Goose massacre

[Fat Jimmy]

We waited all season for the geese to hit the one little creek that we hunt in Frederick and my brother called the other night and said it was time. Killed 28 with 8 guns, but we probably shoulda done better. Had too many circling a couple of times and it's hard to hide 8 guys in a little creek. Got 2 banded birds, one was double banded with a 50 dollar reward band. Gonna try 'em again in the morning, but it's probably not going to be easy to talk 'em into getting smashed in the face again. [wink]

[kepone cats]

Our season ended on 1/28 with a 2 bird limit so you guys can slaughter them? I guess some states need to be reserved in the harvest...[shy]

[Fat Jimmy]

Yep, I guess we gotta shoot geese since we can't spend our winter dredging for female crabs.

[nchaput]

I am a little confused. In md there is an 8 bird limit for canadas? I have never heard of that? Is there a reason for that? J/C I have always experienced the two bird limit. In CT I didn't get the chance to goose hunt until I was 15 or 16 because of the season closure for a couple of years. I know the geese have recovered but have they recovered enough to justify an 8 bird limit?

[Fat Jimmy]

MD is divided into resident (western part of state) and the migrating birds on the eastern shore. We did have an 8 bird limit early in the season, but it's at 5 birds now until the end of the season on Wednesday. I can promise you there is no shortage of resident birds out this way and it seems like there's more every year. We went back yesterday and only got 3. The big flocks were still in the area and they gave us a look, but I don't think anything could have convinced them to come in there again yesterday. FJ

[drewsmith]

This is the late resident season in Maryland. It is supposed to be for non-migratory birds. Perfectly legal on the western shore. DNR ends up changing the boundries for this every year. It is obvious to me that AP birds are being taken during this late "resident" season.

It is especially clear that this must be changed when guys post up about bands taken. Hopefully they will be reported and the late resident season changed.

[onthefly]

I do agree that the resident population increases during the last few weeks. However keep in mind that although AP geese are mixed in the majority of the bands taken here are from neighboring states to determine the range of resident geese. West Virginia seems to make the bulk of bands taken.

[ketch69]

Try baiting them with corn like you fellas do the deer. They will prolly come in better.

[Fat Jimmy]

The one band that my brother ended up with said Laurel, MD. I'm not a rocket scientist, but i'll just take a wild guess and say that one was probably a resident.

[drewsmith]

Yikes, your wild guess would be wrong, but on the bright side, you're no rocket scientist. All bands that were a certain age say Laurel, Maryland. Many now have Washington DC. Doesn't mean they were all banded in these two cities. That's just where you you write after a bird is harvested. Some have toll free numbers. Please give the band to someone that will correctly report the harvest data. This is used to help all the USF&WS plan seasons across many states and will hopefully guide the state of Maryand to properly set the AP and RP boundries.