Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Wildlife Management Goose Attack!

Goose Attack

I would PERSONALLY get even.

Have had that experience but with a large Canada. Not the same result though because I was in a jon boat and was quick with the paddle.

I would be having goose for dinner.

I think the goose found himself a girlfriend!

At least 60 years later, I have a serious dislike, and maybe even a fear of geese. As a young kid, our dairy barn was at least a 1/3 mile from the house.

Besides dairy cows, we had beef, hogs, and several kinds of poultry. Most were caged or fenced, except for some of the poultry. One was a nasty old gander. He was very grumpy and was a really mean critter.

Our dog knew enough not to mess with that miserable old gander. The dog was older than me, and obviously a lot wiser. That damned old goose was about as tall as me when I was about 4-5 y.o. He would get behind me and surround me with his flapping wings, while he pecked at the back of my head.

I'm not sure what ever happened to him. I can only guess that he attacked my older brother or my mom or dad. Anyway, he seemed to just disappear.

To this day, I have a pretty serious dislike of geese.

Ken, that's the way I am about chickens. All barnyard fowl are nasty.

When I was a little bitty kid, I had to gather the eggs. Somebody told me that the hens on the nest would peck my eyes out and it terrified me. So, I kept my head back while trying to get the eggs under the hens. Of course, those gals tattooed my hands and arms pretty well.

An Uncle saw what was going on and told me to get a stick and "whup those gals until they find out who's boss". The longest stick I could find was a hoe and I taught those hens a pretty good lesson. I also broke some eggs and some chickens necks. That didn't go over too well.

My best time with the chickens was when I was sent to catch one using a piece of modified coat hanger. Grandma would wring their neck which suited me pretty well.

Anybody have any experience with guinea hens? They look like an attractive option to me.

I just need bug eaters and a 2 legged alarm system.

I had some for a while. They are a bit more hardy running free compared with chickens, but they will roost on houses. The biggest disappointment was that, like chickens, everything eats them (coyotes, fox, mink, hawks, and owls). They are particularly susceptible when nesting (on the ground). Our wild preditors finally got all of them, although a couple lasted quite a while because they roosted in a tree in the dog pen. I enjoyed them while they lasted.

At least around here, guineas like to be on the road and get flattened pretty regularly.

The are NOISY. The neighbor had a flock of 20 or so birds for the kids 4H project. I could be close to 300 yds away in the woods and couldn't hear a deer walking in dry leaves. His comment? "If I would have known they were so loud I would have never gotten them for the kids."

He took them in to get butchered as soon as the 4H project was finished.

Guinea hens are the devil. When I was a teenager living on the farm I can recall literally dozens of 3 AM wakeup calls from those stupid birds...probably didn't help things that I hadn't gotten home but maybe an hour before that. Dear Lord they are loud!

We had a Great Horned Owl that decided he liked Guinea Hen for a midnight snack...started losing birds at the rate of 3 or so a week. Dad tasked me with the late night watch to 'deter' the Owl...I bet I watched him snatch an even dozen of those dang birds out of a tree next to the hay barn. All I kept thinking was '11 more birds and problem solved - Go Owl Go!!' Didn't tell Dad for years that I just stood there and watched the flock get demolished.

that's funny dlowrance

I've had guineas the last 5 years. I started out with 25 chicks in spare bath tub. Grew them and moved them outside. They where great to watch and would keep bugs down a little in the yard. They roost in a ceder tree above dog house. I'm now down to 3 very old males. They are the best watch dogs ever. They will let you know if a rabbit hops in your yard. I always got past the noise until we had our first child in April. The guines favorite morning ritual is to land on roof as they fly down from roost. It sounds like Santa Landing up there. The they run back and fourth yelping the most god awful noise ever. If I lucked out and that didn't wake her. They would next land on front porch and poop all over everything and give that god awful cry right outside window. It would wake the dead through baby moniter. Like stated above owl and foxes have most of mine. The owls will land limb next to them and step sideways till right next to them. You know what happens next. Feathers fly! Long story short I'm 3 guines away from peace and quiet.

The only good thing that I've seen them used for is training dogs. Roy French, who was an amature Springer Spaniel trainer in Texas (IIRC he died at 103-104 years old and he was active until the end), would raise a newly hatched flock of Guineas when the pups were just getting weaned. He'd have the pups retrieve the birds (they are pretty hardy), and by the time the pups were 2 years old they would be used to retrieving larger birds. Larger than the pigeons and pheasants that they normally would be trained on to retrieve. He used those birds too, but his pups wouldn't be shy about grabbing a big bird.

Thanks guys for all the info. Guinea's it is!

My wife will be very excited getting these instead of the ring she was wanting for her birthday.

I also have plenty of advice for you newly weds out there. Just sayin'.

Yeah, I can just visualize the happy look on her face. Know any good lawyers?

I may need to. I told her I posted this, and laughed. She didn't.

As a boy, I fished my uncle's farm pond nearly everyday as his property adjoined ours, and I could walk through the pasture while carrying my gear and not have to get out on the county road. Most of the heighboring farms had at least one pond, and someone down the way had a goose.....a big, white, domestic goose. That thing made the rounds, traveling from pond to pond...it was never molested or bothered, by man or animal.

He and I tolerated each other pretty well, once I learned to guard my bait...he could stick his bill in a tin can full of worms and devour a couple dozen in about 5 seconds flat. He also loved fish, and would stand beside me on the bank, waiting.

The pond was full of the requisite stunted GSF, and whenever I tossed one on the bank he was on it in a flash. Head first, down the hatch, ready for more...

Until, he got one sideways one day. He choked and squawked and flopped around on the ground, scattering downy feathers everywhere. My mother was fishing with me that day, and she being a country girl from the hills and hollers just grabbed it by the neck, and kneeling over it pinned it to the ground with her knees on its wings, and simply turned the obvious bulge showing in his throat in such a manner that he was able to get it down. As I recall he was none the worse for wear, outside of sounding funny for a few days.

Nowadays, being a pondowner myself, I have to wonder: if Herons and Kingfishers are able to spread parasites from one BOW to another by virtue of their feeding habits, wouldn't a fish eating goose be capable of doing the same?

Final answer - yes.