It is illegal even to shoot at some goose species. Excessive disturbance can cause geese to desert traditional roosts and feeding grounds: it is therefore preferable to shoot them on the flight lines between feeding and roosting areas.
When ducks or geese are about to land, most hunters focus on the closest, lowest, easiest shot, and two or more hunters wind up shooting at the same bird. Instead, take a trailer with the first shot. Then your shotgun will be in the right plane to shoot flaring birds on the second and third shots.
If you get too close, a goose may attack to defend it. Most goose attacks on humans result in minor or no injuries, but severe injuries can happen. Goose attacks have resulted in broken bones, head trauma, and emotional distress.
Set out a minimum of 500 decoys (1,000 to 1,500 is better). Supplement shell and silhouette decoys with lighter, less expensive white rags or white plastic bag decoys. Wear camouflage or white if snow covers the ground.
Their meat is lean and does not lend itself to roasting. Larsen slices open these fall birds and pops out their breast meat. And not only are the birds good to eat—they are also fun to hunt. Because of their flâneur-like loitering, a Canada Goose might seem an easy snatch, but it takes skill to nab one.
To hold or carry a goose:
- Catch it by the neck, either with your hand or with a catching hook (see diagram at right).
- Pull the bird close to your body.
- Lift the bird onto your arm and hand to the side of your body, so the head and neck protrude from under your arm.
Typically the bird is a gander (the male) standing guard with a well-concealed mate on a nest nearby — he only appears to be alone. The second possible explanation is that the goose you observed has lost his or her mate. Of course, it is entirely possible that this goose has just strayed from his flock for a while.
There's no need to beat yourself up with the recoil of 31⁄2-inch shells or super high-velocity ammo; remember, with no bag limit, you may fire boxes of shells on a good day. A 3-inch shell at 1500 fps is fine. Steel No. 2 shot works well for decoying geese, and BBs or 1s do the job on days birds won't finish.
Despite what people say, snow goose is edible and tasty—if you cook it correctly. Big adult birds can be upwards of 15 to 20 years old, and they are challenging to deal with. Juvenile birds, however, are downright delicious. Ground snow geese, mixed with a bit of pork or beef fat, can be used just like ground beef.
Hunting water means using floater decoys, but snows tend to require a sizeable spread and you can only pack so many in a boat. “We'll hunt from the edge of the bank and shoot birds as they land in the water or behind us in the socks.”
JUMP HUNTING
One more way that you can hunt snow geese without decoys is to jump hunt them. With jump hunting you are not actually waiting in the field for the snow geese to come but rather you are out driving around and looking for flocks of snow geese feeding in fields."On many mornings you can shoot both light and dark geese from the same spot," he says. Anderson's spread consists mainly of snow goose decoys, with three groups of Canada goose decoys set at strategic locations around the snows. "Canadas and snows usually don't mix, so we always keep these species separate.
"You want them to see large numbers of geese on the ground. Use very aggressive flagging, and use tall pole kites. Walk around with the flag to attract birds from one or two miles away. Once they come, make a lot of noise to make them comfortable.
Geese, famous for their copious defecation, are less likely to defecate when they are flying than when they are grazing and walking on the ground, and they tend to empty their cloacas upon takeoff, cutting down on the risk to bystanders, said Laura Erickson, science editor at the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology.
Their bigness and fatness, along with their webbed feet, make it impossible for waterfowl to sleep in the safety of a tree. Most of the time, geese and ducks sleep at night right on the water.
You'll certainly see Canada geese fly during the day. But the smart goose prefers the night. All migratory birds are split up into three classes, regarding migration habits. Nocturnal Migrants, are the first classification, [and they fly] at night.
The geese that force people to keep their eyes on the ground and dance around little cylinders of poop are called resident geese. They eat grass voraciously, and each adult can produce a pound or more of feces per day, Curtis said.
What Predators Eat Geese? Natural predators of wild geese species include wolves, eagles, bears, raccoons and foxes. They are usually most vulnerable during their nesting season. Eggs and goslings are more vulnerable than adult geese and have more natural predators.
The snow goose (Anser caerulescens), consisting of both a white morph and dark morph (blue goose), is a North American species of goose, collectively with Ross's goose often referred to as "white geese" or "light geese." Its name derives from the typically white plumage.
Geese honk when they fly as a way of keeping the flock together. But for geese, honking one's position is a trade-off that helps helps save energy for the flock as they fly. That is because the V-formation makes flight less energetically costly for the entire flock.
Nesting colonies are now so large the birds are destroying their own habitat. After more than a decade of devastating huge swaths of Arctic tundra, booming populations of snow geese may have finally stabilized. In the 1970s and '80s, there were between two million and three million snow geese in central North America.
| SPECIES | IDEAL RANGE | SHOT SIZE |
|---|
| Small Ducks | 15-40 yds | 4, 5, 6 |
| Large Ducks | 10-40 yds | BB,1, 2, 3 |
| Geese | 10-45 yds | T, BBB, BB |
5 Best Shotguns for Goose Hunting
- Browning Gold 10. My all-time favorite goose gun is the Browning Gold 10 semi-auto.
- Benelli Super Black Eagle II. In my travels, perhaps the most popular shotgun I've seen in the hands of die-hard goose hunters and guides is the Benelli Super Black Eagle II.
- Beretta Xtrema 2.
- Winchester Super X3.
- Remington Versa Max.
In the first place, they say steel doesn't like very much choke constriction, and full chokes don't throw good patterns with steel shot. But, if you like your gun, don't do it. Steel won't compress.
| SPECIES | IDEAL RANGE | SHOT SIZE |
|---|
| Small Ducks | 15-40 yds | 4, 5, 6 |
| Large Ducks | 10-40 yds | BB,1, 2, 3 |
| Geese | 10-45 yds | T, BBB, BB |
Possession limit triple the daily bag. 7/day, which may include: 7 mallards (no more than 2 females or Mexican-like ducks), 1 pintail, 2 canvasback, 2 redheads, 3 scaup. Possession limit triple the daily bag. 24/day, up to 20 white geese, up to 4 dark geese.
The shot stays together longer, making the pattern denser and more useful at longer ranges. This choke is used often for dove hunting and is the preferred choke when using steel shot to hunt for ducks or geese. There is also an Improved Modified choke that is slightly tighter than Modified.
Common shot sizes used for waterfowl (from smallest to largest) are No. 4, 3, 2, 1, BB, BBB and T shot. Naturally, smaller shot sizes are best suited for ducks, while the larger shot is better for geese and swans.
Primarily used for geese and large ducks, shotgun shells loaded with BB are popular for larger game at greater distances. There is also the smaller “B” pellets (. 17 inches), as well as the larger “BBB” pellets (.
Why can't I shoot steel through improved modified and full chokes? The constriction on these chokes is very tight. Because steel does not compress, it can damage the barrel and choke as the shot charge passes through.
