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The Canada Goose is characterized by its largely black plumage, black head and neck with white “chinstrap”. This bird is around 30-43 inches long and has a wing span of 50-71 inches. Males can be very aggressive in defending territory. A naturally migratory bird with the wintering range being mostly in the United States. An extended hunting season and the use of noise makers have been used in an attempt to disrupt suspect flocks over the course of several years.

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Goose Hunting General Info: Among the bird hunting genre, goose hunting occupies a special place providing a real challenge to hunting enthusiasts fed up with duck or pheasant hunting. Although it’s a popular practice in North America mainly, it is surprisingly bellow such types of hunting as raccoon or deer hunting. But goose hunting does have its fans, especially in the northern states of the U.S. and Canada, and they are not few.

Goose hunting can prove more difficult to practice than other types of hunting but the reward is worth the effort. Few things can match the nervous anxiety of placing a decoy and waiting for a goose to come, as well as seeing as one of your shots brings down such a wonderful bird. However, like almost every domain, it requires much patience and practice before becoming an expert at it. Until then, grab that gun, put on your hunting cap and have fun!

About Geese: Goose (plural geese) is the general English name for a considerable number of birds, belonging to the family Anatidae. This family also includes swans, most of which are larger than geese, and ducks, which are smaller. Goose, at its origins, is one of the earliest words of Indo-European languages (Crystal), the modern names derive from the proto-Indo-European roots, ghans, therefore Sanskrit hamsa (feminine hamsii), Latin anser, Greek khén and others. In the Germanic languages, the root word led to Old English gos with the plural gés, German Gans and Old Norse gas. Other contemporary derivatives are Russian gus and Old Irish géiss; the family name of the priest Jan Hus is derived from the Czech derivative husa.

The current article treats the subject of true geese in the sub-family Anserinae, tribe Anserini. A number of other water-birds, mostly related to the shelducks, have “goose” as a part of their names. True geese are average to large birds, in every case (except the Nēnē) associated more or less with water. Most of the species in Europe, North America and Asia are strappingly traveling as wild birds, breeding far north and spending winter much farther south. Nevertheless, escapes and voluntary introductions have led to resident untamed populations of numerous species. These wild birds have been tamed for centuries. In the West, domestic geese descend from the Greylag, however in Asia the Swan Geese have been farmed for at least the same period of time.

All geese eat a largely vegetarian diet and can become pests when flocks feed on arable crops or inhabit ponds or grassy areas in urban environments. They also take invertebrates if the opportunity presents itself; domestic geese will try out most novel food items for edibility.

Canada Goose: The Canada Goose also known as the Canadian goose in North America , is a part of the Branta genus of geese which distinguishes from the grey species with their largely black plumage. This type of goose has a black head and a black neck with white chinstrap similar to the Barnacle Goose but different in comparison to the other species of goose.

The Canadian goose has seven subspecies which vary in sizes and also plumage details but they are all known as Canadian geese. This specific specie is between 76 and 100 cm ( approximately 30 to 43 inches ) long and a wing span ranging from 127 to 180 cm ( approximately 50 to 71 inches ). The Canadian goose male in most cases has a weight which ranges from 3.2 to 6.5 kg ( approximately 7 to 14 pounds ) and it is known to be very defensive on his territory, he usually becomes very aggressive when he feels threatened. The female is basically the same but lighter: 2.5 to 5.5 kg ( approximately 5.5 -12 pounds ). Usually, the female is 10% lighter in comparison with the male and the female Canadian goose has a different type of honk.

Their life span is between 10 and 25 years. The Canadian goose eats plant materials. They depend on sedges, grasses or, in the summertime, other green monocots. They also feed on the remaining cultivated grains in fields ( usually in the winter periods or migration periods ). This specie is well-known in North America ; it breeds in Canada and in the northern part of the United States in a wide variety of habitats but in most cases you will find the nest near water or on a beaver lodge. Most of the Canadian geese are to be found in the Great Lakes. This type of goose has naturally reached the western part of Europe. They can also be found in eastern China, Japan and eastern Siberia. Greater Canada geese are found in Great Britain, Scandinavia and the Netherlands.

As far as mating is concerned, during their second year of life the Canadian goose finds a mate. Most of the couples won’t find other partners throughout their entire life, only if one of the partners dies. The female goose lays between 4 and 8 eggs; both parents are very protective and they will guard the eggs during the egg incubation period. During this period, the adults can’t fly because they lose their flight feathers. The period lasts between 25 and 28 days. The offspring will enter the fledging stage around the period when he is 6-9 weeks old and he will not leave his parents before the spring migration period is over.

Canada Goose Calling: An essential component of goose hunting, the calling plays a major role in turning the balance of success in your favor. Most of the time, placing a decoy and waiting for a bird to come to it is just a waste of time because it rarely happens that way. Instead, everybody uses callers as an auxiliary mean of luring prey close enough to take a shot. But learning which type of callers to use and the best way to use them is not easy, but once learnt it will be a constant advantage for you.

