By Jeff Berti
Waterfowl hunters, your wait is almost over. Missouri’s early goose season is upon us and will run for a total of nine days. This means the early goose season will open October 1 and run through October 9.
Hunters need three permits to hunt ducks, geese and other waterfowl – a Missouri Small Game Hunting Permit, a Missouri Migratory Bird Hunting Permit and a federal Migratory Bird Hunting (Duck) Stamp. During the early season, the daily limit is three Canada Geese, and the possession limit is nine.
The Missouri Department of Conservation instituted the early season on an experimental basis in 1992. The idea was to develop a way of selectively harvesting giant Canada geese, a subspecies that lives here year-round.
Large numbers of the big birds were building up in some areas, following a successful restoration effort that began in the 1960s. In some areas, they were so numerous that they began to cause problems for property owners.
At the same time, however, numbers of other Canada goose subspecies were declining or remaining stable due to inconsistent production in their arctic nesting areas. The early season was an effort to crop only the booming giant Canada goose population by letting hunters take them before migratory geese arrived in significant numbers.
The strategy worked, and federal officials gave their approval to make the early Canada goose season a regular feature of Missouri’s waterfowl hunting season.
Giant Canada geese are likely to gather wherever they find lakes or large ponds adjacent to an open, grassy landscape. Mowed lawns, parks and golf courses provide tender, sprouting grass for the geese to eat and a clear view of approaching predators.
Hunters who discover a giant Canada goose feeding and resting spot and get permission to hunt there can put a Christmas goose in the freezer with relative ease. Geese have excellent memories, however, and quickly desert places where they are disturbed. This requires hunters to remain alert for new hunting areas.
*****************************************
I would like to remind everyone that there will be a Hunter Education Skills course in Trenton on Thursday, October 13 at the NCMC Barton Campus south of town. The course will run from 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Students must be 11 years old in order to be certified.
Students will need to complete the knowledge portion of the course on their own before attending the skills session. This can be done by studying the student manual and filling out the questions at the end of the book, or by going online and completing the knowledge portion and printing out the certificate of completion. Students must be pre-registered for the course in order to attend. Students can pre-register online and take the knowledge portion of the course at www.mdc.mo.gov. Student manuals can be picked up at the customer service desk at Shopko. This will be the only course offered in Grundy County before the fall deer seasons.
This website brought to you in part by the following sponsor:
