Geese have become so plentiful and are such a nuisance in both populated and water-sports areas, that there is now an extended hunting season for them in many southern states. Some of the hunting regulations allow hunting from November through March, and for certain really plentiful/nuisance species, there is no daily limit during many of these months. Even with these extended hunting days/unlimited daily limit, the goose population continues to increase. In many areas, once geese settle onto a body of water, such as the Ross Barnett Reservoir near Jackson, Mississippi, they never leave. They tear up and soil yards and gardens, are territorial and often have "bad tempers", and can be a danger if the body of water is near an airport.

Ken

I agree, Ken, geese are a problem in many areas. The title of my piece was kind of "tongue in cheek"! I didn't know Dave was going to use my essay as an Idea, as I had put it in my Blog.

It was still a "fun" story, June, told by some who (possibly) doesn't have much problem with geese, since they migrate south from your region.

Ken - I'm glad I'm not the only one with geese problems. They're problems here in the D-metro year round as the ones who are here in the summer migrate south in the winter & the ones further north migrate here in the winter, so we have them all the time. They attack people hiking/walking on sidewalks, they've actually learned how to stop at traffic lights & wait for the walk signal! The golf courses (which I despise) "hire" golden retrievers & labs to chase the geese off. A lot of our reservoirs were getting badly contaminated by all the geese poo (hundreds of geese in a small lake).. During the spring, when the males are honking for a female, where I work there's a big empty field that they like to hang out in. Walking from my van to the building can be an exercise in avoiding the poo and the hissing geese. One decided to chase me. S/he lunged at my leg, but I was wearing boots, so s/he wasn't able to do any damage. I was sorely wanting to kick & chase after the goose, but I knew that s/he was just defending his/her territory, so I didn't. Didn't mean I didn't want to!!!

Watching the goslings go from the ugly little green furball phase into the big stately geese is fun, but I'd rather them be in a population control situation rather than thousands & thousands, literally. I do remember, though, in the 70s, when I was an itty-bitty squirt, going to a wild-life refuge because my parents wanted me to see them "just in case". Apparently there was a time when they were on the brink of extinction. I think they've made on heck of a comeback.

People who have never heard a large flock (gaggle?) of geese honking, cannot imagine how loud they are. If you played your radio as loudly in a public area, you would likely be arrested for disturbing the peace!

There's about 100 geese on my pond at the moment, as the pre-migration gathering has begun. Noisy? Yes! I'll be sleeping with the windows closed tonight.

I guess in the Denver metro area, there are no natural predators left - no foxes, coyotes, or whatever - and it sounds as if the geese have gotten out of control. Dogs are one way to make geese move on. When I worked at a public garden in the US, after receiving complaints from visitors who stepped in goose poo, we used a team of specially trained collie dogs to go after the geese and chase them off. Some of the collies wore life-preservers and were trained to swim after the geese when they took to the water. Those dogs were awesome! Some visitors to the gardens then complained it was cruel for the poor geese to be harassed by dogs.

It is too bad those bleeding hearts were not chased by a bad-tempered goose. They would soon sing a different tune!