Euthanized geese in Alabama HOA community question

SJ Fairbank said:
I wish they would do that to the mute swans in CT. They destroy the submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) and leave fertilizer everywhere. All the problems of resident geese and more, no hunting season.
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Here on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake we had a large population of Mute swans. The Maryland Department of Natural Resources decided to "manage" them back around 2000. Oiling eggs etc did not work and they resorted to euthanizing by shooting. A friend of mine was the State waterfowl biologist at the time and they took their swan management program seriously. years later, seeing a Mute here is a rarity. Of course, there was lots of hand wringing about the "beautiful native swans", and we were very surprised that the Department got the program approved. It was a great sucess.
 
I don't think the resident goose season on long island is effective. Open up the first 10 days of the season for 6 geese, close it down for the split and go back to 2 geese. You may shoot a few migrant birds, but mostly resident birds. I shot the residemt season once, never again.
 
Matt Mahoney said:
Here on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake we had a large population of Mute swans. The Maryland Department of Natural Resources decided to "manage" them back around 2000. Oiling eggs etc did not work and they resorted to euthanizing by shooting. A friend of mine was the State waterfowl biologist at the time and they took their swan management program seriously. years later, seeing a Mute here is a rarity. Of course, there was lots of hand wringing about the "beautiful native swans", and we were very surprised that the Department got the program approved. It was a great sucess.
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The DEP tried it in CT about the same time. The plan was to have tags which cost $50 each if I recall. We paid for 10 or 20 tags, not positive which. Then the do gooders sued and got the legislature involved. Swan control is not going to happen here as far as I can tell. Do you think they refunded our money? :mad:🖕
 
Should have been opened up to hunting . If the HOA didn’t want to allow gunfire / guns then tough titties. Deal with the geese and face the same penalties as hunting out of season as the rest of us.
Could have been framed as a Hunter education course . Should have been specific contracts in place to guarantee meat is not waste.


But nope Dudley doo right wants a “problem” gone without having to hear or think about it
Typical

How about extending early season for the rest of us or opening up a special draw ..
 
D. Hinton said:
Should have been opened up to hunting . If the HOA didn’t want to allow gunfire / guns then tough titties. Deal with the geese and face the same penalties as hunting out of season as the rest of us.
Could have been framed as a Hunter education course . Should have been specific contracts in place to guarantee meat is not waste.


But nope Dudley doo right wants a “problem” gone without having to hear or think about it
Typical

How about extending early season for the rest of us or opening up a special draw ..
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You had me right up to the part about a draw. First cousin to various non resident restrictions for waterfowl hunting. These kinds of regulations will be the end of waterfowling.
 
SJ Fairbank said:
You had me right up to the part about a draw. First cousin to various non resident restrictions for waterfowl hunting. These kinds of regulations will be the end of waterfowling.
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I definitely agree with you. I was throwing at out as a list ditch possibility before doing what they did.
 
Following along here. I find it pretty hard to get too excited about culling nuisance wildlife. Many of the places where this takes place are not suitable for hunting. The real culprit here is neither the geese--who are just taking advantage of the fact that people (1) introduced them; and (2) are now creating a goose's idea of heaven with big green lawn next to a shallow weedy pond and enough people around so that most goose predators will stay far away. (Gators and snapping turtles may be exceptions.) Shooting or trapping, no matter who does it, is a temporary solution. What would really help is letting that grass grow long enough to hide some predators, or better yet, get nice thick scrub-shrub or even forest between the lawns and the water. Of course the real estate developers, the HOA's, the condo associations, and the golf course owners won't like that solution.
 
Ed L. said:
Interesting views and I appreciate that the geese do get out of hand. Now that this is public talk and similar questions have been expressed in my area about terminating the over population, I was just curious. Many know I live on an island so currently there is a large number of geese that call the island home. I'm not oblivious to the problems the geese create. I of course look forward to the Sept resident goose season but I'm only taking a few that I can eat. Others try to run them down with their golf carts or shoot bottle rocks at them. This of course is only a temporary fix if it does anything at all. I imagine as time goes on the euthanizing of geese will come to these parts as well. Many golf courses and retention ponds being built now that the city planners feel are needed for continued growth of the $400,000+ properties in subdivisions that continue to draw the folks and the need for higher taxes
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Most developments here run fishing line over the top of the ponds to discourage geese. That seems to keep most at bay. With being along the coast most geese are moving between the marsh and the developments. The few remaining farmlands grow corn which also encourage the resident populations to stay around.

Rick Lathrop
 
SJ Fairbank said:
The DEP tried it in CT about the same time. The plan was to have tags which cost $50 each if I recall. We paid for 10 or 20 tags, not positive which. Then the do gooders sued and got the legislature involved. Swan control is not going to happen here as far as I can tell. Do you think they refunded our money? :mad:🖕
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To clarify; The Maryland program was not a hunting program. The DNR euthanized the mutes with .22s and shotguns. Every last one of them. And, I think that they are still quietly whacking them whenever they re-appear. Which is rare. I can't remember the last time I have seen a Mute on the Bay in recent years.
 
