put up.

I have been told they taste better after several weeks of eating grain, like corn, oats, etc.

Our dog makes sure the pond stays clear of the damn geese. If its too cold for him I scare them off with my super soaker works great. We've had at least two landing every night since mid march. I don't let them stay at all as soon as we see them we get rid of them. They are everywhere here. There is a flooded field just down the road that has at least 100 and a couple swans and ducks as well.

I have personally witnessed a GBH eat my fish within 30 feet of a nested Canadian goose. I also allowed the two geese to nest in the hopes of scaring the GBH but apparently it is not effective. They will likely find a more hostile pond owner next year.

A few things to try. Take the goose breast, cut in to finger sized strips across the grain. Check for any steel shot. Marinate in Italian dressing for 24 hrs. (I put them in a zip loc bag, cover with the Italian dressing and squeeze all the air out of the bag. Put in fridge. Whenever I remember I take the bag and move the pieces around in it.) The next day throw on the BBQ, cook until they are barely turning from pink to brown inside and they are done.

Like Jeff said, turn them into Jerky.

A buddy had 50 geese this year turned into Jerky and summer sausage. It's good!!! You have to make sure all the steel shot is out of the breasts or the meat processor will not be happy.....

We have a pair of geese that have showed up for three years now. They defend the big pond against all comers. It is fun to watch them attack and drive off other geese, cormorants, a GBH or two and even one young eagle.

They have raised young each year. This year I finally named them. The male is Maverick and the female is Charlie. Seven goslings this year are learning the ropes. It is funny to watch them right on mom's butt. The last time I was out at the farm, they were just starting to graze out in front of the parents.

So for me, one pair is perfect. Yes there is a little poo out on the peninsula, but that is about it. Having the cormorants run off is well worth that one small issue. And the goslings are fun to watch.

The goslings will be there to nest next year....population explosion ahead.

Brian, you only have had that one pair of geese? Their offspring did not return to your pond?

Your experience is what I'd love -- my wife thinks geese are beautiful. And cormorants are the enemy!

So far, we have only had the one pair defend the big pond for the last three years. They have run off all comers.

And they are fun to watch and talk to. It has gotten to the point that when I shoot, they don't even move away. That is why the had to be named.

If in the future we do have a population explosion, I can take care of that situation as well. I have a really big smoker available anytime!

We've had a pair around the place for 6-7 years. I don't know if it's the same pair or not, but the number has never increased.

Went to addle goose eggs today, but the nest was abandoned. We celebrated too soon, though: A short while later we spotted mom & pop goose...with four goslings. Too late!

My wife will be delighted, as will my grandkids. Next season: Away with Geese!

Yep, you're hosed

Think positively,

Enjoy them this year and next year if there is a problem, search for goose recipes and steel shot loads for goose season and enjoy them again!

I'm obviously quite a coward. I'd never attempt to sneak into a goose nest to addle the eggs. Geese guarding a nest are really mean and powerful.

I've still got 65 year old wounds on the back of my head from a supposedly domestic gander that our dog was smart enough to stay away from, but I wasn't. It chased me down the driveway beating its wings against my arms and pecking me on the head.

However, as has been mentioned above, goose breasts are rather tasty. Somewhere in a back issue of Pond Boss is a recipe similar to what ESSHUP posted above. He brought some duck breasts to Bob and Debbie Lusk's place when a bunch of us were visiting. I was somehow put in charge of preparing them. ESSHUP and I marinated and grilled them. They got eaten faster than some prized filet mignon.

I can neither endorse nor confirm this, but I've been told that if a goose is shot in the breast or head with a .22, it will float if it was on the water. On land, it just keels over. A simple grab and pull in the middle of its chest reveals two large liver-colored pieces of meat that just need to be skinned from the feathers, and sliced away from the carcass.

You learned from experience. I call that smart, not cowardly!

Not sure how we'd have done if the geese were still on the nest. Maybe run for the hills, or dive in the pond. I bet the CNBG would have nipped us if we'd taken to the water...

I suspect that geese are less of an issue for the folks down south. Supposedly, they are migratory birds so most probably move further North to breed. In the Midwest, 100s of thousands stay here year around. I predict the day will come when they are similar to the South's feral hog problem but 10 fold. At least it is legal to shoot feral hogs year round. We have given up trying to go to parks here for a picnic and family day as the ground is covered with goose crap and the associated diseases. A park near me closes their lake to swimming every summer due to E-coli.

Bill,

Try BBQ goose, its what we do with the hogs.

I would love too but it's a short hunting season during a time when they seem restless and move a lot. IMO the Midwest's goose problem would make a good PBM article for Dan VanShaik.