The whole goose calling concept is based on knowing to pick the right time when to use a caller rather than the way to make the call. This refers to knowing if a certain goose or a flock of geese is callable or not, by looking at the way they fly and move around, by the way they treat the decoys you place and other aspects as such. If the flock of geese you’re watching flies unorganized and relatively low or they flap their wings in a fast rate, then they are most likely to respond to calling. However, these signs are not universally true so try instead to see if your decoys change the way they move or if they make them curious in some way. Once you’ve got a positive reaction it is time to make the call itself.

With the help of quality goose callers, you are capable of making geese do anything you would like them to do. Many calls on the market will probably get the job done very well but you can perform so much better with custom goose calls and, on the long run, they will be worth the financial effort. These calls are louder, they are known to produce supplementary sounds and they narrowly resemble the sounds of geese. There are a small number of different types of callers on the market and what model you will use will mirror your hunting situation. There are 2 major types of goose calls: the flute call and the short reed call. If you plan to hunt for goose over water, it is recommended that you use a flute call because it’s quieter and mellower. A short reed call over water will scare the geese as it has an extremely loud, sharp sound.

Now that you are familiar with the types of call you can get, you should also know where exactly to find high-quality custom goose calls. There are a lot of people who put together custom calls although some are better than the others. If you are after buying a flute call, try with “Tim Grounds Variable Honker”. You will find it extremely easy to get the exact sounds you want out of it and they are very realistic, just right for hunts over water. When you are shopping for goose flutes, find one that is made of wood as wood calls make a much mellower sound than any acrylic or plastic.

Short reeds work very well when hunting in open fields and the volume and aggressiveness of this type of call is what allows it to work so fine. Geese tend to make the most racket when landing; they happen to be very loud and vocal. With a short reed you can get just like that, so you can bring the geese to you. You will want to be sure you include a loud call inside your hunting bag since there isn’t anything that will turn geese from distance superior to a loud call.

Learning how to call geese is incredibly hard, but the reward will pay for it all. Also, make sure you pick up a fine instructional tape, which will put you on your way as most of the tapes will teach you just how to use the calls, and how exactly to make the correct sounds needed to hunt geese. Some tapes tell the hunter when to use certain sounds so that when he’s hunting in the late season, he can lure the geese and make them come back.

Canada Goose Hunting Tips: On days without wind, water decoys are arguably not extremely effective. When ducks or geese swim on the surface of calm water they make small ripples by their motion. There are some techniques and devices to imitate the ripples caused by waterfowl. Jerk strings are the easiest to operate with and the cheapest. Hunters can create their individual weights; down rigging weights are accessible and reasonably priced. Following the placing of the decoy and the weight in water a hunter “jerks” the string, moving the lure and creating ripples on the calm water surface. There are various types of shakers and swimming decoys obtainable on today’s market. All these decoys serve the same idea and can be efficient if properly used.

Experts say that the finest loads for hunting geese are size 1, BB, BBB and T steel shot, although for the most common situations BB or BBB shot are the most efficient shot sizes. Both have pellets in abundance, yet sufficient energy to bring down a mature bird. Since steel shoots patterns of tighter model compared to lead, the most appropriate chokes for goose hunting are customized and improved modified.

Creating the false impression of movement within your goose decoy arsenal could make the geese lock up at a distance. The flagging method is a long and short range attracter when goose hunting. If you can spot the geese, then the geese can observe your flag. Frequently a flag is the sole thing that can turn far-away flocks of geese towards your position so don’t leave home without any goose flag.

All goose hunters should have a few silhouette goose decoys. These decoys are very realistic and represent the only option when hunting on muddy fields or whenever you are forced to walk into your goose field. Once you possess a bunch of silhouette decoys, complete your arsenal with the most realistic lure for any hunting situation. If you can’t drive into a particular hunting location or storage is of main concerns, buy more silhouette decoys. If you are hunting over water, a floating goose decoy would have to be the decoy of choice.

If a flock of geese are callable but they are not coming toward your decoys then it’s time to begin getting their interest by doing loud, fast power cackles and hail calls. At this moment you should be looking for signs from a goose that you have its attention. The instant you spot a goose responding by turning towards your position, breaking apart from the flock, or setting its wings you have to keep that bird’s attention alive. Hammer away at that bird to keep its interest since usually he will lead his fellow mates into your trap.

When you are goose hunting and see a flock of geese you ought to try to conclude if they can be called or not. If the birds fly low, breaking in formation, gaining and rapidly losing altitude, flying one direction and changing direction or flying with a slow wing beat rate, you should think of them as callable and start trying to lure them in. If the birds are coming at you, just give them a cluck to get their interest and let the decoys do the rest of the work.