Matt Mahoney said:
To clarify; The Maryland program was not a hunting program. The DNR euthanized the mutes with .22s and shotguns. Every last one of them. And, I think that they are still quietly whacking them whenever they re-appear. Which is rare. I can't remember the last time I have seen a Mute on the Bay in recent years.
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The CT program wasn't hunting either. The rules as proposed allowed a permittee to drive up in a boat and shoot them. Hunting over decoys would not have been allowed. Based on what you wrote, the difference between the MD and CT program was who did the culling.

I hope a mechanism becomes available to control Mute Swans. They destroy the SAV beds and leave nasty floating mats of algae and crap. As do geese. Which of course, depletes dissolved oxygen levels in the waterbody. Areas where ducks used to frequent to feed on the SAVs are now devoid of ducks in the fall. They're probably all in a flooded cornfield somewhere. :devilish:
 
@D. Hinton;

You cannot hunt the subject lake, even if every owner gave permission. The houses surround the place pretty tightly, and it's inside a highly populated city limit, right across the street from a military base. Some rum-dum would blast the side of a house with his 3.5" TSS shells (everyone knows you need at least 3.5" 12 gauge shells to kill a goose, and that's only if you don't have a 10 gauge laying around).

Also, no bribery had to happen. This was an authorized culling by the USFWS. This lake has had to cull before, and will have to cull again. They oil eggs every year. My only gripe is that the meat likely went into a dumpster.
 
Richard Lathrop said:
Most developments here run fishing line over the top of the ponds to discourage geese.
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The pool I worked at had fishing line strung across it to keep the pelicans out. It was pretty effective. It didn't stop the sea gulls from coming in but it sure did cut down on the amount of birds coming in to eat their catches in our pool. Every so often I would have to fish a blue crab or two out of the pool. I tell ya, chasing down a blue crab in a 50 m pool was good exercise. Just not what I wanted to do at 545 in the morning.

We have a resident goose season here in FL for the month of Sept. I don't think it really does much for the resident goose population. I know of a few private properties that would be suitable for hunting but the owners run cattle on the properties and I don't think they'd be okay with hunting geese with their cattle out. Otherwise, the majority of the geese that I see are in town where firearms being discraged is not allowed at all.
 
Dani said:
The pool I worked at had fishing line strung across it to keep the pelicans out. It was pretty effective. It didn't stop the sea gulls from coming in but it sure did cut down on the amount of birds coming in to eat their catches in our pool. Every so often I would have to fish a blue crab or two out of the pool. I tell ya, chasing down a blue crab in a 50 m pool was good exercise. Just not what I wanted to do at 545 in the morning.

We have a resident goose season here in FL for the month of Sept. I don't think it really does much for the resident goose population. I know of a few private properties that would be suitable for hunting but the owners run cattle on the properties and I don't think they'd be okay with hunting geese with their cattle out. Otherwise, the majority of the geese that I see are in town where firearms being discraged is not allowed at all.
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Never met a cattle farmer that didnt hesitate to give a goose hunter permission. They hate em as much as anyone. Yearlings are a problem on decoys though. They are the most curious little suckers. Cattle, otherwise, will often stay outta the way just fine. Theyll push to one end of the field and leave you alone until you pick up and go. Doesnt hurt to ask, and I can promise you, if pellets happen to rain down on one of the cattle, it aint even going to stir them up. You would have to be hard pressed and doing something dumb to get bird shot into a hide of some cattle. I shot pigeons over dairy cows for many years, they wouldnt even stir up from shotgun fire and never, did I ever, have an issue with pellets on cows. I hunt a lot of cattle farmers properties, and in all my years, never had an issue.
 
We regularly hunt fields with cattle for dove in S Texas - the cows don't seem to care at all. In fact, it always seems be a good shoot when cows are or have been in the immediate area - I suspect because their presence means water is nearby.
 
Dani said:
The pool I worked at had fishing line strung across it to keep the pelicans out. It was pretty effective. It didn't stop the sea gulls from coming in but it sure did cut down on the amount of birds coming in to eat their catches in our pool. Every so often I would have to fish a blue crab or two out of the pool. I tell ya, chasing down a blue crab in a 50 m pool was good exercise. Just not what I wanted to do at 545 in the morning.

We have a resident goose season here in FL for the month of Sept. I don't think it really does much for the resident goose population. I know of a few private properties that would be suitable for hunting but the owners run cattle on the properties and I don't think they'd be okay with hunting geese with their cattle out. Otherwise, the majority of the geese that I see are in town where firearms being discraged is not allowed at all.
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Like the other guys, I'd suggest asking permission. Ya never know.
 
SJ Fairbank said:
Like the other guys, I'd suggest asking permission. Ya never know.
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Seems this is the hardest part for most hunters..... being told no is like the ultimate fear in a lot of bird hunters that ive crossed paths with. I never understood why either. Cant get access without asking, and it leaves you in the same position as not asking permission. Ive been told no many of times, and just a couple weeks later get a call for them to change their mind, as I always leave my name and phone number.

Seems the younger generation struggles most with this as well, as they are so tied to screens and communication through apps, they get nervous shaking a hand and having a conversation in person. Enough destruction from gaggles of geese, and that landowner will think twice about that crazy sucker who wants to layout in the cold around some made up decoys. Whats funny is when they call and ask where you are the week after the season ends. When you explain the season and the rules, they just act so let down that they have to wait til next season to get the same relief again. Thats when you know you got it locked down for good.
 
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