Bill,
If he does an article, the science of when it is right to hunt would be interesting to read. Also, is the population growing to large? All things that should be studied.

FYI story re geese.


This doesn't have much in common with the thread but is a funny story just the same. About fifteen years ago there was a guy who used to feed the Canadian geese at a lake in Rochester Minnesota. The city for the most part hated the birds, lots of crapping, getting in the way of cars etc.. A large flock living year round in this partially heated lake. Some people would park their cars by the lake and feed the birds bread, So after a spell the birds became very tame. A mother and her daughter were feeding the geese one day, when the little girl noticed that a goose that had gone under one of the parked trucks and did not come back out. She told her mother about the bird and the two of them watched a second goose disappear the same way. They explained this to a cop who was driving through the parking lot. When the officer went to investigate the four wheel drive truck, he noticed while talking to the driver, that a large hole had been cut out of the trucks passenger floor board and broken pieces of bread in the seat above. This guy was waving the bread through the hole, and when the poor goose would poke his head up into the truck, the enterprising hunter would grab the neck of the bird, spin it around a few times and throw them behind the seat. They found out later on that this old guy had been doing this for years.

Good story. Although geese are enjoyable to view, they are commonly referred to as Sky Carp around here for their loose bowels and all the mess they make along shorelines and in the water.

PB nomenclature = flying toilets !!!!

I think a goose is a lot like a rooster, in that they both would like very much to be the one in charge. And if you let them, they will happily take on the role as foreman. It has been my experience however, that both aggressive geese and roosters will settle down and fall in line after a few times of being seized by the neck and flung up against a tree, or thumped on the ground. It's been a few years, but I've had to do it a couple times in the past.

If we're talking about a child or smaller adult, or if it's obvious to the bird that you're intimidated by it, then it has the upper hand.

I agree with geese, but I have had roosters that never learn.

So many great images to imagine in this thread:

1) Catmandoo running down his driveway while under attack.
2) Spark grabbing a goose by the neck and pounding it on the ground.
3) FireIsHot/Al taking a spill and going full horizontal on Condello's pontoon boat.

I never took a spill. Priority one was saving my truck keys so I didn't have to walk back to TX from Lincoln NE. Priority number two was saving my cell phone in case priority number one failed. I called my wife on my cell while driving my truck back home, so I would call the evening a complete success.

My Matrix like reflexes coupled with total darkness, an overloaded boat, and Sunil making poor life decisions. What could have possibly gone wrong?

Didn't you like save the trickle charger or something like that??

Talk about bad decisions. It was plugged in and you were about to fall in the water holding onto it!!!

At least that's what I now recall......

Ah yes, a late night in Nebraska. I remember hearing a commotion rising up from the darkness somewhere below, TJ coaxing the bonfire in a manner that would've provoked envy in Hephaestus, and praying that I wouldn't take a wrong step and plummet over the cliff edge down to the water. Or if I did suffer a misstep, hoping the fall would kill me outright and save me the embarrassment of reliving the incident all weekend. Good times.

Dang, and I missed all that.

Tony, don't you remember the banjo playing in the background?

Bill, you might want to look at the goose hunting regulations again....... From the Illinois DNR for the goose season last year.

The recommendations include 60-day duck seasons in each of the state’s four waterfowl hunting zones, along with 107 days of Canada goose hunting opportunity in the North and Central zones (15 days in September, two days of youth hunting and 90 days of regular goose season), 99 days of Canada goose hunting opportunity in the South Central Zone, and 86 days of Canada goose hunting opportunity in the South Zone.

Thanks Esshup!

I was going by what a buddy told. He said it was only a couple weeks in September. Looks like there is a lot more opportunities later.

I threw my body across a live trickle charger for you. Please don't make me relive that moment of selflessness.

"I threw my body across a live trickle charger for you."

Ah yes....that's when you were horizontal, magically suspended 4.3' in the air. Like the Matrix.......

I harass any Canada geese that land in my pond. Once they land the drone goes up and continues to dive bomb them from over head. They hate it and have not returned to play this year.

Harassment methods here are numerous. English Springer Spaniel, green or red laser pointer near dark, and objects thrown at them.

None of these worked, esshup.

Al still showed up and hung around.

I was designated driver for 17 different people. Did you think I was going anywhere without a semi-comatose body rolling around in the bed of my truck?

I do hear that Lincoln NE has some of the nicest jails around though. Next time we go there, let's see if we can get arrested and share a cell. Hopefully one with a courtyard view.

I've always liked this idea for geese:

https://www.birdcontrolpro.com/zon_mark4_cannon.htm

Don't worry, you would get use to the sound after a couple nights.