Aleutian Cackler Hunt in California

Mike Krei

Mike Krei

Active member
Growing up in Northern California I never saw a Canada Goose, they just weren't there. Forty five years later the area between Fortuna California and Cresent City, California is host to 10's of thousands of Canada Geese with the Aleutian Cackler becoming a true pest to the ranchers in the area. I was amazed to find out that California would have a late Aleutian Canada goose hunt in March with a limit of six birds a day. Going home to see my brother just became a lot more fun when I was invited last year to hunt these little pesky geese with old school friends.

Last years hunt was a true learning experience, we hunted over decoys when the birds decoyed and we stalked them when they wouldn't but we killed geese. This years hunt was a much tougher hunt as the birds get better educated so we worked the birds with smaller decoy spreads and the layout blinds further from the decoy spread. Like last year we would see thousands of birds a day moving up and down the coastline and on occasion we would get a flock to come within shotgun range and we took advantage of those opportunities. All in all another great hunt with good friends.

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Mike- Neat little geese! I hunt them in Sept. on the Aleutian Peninsula. Fun to hunt up there. I always wondered where they ended up. Have fun!
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Mike,

Looks like a great time. Sub-breed of geese are one of the coolest things to harvest in my book.

Is there a seperate limit for Aleutians in Cali during the regular season?
 
Mike ! Fantastic pics. I feel like I was along with you. Cool little geese. Do they all have that white ring around there neck. Never have seen one. Guess maybe they go down the coastline on there migration. Thanks for posting.

Gary March
 
From my research they migrate directly from the Aleutians to Central Californina up though the Willamette Valley of Oregon. California allows a three bird limit during the regular season then open the season up to six birds for two weeks in March. This is not a management hunt to reduce the population of the geese it is a private land only hunt to haze the birds off of the grazing lands along the coast. The birds will go into an area and eat all of the grass on dairy farms and cattle ranches.

It is a beautiful goose with a very distinctive white ring around the neck and much more brown in color than a regular Canada goose. The very first Aleutian that I shot last year was double banded neck and leg. This goose is at the taxidermist in Northern California and I will get a picture up when I get it.
 
Mike,
I sure did enjoy those wonderful pictures along with that story. Congratulations on a great hunt with your brother.
Al
 
Sounds like they have made a good recovery. I can remember when I lived out West not only could you not harvest an Aleutian, but also the areas where they primarily wintered was closed to all hunting for dark geese.

I knew an older guy that had a couple of Russian bands from Aleutians he shot many years ago.
 
The Aleutian goose is a true success story for conservation. When the first recognition of the Aleutian goose was endangered was about 1975 just after the passage of the Endangered Species Act. There was only 750 of the little guys. They all bred on an island way out in the Aleutians. With hunting closures, fox eradication and purchasing and management of conservation lands the geese were delisted and a hunting season was started. They were the first species removed from ESA protection to go immediately into regulated hunting status. There are now approximately 120,000. They have spread to different nesting islands and they winter primarily in the Central Valley near Modesto and the Delta. During spring they move north into Humboldt and Del Norte Counties (more are starting to winter there also). They concentrate into a relatively small area and do cause problems for the ranchers and farmers. Thankfully not too many have invaded the Willamette Valley yet. I have enough problems there but that is another story.

Bill, there aren't many people who have hunted them in the north and south portions of their range. In the Westport area are you sure they weren't cacklers from the Y-K delta?
 
They make a nice mount. I have them with blue and silver collars. Very distinctive collars on them. They don't use this type on any others to my knowledge. Also have one with a tarsus band. Would love to hunt them again as they are quite a success story as the Arctic Foxes nearly wiped them out.

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Not a good picture, but all I had on file from my room.

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From my research they migrate directly from the Aleutians to Central Californina up though the Willamette Valley of Oregon.
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You're partially right on all counts. Aleutian Canada Geese migrate from the Aleutian islands down the coast wintering primarily in California. The Cackling Canada Goose has a major wintering population in the Willamette Valley in Oregon. The difference may be that they are two separate sub species. Both of them are wonderful stories of conservation. The Aleautian was listed as a threatened species(possibly endangered) and was responsible for closing down the entire Oregon coast and parts of WA and CA for all goose hunting. The idea that there would be a huntable population of these birds is amazing. The Cackler has a similar story, as it was a threatened species that you could not hunt in many areas clear into the mid 90's. Now with an increase in population it makes up a large part of the bag limit in many parts of the west. They are both great little birds and the increase in hunting opportunities for both in the last 20 years is a testament to our conservation accompishments as hunters.
 
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