jcummins
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Jan 14, 2007
- Messages
- 1,636
- Location
- Creal Springs, IL
- Tractor
- Kubota M7040, F3680, Mule Pro Fxt
Get a dog. Train him to do what he does best when you say.....git em.
Once again, I find myself on the other side of popular opinion. I think the Canada geese are beautiful animals. (You do know there's a difference in "Canada Geese" and "Canadian Geese", right?)
My 'dislike' criteria with them though is quantity. We have two pair that come here annually to nest. Two pair with a string of little ones trailing behind out on the lake is a beautiful sight, in my opinion. They're always welcome to come for their short stay.
Once their young are old enough to fly, they're gone to land unknown. However - this year we had two other large groups that decided to invade our two lakes. Total was about 3 dozen, +/-, and that was 32 too many. Four geese don't make that much of a mess. Three dozen do. A flock of a hundred simply would not be tolerated. We simply let our little terrier dog out to run them off.
After the third day, they all left. The two original pair will be back next year - they always go back to where they were born to nest every year. And once again, they'll be welcome. At least they're "visitors", not "residents".
Not all Canada geese are migratory though. The nearby national fish hatchery has accumulated a huge flock that hang out all year. Those, I don't think would be afraid of a dog, shotgun, or anything at all. They hang out wherever they happen to feel like. Sometimes they're even in the road, seemingly daring a car to run into them. Those guys have pretty much worn out their welcome, in my opinion.
I've always wanted this problem. I've seen a couple in my pond in the last ten years, but it's very rare and they never left any fertilizer on my pastures. I've heard that golf courses have a lot of problems with them and if it's really bad, I would try to figure out what they do.
The ones we have are not migratory, they stay year round and they are not native. Up until 20 years ago a few would pass through the area in late winter and people enjoyed seeing them. Now they they have decided to stay and create mountains of poo. Every year we have a few wild ducks spend some time on our pond. They are beautiful and we enjoy watching them but geese are a different story.