Damn them Geese are bothersome at times....

[PennypackFlyer]

Today they were somewhat bothersome. The first one was hissing at me as I got to close to his sweety. Then an area I was hoping to fish, a couple of them came splashing in, and I had to skip that area. In fact I had to skip several areas today because of them. All in all I hooked 7 trout, landed 4, hooked several bluegills and sunnies and even got a 1 lb SMB.

 

[RCFetter]

That's not bad considering the geese were around. Last year I had problems with ducks on the Pennypack and the Little Lehigh.

 

[Maurice]

Usually its because you are approaching their nest of eggs.

 

[Fishidiot]

I've been run outa Dodge many times by geese. Swans are even worse. Tis that time of year to keep an eye out for crooked necked waterfowl headed your way.

 

[STREAMWISE]

I was fishing the little lehigh one time and I looked downstream and saw a line of geese coming up. The stream was only about 12' wide in this area and the geese were single file when they got up to were I was fishing I had to stop fishing so I just started counting them 65 geese all in a single file row. Unbelievable they stretched as far as I could see. Another time I was at hopewell lake just checking out the dam and got too close to a pair of geese that must have been guarding a nest they starting going ballistic and I started backing off but I noticed that every goose that was out on the water immediatly turned and started swimming directly toward the commotion probably 25 geese. Animals are awesome!

 

[osprey]

OSPREY , eats 'em for dinner. It's the poop that always ends up gettin me somehow , don't you have to wonder sometime3s how that much discharge can come from such a small vessel?

 

[FarmerDave]

Gummint even had a study about that, too. Apparently the shat on average every 6 minutes while feeding.

The geese around my place must be smarter than most. Either that or they heard that I got an interesting goose pastrami recipe from this site. They see me coming, and they get the flock out of here.

 

[osprey]

Farmer..........you have those flockers on your farm? I swear i've had beagles that dint leave that much dirt. Shat would be past tense?

 

[FarmerDave]

osprey wrote:
Farmer..........you have those flockers on your farm? I swear i've had beagles that dint leave that much dirt.

.

Yea, those, blue herons, sandhill cranes, many species of ducks, all kinds of birds.

I live in (or under) a major migratory flyway.

If I wanted a goose dinner, all I would have to do is wait for some to fly over and pick one out. Or I could "borrow" some of my neighbors lawn art (goose decoys) and call some in.

But they stay out of my yard, and for the most part they stay away from my pond because we chase them off. They stop occasionally, and this year there was a pair that hung around for awhile, but they won't stick around. Many other ponds nearby are more suitable for nesting including a couple of them across the street.

Shat would be past tense?

I believe the study was completed.;-)

 

[PennypackFlyer]

Fishidiot: Are goose eggs any good for eating?

 

[dubthethorax]

All the stockies have been rising at night around 10pm in the local stream. Friday night I was hiking/fishing along the creek late at night. About a mile into my hike, I came to spot where there were probably 6-10 fish consistently rising to small caddis and midges and I could see them from the street lights.

As I sat down to take off my streamer and tie on a few dries, two geese come smashing down right on top of the risers and start fighting each other, ripping up and down the water.

needless to say, the fish stopped rising.

 

[ryguyfi]

The non-migratory geese got so bad at my local put and take lake that they raised the levels of e-coli and closed the lake twice in the last few years. Recently they "opened season" for like a week or two. Basically you take a shot gun, walk up to within 2 feet of a goose, and blast it's head off. I haven't partaken because I'm no hunter, but I know a few who have and they say it's rather ridiculous.

 

[dubthethorax]

Yeah it's insane in my local creek. They are EVERYWHERE.

 

[wildtrout2]

osprey wrote:
OSPREY , eats 'em for dinner.

Those dirty birds (wild) are tough eating because they're on the wing so much. It's mostly dark meat anyway. Only good goose is a dead goose. Hate em!

