DComeaux wrote:It's just a matter of time before these groups shut us down.......
This is one reason I don't like your ideas on baiting or the laws as they exist. Once they figure out if you don't like the neighbors waterfowl hunting next door, and all you need to do is dump a bunch of cheap corn and make them criminals, it gets real easy to end everything. I could definitely see that happening at our club. Many of our blinds are visible from the neighbors. They could row out at night dump a couple 50 lb bags of corn and call the warden. Game over, we are out of business.
Years ago someone did spray paint a bunch of decoys left overnight orange.
DComeaux wrote: I'm sure they're smiling and motivated by what they did with (for) the Canada's. Now they've become a nuisance up there, and in some cases they have to be exterminated (culled).
You have to make a distinction between the MVP (migratory) geese and the resident geese. Or as the guy that runs the one club I am a member, MVP (Mississippi Valley Population) and the GCG (Golf Course Geese). I don't have the numbers for other states, but in Illinois we kill about 2 resident geese for every MVP goose, but I'll bet it's pretty similar. The giant Canadas are easier to hunt for most people. The MVP geese are smaller geese and travel in bigger flocks. They don't respond nearly as well to the call. Biggers spreads and I think a lot more motion (something I'm going to try this year). Before the resident geese, getting geese was rare where I hunted. The resident geese also attract a lot of migratory flocks. So our goose numbers are way up from what they used to be and it includes about 1/3rd MVP geese. They are easy to tell by size. The residents are 10-12 lbs. The MVP around 6.
It does make judging distance tough. Is that a 12 lb goose out of range or a 6 lb goose in range? I've shoot geese from 14 lbs to around 5 lbs. Everybody screws up both ways on that one from time to time. I was hunting with a guide that called the shot on some giants well out of range.
I'd have done exactly the same thing if I was calling the shots.
I haven't read your article yet, but all of the culling I have ever heard of was resident geese. The reason being is so many of them live where hunting is not an option. The expansion of the coyote population is what finally stabilized our resident goose population. Personally, I think they should allow netting of Canadas with the same limits and seasons, but no restrictions on where people do it. The sidewalk$hitters need to learn some fear of people. They stand on the sidewalk hissing at me and I scoop them up and take them home for dinner. Pretty quick they would fear people and the problem goes away. If it doesn't, well, I'll have lots of sausage to share.