There have been big changes in hunting for Canada geese in Kentucky over the past 40 years.
This species’ reversal of fortune, and its impact on hunting, may someday be judged as one of the real success stories in conservation history, alongside the comeback of the white-tailed deer and wild turkey.
In the early 1970s waterfowl hunters from central and eastern Kentucky beat a path to the Purchase Region, driving hours and hours down the Western Kentucky Parkway, often overnight, to reach a pit or blind by shooting hours the next morning. There were so many migratory Canada geese wintering in the region that a popular restaurant near the Ballard Wildlife Management Area had a buffet breakfast bar set up to accommodate the lines of hungry hunters in camouflage and hip boots.
The late Frank C. Bellrose, a pioneering waterfowl researcher, who began working for the Illinois Natural History Survey in 1938, estimated that by the early 1970s about 300,000 Canada geese were wintering in southern Illinois and western Kentucky.
During those peak years 60,000 to 100,000 geese, or about 20 percent of total Mississippi Valley Population, would winter at Ballard WMA and adjoining riverbottom fields along the Ohio River.
The breeding grounds of MVP geese are in northern Ontario, primarily in the Hudson Bay lowlands west of James Bay — tundra and marsh complexes, muskeg along the coast of Hudson Bay and boreal forest bogs.
Migrant Geese Numbers Decline
Beginning in the 1980s, the number of migrant geese coming south of the Ohio River began to decline dramatically, but not because there were fewer birds. Their migration paths and wintering destinations changed, for a number of reasons, including increases in food availability, as grain (corn, winter wheat and soybean) production in Wisconsin, eastern Iowa and Northern Illinois increased and farmers switched to no-till production techniques.
By the mid-1990s, the average January population of Canada geese at Ballard WMA was about 15,000, the lowest on record.
By the mid-2000s less than 27,000 Canada geese were observed wintering in western Kentucky and southern Illinois. At Ballard WMA, long considered the best public waterfowl hunting area in the state, only 4,000 to 6,000 Canada geese were wintering on the area’s 8,015 acres.
Return of Resident Canada Geese
But something was happening that would reverse the fortunes of Kentucky waterfowl hunters by making Canada geese more accessible.
A native subspecies, the Giant Canada Goose (Branta canadensis maxima), that was believed to be extinct in North America, was discovered in 1962. A small flock of these birds were found wintering in Rochester, Minnesota, by Harold Hanson of the Illinois Natural History Survey. Temperate nesting geese are often referred to as “resident” geese.
Over the decades, a restoration program, which included the captive rearing and stocking of descendants from the discovered flock, created populations throughout the Mississippi Flyway states.
Michigan, which has the highest population in the region, had about 9,000 resident geese in 1970. Today their flock numbers about 300,000. Early stockings were made in the extensive wetlands along Lake Michigan. Giant Canada geese now nest in every Michigan county, but are most common (80 percent of population) in the southern third of the state.
Minnesota is another state with high numbers of resident geese.
According to Ducks Unlimited, Giant Canada geese can be found throughout their former range and in every U.S. state. Their numbers have increased exponentially in recent decades, and they now rival or outnumber migratory Canada geese in all four of North America’s waterfowl flyways.
Current estimates suggest that there are nearly 4 million giant Canada geese in North America: 1 million in the Atlantic Flyway, 1.7 million in the Mississippi Flyway, and slightly over 1 million in the Central and Pacific flyways combined.
Restoration Efforts in Kentucky
Kentucky’s restoration efforts date back to 1983 when the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources stocked 240 birds from Illinois on Peabody Coal Company land, in west central Kentucky. Later, there were stockings at several Central Kentucky locations.
Limited hunting began in the mid-1990s, and in 2001, Kentucky opened a statewide September goose season.
Central Kentucky’s many ponds and small lakes are perfect habitat for resident geese. These birds raise their young and spend most of their lives close by, mostly in rural areas and flying short distances in search of food.
“Our early season for Canada geese is September 1-15,” said John Brunjes, migratory bird program coordinator for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. “Last year the bag limit was increased to five, in an effort to help states control populations of resident birds.”
Shooting hours are one-half hour before sunrise to sunset.
Their preferred habitat is a combination of feeding and nesting areas, such as farm ponds and small lakes adjacent to routinely-mowed grassy pastures, since these geese are grazers.
“Resident geese are found statewide except for some heavily forested areas in eastern Kentucky,” said Brunjes. “The areas with highest populations are the Golden Triangle (Louisville, Lexington and northern Kentucky) and west central Kentucky (lower Green River). The southern counties have fewer geese.”
During the late fall and winter these geese also feed in fields of winter wheat, and corn fields that have been picked. That’s when hunters get a crack at resident geese that migrate down to Kentucky from the Great Lakes states, and migrant birds from Canada.
Resident geese stay close to where they were raised. Leg band recovery data has shown that locally-raised geese taken by hunters are usually within 25 miles of where they were banded.
Brunjes said the spring 2015 population estimate of resident Canada geese is Kentucky was 27,773. Kentucky has a lower survival rate of resident geese than some states to the north because nests get trampled by cattle and goslings get eaten by coyotes and other predators.
This annual population survey, conducted before nesting each spring, does not include the birds that live in urban areas. The birds there aren’t hunted unless they fly out into the country to feed. Urban geese spend most of their time on lakes in golf courses and city parks. They live in creeks and other waterways that flow through subdivisions, close to homes, businesses and along highway right-of-ways
Temperate nesting geese have become a major component of Kentucky’s waterfowl harvest. Today, more than 80 percent of the Canada geese bagged by Kentucky waterfowlers were raised here.
Driving the backroads early and late in the day, it’s easy to find concentrations of geese — the fields where they feed and the waters where they rest. Ask the landowner for permission to hunt. Many people consider these birds a nuisance and will gladly grant permission.
Harvest Information Program Survey Required
Licensed waterfowl hunters, who plan to hunt, are required to go online or make a phone call and fill out the Harvest Information Program questionaire before hunting. The process takes less than five minutes.
Go to fw.ky.gov, click on the “My Profile” tab. This takes you to a page that asks for some basic information to confirm your identity. After completing the HIP questions, you will receive a confirmation number that must be written on your hunting license or Kentucky Migratory Game Bird-Waterfowl Hunting Permit.
Hunters can also take the HIP survey over the telephone by calling 1-800-858-1549, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., weekdays.
Art Lander Jr. is outdoors editor for KyForward. He is a native Kentuckian, a graduate of Western Kentucky University and a life-long hunter, angler, gardener and nature enthusiast. He has worked as a newspaper columnist, magazine journalist and author and is a former staff writer for Kentucky Afield Magazine, editor of the annual Kentucky Hunting & Trapping Guide and Kentucky Spring Hunting Guide, and co-writer of the Kentucky Afield Outdoors newspaper column.