Gosling Watch

[Blue Raider Bob]

It's getting close. Sometime this weekend Gigi should hatch her young'ins and give me back my dock. She is pretty touchy nowadays and her guy (Ralph), is getting kind of bold as well. Living on a farm, I've dealt with coons, possums, skunks, bobcats, snakes, you name it. Even had a neighbors bull in the yard one day tearing up the shrubbery, but something about this dang goose that makes me hesitate. Maybe I just respect her grit when it comes to her family. I know everyone on this site feels the same way about theirs. Hopefully I'll have some news Monday! 

Happy Hooking until then!

[Bankc]

Geese can be straight mean!  But you do have to respect their devotion to family.  

Also, turkeys are the same way, if not meaner.  

[NavyToad]

17 minutes ago, Bankc said:

Geese can be straight mean! 

Swans make geese look like lambs.

[gim]

22 minutes ago, Bankc said:

Geese can be straight mean!  But you do have to respect their devotion to family.  

Also, turkeys are the same way, if not meaner.  

Canadian geese are mean critters when it comes to defending a nest or goslings. They will not back down. My brother and I got attacked by a couple once when we were kids and accidentally got too close to a nest. They are also quite menacing when you injure or wing one while hunting. I’ve seen a full size male black lab back off against one. A kill shot to the head with the 12 gauge was the only solution there.

 

Never encountered a disgruntled wild turkey. Have to imagine it’s like running into a modern day velociraptor, especially if it’s a Tom with spurs.

[The Bassman]

I keep telling myself that geese don't have teeth or talons but they're sure putting a kink in my fishing right now. My green laser is pretty much useless on sunny days. I would never bother the nesters but those dang males think they own the whole lake.

[TnRiver46]

12 minutes ago, NavyToad said:

Swans make geese look like lambs.

That’s for sure. Larger and meaner 

[Blue Raider Bob]

1 minute ago, The Bassman said:

I keep telling myself that geese don't have teeth or talons but they're sure putting a kink in my fishing right now. My green laser is pretty much useless on sunny days. I would never bother the nesters but those dang males think they own the whole lake.

I can scurry past her no problem, but she just stands there watching me while I am on the dock instead of sitting back down on her eggs. This brings on a guilt trip that ruins my Bluegill time, so I just scurry past her again and observe some other areas. She's lived here four years now. You'd think she would be more tolerant of me using her pond by now! Past history shows that once the eggs hatch and she leads them to water, she doesn't return to the nest site and I can go back to my evening routine.

[Alex from GA]

Wednesday for the first time this year I heard Great Blue Heron chicks squawking in the nest.  There are several pair of Canada geese nesting near also.  

[Jig Man]

They have become a complete nuisance around here.  They never leave and we aren’t allowed to kill them.  They wonder around campgrounds, parking lots, boat ramps and courtesy docks.  They must take a dump several times an hour because their poop is everywhere.  

[TnRiver46]

1 hour ago, Alex from GA said:

Wednesday for the first time this year I heard Great Blue Heron chicks squawking in the nest.  There are several pair of Canada geese nesting near also.  

Those baby herons sound like Jurassic park 

39 minutes ago, Jig Man said:

They have become a complete nuisance around here.  They never leave and we aren’t allowed to kill them.  They wonder around campgrounds, parking lots, boat ramps and courtesy docks.  They must take a dump several times an hour because their poop is everywhere.  

I was going fishing with my buddy in his boat for the first time so I brought some cookies from home. He declined my offer, I said now who doesn’t want a chocolate chip cookie???? He said I’m like a goose, when I eat, I poop 

[Alex from GA]

There are 9  heron nests on an island and when they all hatch you're right.  Sometimes I have to move when it's too loud. 

[TnRiver46]

8 hours ago, Alex from GA said:

There are 9  heron nests on an island and when they all hatch you're right.  Sometimes I have to move when it's too loud. 

Most of the “rookeries” here are on islands as well, must be good fishing grounds 

[gim]

9 hours ago, Jig Man said:

They have become a complete nuisance around here.  They never leave and we aren’t allowed to kill them.  They wonder around campgrounds, parking lots, boat ramps and courtesy docks.  They must take a dump several times an hour because their poop is everywhere.  

They are a nuisance in suburban areas here too. They love green grass and water, so golf courses and parks are a big attraction for them. And they crap all over. Obviously they can’t be hunted within city limits either, so there’s really no means of controlling them.

 

My dog loves chasing them though and every opportunity I get, I let her have at it. Some people at the access erupted in cheer when she chased a bunch away last season.

[clayton86]

I was out yesterday fishing and geese on nests all over the creeks I fish. I usually fish near the mouth of Lake Ontario so there’s tons of geese and cormorants all over. 
 

