Posted on 03/26/2003 12:56:56 PM PST by Willie Green
For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.
The excited proclamation came from Drew Kuckler, who was now up on his knees, anxiously scanning the March skies for the source of the sound. The sky search was soon joined by my son Matt, who had already flipped the power switch on his electronic game caller.
The three of us were spending our Saturday afternoon in a south central Iowa cornfield, laying smack in the middle of 450 snow white goose decoys. From my position, the scene resembled the aftermath from an explosion at the diaper factory. Our hope, however, was that from the air the ruse would pass as a believable imitation of noisily feeding snow geese.
As the distinct, high pitched yelping of traveling snow geese grew steadily louder, our visual search became increasingly intense. It was Matt who first spotted the approaching geese.
"There they are. Coming straight at us from the south," he announced.
Sure enough, a lined formation of geese had spotted our spread and was rapidly closing on the field. Utilizing the advantage provided by a brisk, 20-mph tailwind, the geese [I counted 41] sailed directly over the decoys and then quickly hooked back into the breeze. Amazingly, there was none of the usual highly cautious circling -- just a straight line decent into the decoys. As the snows crossed the 20-yard line, we rose to fire.
At this point I'd like to say that it rained geese. The fact of the matter is that we only managed to connect with four birds before the flock fell back into the wind and was gone.
It didn't really matter though. For the next hour and a half we were treated to a true spring spectacular as flock after endless flock of migrating snow geese passed over our location. The day's final highlight occurred as we began to peel birds from a lacework pattern of flocks passing at an altitude of several hundred feet. As the interest in our decoys built, more and more snows joined the groups already working the spread. The scenario ended with three or four hundred birds attempting to land in the decoys.
Of all the continent's waterfowl, snow geese have become the most wary and difficult species to lure into decoys. It is indeed a rare day when you can get a large flock of to come within 10 yards or less of the spread -- but this was it. The noise was deafening, and it was a sight and sound that we'll cherish for a long time to come.
Perhaps the most incredible aspect of our hunt was that it occurred just two weekends ago. Until recently, the idea of a spring goose hunt was something that waterfowl enthusiasts didn't even dream about. But as contemporary populations of lesser snow geese have continued to soar, the damage to fragile arctic nesting habitats has become intolerable.
"Total snow goose numbers have more than tripled during the past 30 years," says DNR waterfowl biologist, Guy Zenner.
"The fragile Canadian arctic, with its extremely short growing season cannot support goose populations of that size. Snow geese were literally eating themselves out of house and home, and something had to be done," Zenner said.
Scientists note that a full third of the vast arctic tundra is already destroyed, and that another third has been severely impacted. Were the damage stop immediately it could take a full century, perhaps more, for fragile plant life to recover.
In an effort to reduce the numbers of light geese, a special [conservation order] hunt was initiated in 1999. The goal of the emergency act was to reduce the 6 million bird [snow goose] flock by 50 percent. Special regulations allowed spring hunts, liberalized shooting hours and bag limits, unplugged shotguns, and the use of electronic calls. With the fifth year of special goose hunts currently underway, biologists are encouraged as the measure is showing preliminary signs of success.
"For the first time since records were kept, we are seeing the combined [regular and conservation order] harvest of snow geese reach or exceed one million birds," said Zenner.
"In Iowa, success has fluctuated with weather conditions. During the past four seasons we have harvested anywhere from around 12,000 to over 29,000 geese during the special [conservation order] seasons.
"I think it is important to note that our combined annual snow goose harvest now represents about four times the average that occurred from 1988 to 1997. During 1999-2000, the regular light goose harvest in Iowa was only 11,300, but the bag during the conservation order period was 20,681, for a combined total of 31,981 geese," said Zenner.
"To me, the figures are extremely encouraging and suggest that, given the appropriate time and tools, hunters may just be able to bring this population under control."
Biologists predict that good numbers of snow geese, including an increasing number of juveniles, should continue to migrate through the state for the next two weeks.
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