 

[FarmerDave]

ryguyfi wrote:
The non-migratory geese got so bad at my local put and take lake that they raised the levels of e-coli and closed the lake twice in the last few years. Recently they "opened season" for like a week or two. Basically you take a shot gun, walk up to within 2 feet of a goose, and blast it's head off. I haven't partaken because I'm no hunter, but I know a few who have and they say it's rather ridiculous.

I'm wondering if that is even legal. I'm not a goose hunter. Real goose hunting is expensive. It is probably at least as expensive of a hobby as fly fishing and the times that you can do it are much shorter. But I do know that there are rules, both state and federal, that go beyond the no lead shot rule.

If it is legal as presented, I don't have a problem with it. Yea, it doesn't sound at all sporting, but if the meat is used, ... I don't begrudge anyone who does this to provide a meal or two for their family. I'm sure if fixed right, it would be palatable. And what about donating it to a shelter? You can do that with venison, why not goose?

I may shoot a couple of them this year to make jerky and one or two other recipes that I have, and I assure you it would not be sporting either. I just have to shoot them from a little further away. But I have said that before and never did it. I am still curious though. If I ever do satisfy that curiosity and decide that I don't like the taste, then I will no longer have a desire to shoot them. Then again, I'm sure my dogs would eat it, especially the jerky. Would be cheaper than Milkbones and they would like it even better.

 

[allan_s]

The goose population is ridiculous. In my area they tried opening goose season early in some public lakes/areas because they have become such a problem, that didn't work. Now a team of professionals are going to be coming in at night to take care of the problem. The goose swat team.

Of course it is all hush hush because if the hardcore birders found out which lakes this was happening on they would probably go nuts. All the meat is going to be donated once the deed is complete.

The only good goose is a dead goose!

 

[mario66pens]

Allan, I have too noticed an absurd amount of geese in Bellefonte, can I volunteer for the Goose swat team?

 

[FarmerDave]

I read recently that they live 25 years on average.

They lay at least 6 eggs each year (that is a guess).

It is fact that if you remove or smash the eggs, they will just make more.

You can destroy the viability of the eggs without destroying the egg. Where I used to live, they supposedly had a permit to do that. It made for a fun Saturday that involved boots boats and beer.

The only effective way is to control the population is to shoot them, or trap and relocate them at a certain time of the year and make them someone else's problem for awhile.

The early nuisance goose season does help, but probably not so much in more populated areas where they are a more significant problem.

 

[RCFetter]

I know they have been a problem with air craft but I haven't heard anything recently on the subject. Remember when they brought down that US Air flight in 2009, causing it to land in the Hudson River.

 

[Aducker]

Down here we have a season just for resident geese in September before the migration starts. I think PA has this also. You can take 15 per day in Delaware. You can take 2 per day during the migratory season which starts in late November. Snow geese you can take 25 per day. But that's a different issue than what you are seeing.

You can take a lot of geese if you want but the problem is the geese are living in populated areas, parks and golf courses and you can't be that close to structures to take them.
So they just keep multiplying.

Yes it is expensive compared to fly fishing but like anything it's all in how far you go to gear up for it, if you hunt in a field or the marsh. Do you lease land to hunt, Do you have a boat and a truck to get out in the marsh. Guns, ammo, decoys, warm clothing. IMO fly fishing is a lot cheaper than goose hunting.

What you are seeing now is the local geese pairing up. I think that was stated by someone above. If you want to do something without killing the geese you could try shaking the eggs and placing them back on the nest. This way the hen goose won't realize the egg is damaged and not try and reproduce any more this season.

Yes the canada and snow geese are still a constant problem for planes. In areas where large flocks are known to circulate they have a special low level radar. Dover AFB is one of these places that I believe still uses a special radar system. NY City would not normally have this but maybe they have added it since the 2009 incident.

When dealing with local geese in my area I'm reminded of the line in the movie Apocalypse Now: "terminate with extreme prejudice"