I have 2 families of geese that have been using my pond area as their home/facilities all spring. My attempts to scare them off and back to the adjacent golf course have not been very succesful. I enjoyed taking shots at them with a paintball gun but that proved useless.
I decided to go extreme and picked up a selection of bottle rockets when I crossed the river and visited Indiana.
VERY effective ! The adults and young little sh*#ers run so fast when they hear the scream and POP of the fireworks.
I'm almost disappointed that I don't get to fire off more of them.

sean

I have them on my pond now and then, and a pair was looking sorta broody this spring, but they chose the neighbors pond (after a bit of discouragement from me) instead. They sure our messy but the goslings are kinda cute.
Dan

I made an aggressive swan decoy that discouraged the geese from landing in our back yard. when I added two swan decoys the geese really stayed away.

Pullo - Would you please post a picture of the swan decoy that you made? I thought about this but was not sure how to do it.

Heres the thread that I posted pictures
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=17809&Number=228846#Post228846

Pullo,

Did you ever come up with any ideas to mass produce this e.g. make a castable mold off the original?

I think you've really got a good idea here.

I do not think that I could carve that out of wood. Wow!

Cecil yes I did experiment with casting, with good results. Just been busy with work. If there was enough interest I could produce some. My decoys had some friends over! The swans were very curious they were as close as two feet then swam to the other side of pond.

Bottle rockets have taken care of the goose problem. I can fire one off and clear the golf course that is adjacent to my yard. Geese live in fear of "The Red Truck"!

Buzzworth I was also delighted to find that sound puts the fear of God (or man in this case) into their heads. I had a problem with a couple of ducks a while back that had introduced duck itch to the pond we swim in. I kept running them off but they kept coming back. One or two bottle rockets and they were gone for good. Apparently it sounds a lot like duck season.

Has anyone tried using swan decoys to keep geese away and found that it does not work?

Sounds like you're in the ball park as far as realism then!

I was going to post about bottle rockets.We found out by accident at my family cottage in MI during my younger days.Although my neighbor was upset he wasnt going to have fresh goose year round afterwards(he used to shoot them with a high powered pellet gun ).If you have a stubborn one try the Saturn missiles we had a nickname for them that isn't appropriate but basically they are 96 moon whistlers minus the stick in one shot Wait for the geese and enjoy

The groundskeper for the property that I was at today (installing an aeration system) said that unless the swan decoy is moved frequently, the geese will get used to it being in one spot. They had one there, and he said that as long as it's moved around, it works.

We have been using an Away with Geese (Pondboss advertiser) water based unit continuously since September 2009.

Being in a FTF (flying toilet flyway), we used to have hundreds of them shisit our pond. If the pond was frozen over they would roost on the ice and if the pond was open they would be on the water and roosting on the shoreline. It was a giant mess and the nutrient load was totally unacceptable.

Decoys and noise are effective on a few FTs but if you have a serious issue with them the “Away with Geese” unit is the way to go. Ours has been in continuous service since day one. It freezes in the ice in the winter and floats on open water the rest of the time. It is ultimately effective, solar powered and totally reliable. I highly recommend it to anyone serious about keeping the FTs at bay.

Good testimonial!!

Scot,

I wonder if one could tether one so that is moved around the pond when the wind direction changed? I recently had a cage blow into my biggest pond and it was all over the place on one side of the pier depending on the wind direction. Additionally have it where the wind caused the neck to bob up and down as if the decoy is feeding? I know we do that with some ice tip ups that jig by using the wind.

I've been using an Away With Geese water based unit for a year. It hasn't worked that well for me. I had a nesting pair last spring that was very difficult to 'discourage'. Lead doesn't work and is not easy to use due to a road and house in the area. Last night I was in the canoe to chase 25 geese away - at 8pm, well after dark - the strobe light didn't seem to bother them at all. Keep in mind that during the day the light is not on and does nothing to discourage migrating geese from stopping by for the day. In fact there are 20 that just landed in the pond 5 minutes ago.

I'm thinking bottle rockets and a remote control boat. If I can find an RC boat with a light all the better so I can use it after dark and not lose track of it.

Too bad sharks don't work well in ponds :-(

So far on our pond, no geese. I don't think the local coyotes and foxes are giving them much peace. One advantage of a smaller pond or one that is narrow is the geese don't feel very safe, even on the water if furry critters are tracking nearby.

The technical side of me would love to make a small boat that would drift around, ID a goose, and squirt it regularly until it left, similar to the deer deterrents that squirt them near your garden. At night it would be great as they would no longer be at peace in the water. Combine that with the orange LEDs and I bet the geese would have nightmares.

Couldn't you just put a sign out that says "NO GEESE ALLOWED" I always have a pair that have a few babies every spring then seem to disappear.. I've shot at them ran them off by running at them, they always come back.. I've pretty much gave up was thinking of using the floating strobe light thing but after reading that post I won't waste my money..

same here on the swan decoys.

All I can say is that for our pond in the area it is located the Away with Geese unit is the answer. If all you have are established "local geese" then I don't think there is much that will keep them away. After all it is "their" pond.

Aside from the nesting pair this spring (none of their eggs hatched ) I didn't have any resident geese. So, maybe the Away With Geese unit did work during the summer. It wasn't until recently that the geese started showing up. I'm assuming they are migrating geese. I'll leave the unit in the water. I'm frustrated because I know it works for other pond owners.

Rob:

If there isn't a local ordinance in place against it, I wouldn't be opposed to shooting them on the water if there was a safe backstop or safe shot drop area 300 yds past the geese. In season, steel shot and all applicable licenses and stamps in posession of course. I think they'd get the message after one shot. If not, a legal shotgun holds 3 shells...........

I like the Away With Geese unit. On Dwight's pond it makes a dandy marker for ice fishing. (Stay south of the goose light and you are away from the open water!)

I have had 3 goose decoys out all fall and haven't had hardly any geese. This isn't by choice I want them to come. BOOM BOOM BOOM LOL