The geese are annoying and dumb I had 3 that were fighting or what ever they are doing chasing eachother right infront of my kayak. Get like 2 feet from them and they squawk and try and fly go like 20’ and just go on about till I almost bump them again. Can’t cast infront some times because of them. Creeks big enough to go around me but noooooooo let’s play defense. I’d try and just go around and they would swim ahead so I can’t. 
 

A spot I hit a lot has swans but they are friendly I suppose. Never used to be but I think they’ve gotten used to people. They don’t puff out wings and try and intimidate anymore. Lots of times the one will swim along side the kayak almost petting distance at times literally touching along side the kayak. I’ll actually probably fish this spot today in a little bit. 
 

Geese thought we used to be able to shoot like 6 I think the limit was a day now it’s 1 it’s not even worth setting up for geese. If we get a loner into our duck spread we will whack it but not often we get loaners or they are spread out enough to single out just 1. They say numbers are down but sure don’t seem it fields will be covered with em can’t even see the ground there’s so many geese. 

[Blue Raider Bob]

     Well they have arrived! All seven of Gigi's eggs hatched this weekend so I am celebrating by cleaning the goose poop off my dock! I know geese are not popular with most of us, but Gigi has lived here for four years since she hurt her wing somehow. I am so fortunate to be able to provide a place for wildlife that I can share with my family.

     I have my dock back, (except for the Eastern Phoebes that are nesting in the rafters), and I am enjoying my lazy dad seat daily! I still get scolded when I'm on the dock but I'm used to it. Been married thirty something years.

[Alpster]

Goose control is a big dollar business where I lived in NJ. A guy down the street from me has a business called "Geese Police" and makes a fortune. He uses predator recordings and border collies with plywood silhouettes of dogs to discourage goose parking. There is a hunting season, but its illegal for property owners to harass them otherwise.

[TnRiver46]

12 minutes ago, Alpster said:

Goose control is a big dollar business where I lived in NJ. A guy down the street from me has a business called "Geese Police" and makes a fortune. He uses predator recordings and border collies with plywood silhouettes of dogs to discourage goose parking. There is a hunting season, but its illegal for property owners to harass them otherwise.

My buddy does it for the fed, rules don’t apply. He said they cleared about 250 out of a city park one morning and 250 more showed up the next morning. People thing they don’t move but they do, and they don’t all have name tags haha

[Woody B]

I've seen a bunch of Geese sitting on nests the past few weeks.  Last week I saw one family already hatched.  They sure make a mess crapping everywhere.   

[TnRiver46]

4 hours ago, Woody B said:

I've seen a bunch of Geese sitting on nests the past few weeks.  Last week I saw one family already hatched.  They sure make a mess crapping everywhere.   

Very successful creatures! As long as they have some yard grass and water they will populate heavily 

[Blue Raider Bob]

Gosling update!

 

Gigi's bunch are growing and starting to feather out. Unfortunately she is also taming them to accept the presence of people. She brings them up to the house every day to raid the chicken feed and lounge in the yard. Also, they continue to do a great job fertilizing the yard, drive, walkway, deck, ect.

My wife loves them so they get to do what they please. Got to really watch where you step around my place.

[Koz]

There was a mating pair of Canadian geese that showed up in the creek channel at my hotel and I dubbed them Milo and Henrietta (I have no idea why). Then one week I saw them swim by with a gosling in tow and I named him Ryan, naturally.

 

But the following week when I saw Milo and Henrietta, little Ryan was nowhere to be found. The mating pair wandered the banks of the creek channel for another week or so before they moved on.

[Blue Raider Bob]

     Gigi's bunch are feathering out and are looking more like adults. Out of the seven eggs, all hatched, two died of possible hypothermia after a very cold, late winter storm when they were a week old. I found one on the bank. A snapping turtle pulled another under a couple weeks ago. I heard a commotion, but by the time I got there, the gosling was dead with flesh stripped off its neck. I pulled it close to the bank with the turtle still attached and the parent geese attacking me, but when I grabbed the turtle and drug it up, it released the gosling and came after me. I chickened out and let it go. They can sure stretch that neck! It was the biggest common snapping turtle I have ever seen.  The gosling was over half grown. Very sad. Anyway, she has four remaining so it must be considered a success. The white frame contraption to the left of the geese is a PVC frame built to hold a bird feeder. The idea was the 2" PVC pipe would not allow the squirrels a footing to climb up to the feeder. Idea failed!  My daughter moves the chicken food around the yard daily but Gigi always finds it. Life is good.....except for the trail the geese leave! Now back to turtle patrol.

[TnRiver46]

Turtle gotta eat too!