Canada Goose Management

A few Canada geese can make a nice addition to any park, golf course, etc., but with few natural predators, their population soon gets out of hand!

Each goose generates 4 lbs of nasty, unsightly goose poop, and a small flock of 15 can fill a bushel basket every day! Not only is it unattractive, there are a number of serious diseases that can be transmitted through their droppings!

Just a quick note that all Canada geese, their nests, eggs, and young are Federally protected. Harming them is a felony that can carry stiff fines and/or jail sentences. Predator Impact, LLC has the proper State and Federal permits to manage nuisance geese for you. 
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Management of Canada geese falls into two categories. 
#1 Resident Geese
Most of the urban geese in Oklahoma are non-migratory geese that live here year round. They do not migrate north in the summer, but live and nest in Oklahoma all summer. 

#2 Migratory Geese
Most of the rural geese and some of the urban geese are migratory. They live here in the winter, but migrate north in the spring to nest and raise their young. 

The Federal Government has set a date range between March 11 and 1-Septenber as the period of time when all of the migratory geese are gone from Oklahoma and only resident geese are left. The management practices inside and outside of this date range are very different. 

Managing Migratory Geese. 
During the period from 1-September to 11-March of the following year, it is presumed that we are dealing with Federally protected migrator geese. Management at this time is strictly "hands off". We can harass the geese, and use deterrents, but we cannot physically re-locate them without special permission. 
Predator Impact, LLC has a number of non-contact controls that will encourage the geese to take up residence somewhere else. These include: 

• Special frequency hand held lasers to disturb their sleep at night. 
• RC boats and RC cars to harass them both on land and on water. 
• Robotic alligator that harasses them. 
• Trained dogs that will chase them, but not harm them. 

In addition, we have a harmless chemical that we can put on the grass to keep them from feeding. If you were to taste it, it would taste like candy. It is harmless to people, pets and wildlife... except.... if a goose eats grass treated with it, it gives them short term, but very uncomfortable intestinal cramps. The geese can tell the grass has been treated and they will go somewhere else to feed! 

These measures combine to create an environment that the geese do not find comfortable, and they will go somewhere else to live! 

Managing Resident Geese
After 11-March and before 1-September, it is presumed that the geese that are still here are non-migratory resident geese. The Federal government grants the state special permits that allow a lot more aggressive activities that are not allowed the rest of the year. 

Egg Addling
Egg addling is birth control for geese. 
After the Goose Roundup described later, egg addling is the second best method of limiting the number of geese on your property. 
The permits issued to Predator Impact by the state and federal government allow us to destroy a prescribed number of eggs and nests. However, this isn't our preferred method of reducing the number of goslings that are hatched. If we destroy a nest, the geese will just re-nest close by. If we do it too many times, they will hide the nest and they can be very difficult to find. 
A much better approach is egg addling. 
This is a PETA approved method whereby we treat the eggs with a special  food grade oil to deactivate them and return them to the nest. The pair will continue to incubate the deactivated eggs for the rest of the summer. When their hormones signal the end of the nesting season, they will walk away having not hatched or raised any goslings for that year. 

Aggressive Individual Removal
Every year, dozens of people in Oklahoma are knocked down, injured, and even hospitalized due to aggressive male geese that believe they are protecting their nests. Canes and walkers seem to trigger the worst attacks making nesting geese particularly dangerous for the elderly When there is a danger from an aggressive gander, Predator Impact can capture that individual and relocate him to our wildlife preserve in rural Nowata County. The individual's wings are clipped, or otherwise treated to keep him from returning. He will quickly assimilate into the flock that lives there and will find a new mate. Once the aggressive male is removed, the female becomes very calm and continues to incubate her eggs. This is often combined with egg addling to eliminate the aggressive individual and to reduce the population growth. 

Operant Conditioning 
In an urban setting such as a hospital, park, or industrial area, geese quickly lose their fear of people. When people run from them, or show signs of being frightened by them, the geese are further emboldened. The geese will often attack even if there isn't a nest in he immediate area. Predator Impact has a number of tools to re-instill a healthy fear of people that will reduce, if not eliminate, any aggressive behavior in the geese. 
By judicious use of trained dogs, trained birds of prey, RC vehicles, lasers, and paintball guns, the geese learn to once again fear the approach people rather than attacking them. 

Goose Roundup

By far the most powerful tool in Predator Impact's arsenal for Canada goose management is the Goose Roundup. 
All birds drop all of their feathers every year and grow new ones. Most birds such as songbirds, raptors, etc. drop one flight feather on each wing so that the stay balanced and can still fly. Once that pair of feathers are mostly regrown, they will lose the next matched pair, etc. until they have all been replaced. 

Geese take a different approach. Beginning in mid-June, they drop all of their flight feathers at once. For a 4-5 week period, they can walk, they can run, they can swim, but they cannot fly. During this time, we bring in kayakers, portable corrals, and specially designed trailers and round them up like cattle. 
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They are taken to a distant lake that is at least 100 miles (usually much more) that is specified by the State Wildlife Dept. There they are individually inspected to record any bands, make sure they are healthy and any with fully developed flight feathers are trimmed or removed to keep them grounded until after the next molt. They will stay at the new location while re-growing their flight feathers and by the time they can fly again, they are fully acclimated to their new home and they will not return to your property. 

While the geese we relocate will not come back, the same features that made your property attractive to geese in the first place, may encourage more. Think of the round up as a "reset button" on your population to keep working their numbers down. 

Through a consistent annual program of egg addling and goose roundups, most of our customers see a steady reduction year over year of the goose population on their property. 

If you have a problem with the Canada geese on your property, contact Predator Impact for a free, no obligation review. We will discuss your situation and make some recommendations. 
Predator Impact, LLC
Mark Runnels
​(918) 397-4091