Goose scare off deer?

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  • Melnic

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Dec 27, 2012
    15,278
    HoCo
    Ok, I kid you not, first day of Migratory Goose Season and my yard has geese every day. I have 3 acres and the lower corner is where I have my deer feeder and stand. I would say I am close enough to other houses where the shot will land on them if I were to hunt them without being cautious about where I can and can not shoot. There is about a 90 degree angle spread that I can shoot and either hit trees or there is no threat of houses for 600 yards. Not sure if I can to try to hunt them or just find some way to keep them off from pooping all over the grass or scaring off the deer (what I really don't want to do).

    I have never goose hunted but I have the shotguns for it. Would need to brush up on the regulations and such (limited 3 shells, stamps, bag limits, time of day etc)
     

    Clovis

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Aug 1, 2011
    1,408
    Centreville
    If I understand your description correctly, I think your feeder would be baiting waterfowl and that is a federal and state violation. Just letting you know.
     

    gtodave

    Member
    MDS Supporter
    Aug 14, 2007
    14,159
    Mt Airy
    If I understand your description correctly, I think your feeder would be baiting waterfowl and that is a federal and state violation. Just letting you know.

    It would be, and that is a giant No-No.

    Otherwise, there's no reason he couldn't shoot them with a bow.
     

    Melnic

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Dec 27, 2012
    15,278
    HoCo
    If I understand your description correctly, I think your feeder would be baiting waterfowl and that is a federal and state violation. Just letting you know.

    Thx for the tip, reading the regs, I would have to stop the corn and wait 10 days before shooting one (shotgun & Bow ok, Crossbow is not ok).
    I don't think I'm willing to stop the corn at this time. Plan to muzzeloader hunt over the break.

    Saw that some people put Swan decoys. I may be able to get them over to my neighbor's yard. He himself flies south for the winter....
     

    lazarus

    Ultimate Member
    Jun 23, 2015
    13,678
    Just make sure you have permission from your neighbor to put a decoy on his property. For a lot of obvious reasons, but also on the off chance DNR gets called out to your place, if they raise questions about it, it could lead to a LOT of citations.
     

    Melnic

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Dec 27, 2012
    15,278
    HoCo
    Just make sure you have permission from your neighbor to put a decoy on his property. For a lot of obvious reasons, but also on the off chance DNR gets called out to your place, if they raise questions about it, it could lead to a LOT of citations.

    I meant I may be able to push the geese off my property and move them to just my neighbor's field. Its a grass field that is an adjacent lot to his lot. (he owns 4 lots. 3 don't have houses on them) The only thing the swan decoys would do for me is to keep the goose poop off my property. If the noise is going to keep the deer off my feeder, they would still be very close by.
     

    Archeryrob

    Undecided on a great many things
    Mar 7, 2013
    3,064
    Washington Co. - Fairplay
    With a feeder you can't hunt them. Just chase them out of the yard or sick the dog on them. Walk up on them with several 3' long sticks and sling them side arm. Don't just walk but storm trooper on them. Not sure why but that scares the She-it out of them. Throw rocks and they look at you like you're stupid. That is how I use to scare rafters that floated into my spread, because you can't shoot them on the water. They see that stick in the air sailing over them they just loose it and freak and fly. :D

    Once harassed they will find someone else yard to terrorize.
     

    Melnic

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Dec 27, 2012
    15,278
    HoCo
    FINALLY have a use for my light sabre!

    Better yet, I can get Augie and his friends to come help.
     

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    fabsroman

    Ultimate Member
    Mar 14, 2009
    35,852
    Winfield/Taylorsville in Carroll
    The geese are not going to scare off the deer. Kind of like saying turkeys will scare off deer. If you can make it to your deer hunting spot without scaring the geese off, then they will actually act as a reassurance to the deer that the place is safe. I seriously doubt that swan decoys are going to scare off geese. I have seen geese and swans land in the same field. Granted, the swans stayed in their own group and the geese in their own group, but that was about it.

    Also, the limit on them is 2 per day. Going to be tough to cut down their population by just killing a couple a day.

    If you ever decide you want to hunt/kill them, I'd be willing to help. Might be able to get my dad and son to help too, and then we could take 8 a day out of them. After shooting them a couple of days though, they probably will not come back.

    Crazy thing is, I have been scouting the birds for the past week or so and I cannot figure out which ones are landing by you. I've found some landing at route 97 and Burntwoods Road, but geese are almost always using those ponds. Found another pond with about 1,000 birds on it. Have not seen any birds on Daisy Road like I usually do. Personally, wish I had your problem. If the neighbors were over 150 yards from where those geese are, I would be inviting friends over for a goose hunt or two. Any idea where they are going to feed, or are they just feeding from the feeder?

    Just finishing up my batch of jerky from the birds we killed on Friday. Man, it is some good stuff.
     

    DevinRPD

    Active Member
    May 3, 2017
    168
    Talbot
    Dove's have always got on my nerves while hunting. they make so much noise when they fly off and scare every deer within a 30 yard radius

    lord knows why they fly away but it makes me want to go dove hunting more and more every year
     

    fabsroman

    Ultimate Member
    Mar 14, 2009
    35,852
    Winfield/Taylorsville in Carroll
    Dove's have always got on my nerves while hunting. they make so much noise when they fly off and scare every deer within a 30 yard radius

    lord knows why they fly away but it makes me want to go dove hunting more and more every year

    The doves fly off because they are spooked. They can see movement from quite a ways away. Me, I prefer wing shooting over big game hunting. Dove hunting is my all time favorite, followed by waterfowling, and then upland bird hunting. I deer hunt when I cannot find birds to hunt or when I need some serious alone time with Mother Nature to contemplate the bigger things in life, the meaning of life, and my overall purpose in the grand scheme of the cosmos.
     

    Melnic

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Dec 27, 2012
    15,278
    HoCo
    Any idea where they are going to feed, or are they just feeding from the feeder?

    .

    I don't think they even have seen the corn. It dumps at 3:00 and by then most have waddled away from that area. I got home late yesterday so the geese were gone and forgot to ask the kids to look. They are not there in the morning and fly in from the southeast and back that direction in the evening the 2 times I watched. While on my land, they eat grass and poop, then work their way across the stream to the bigger field where they take off in the evening. They land on my side, but take off across in the neighbors area cause there is more room. I have not checked my trail cams and loaded more corn to see if they are taking the corn. I was supposed to check Sunday and totally forgot. Hopefully, I'm not out of corn! Checking tomorrow morning.
     

    Exuberon

    Active Member
    Aug 8, 2017
    158
    Southern Virginia
    As some others here said; Geese may not necessarily scare off deer, but they will gobble up any corn or grains that make it to the ground.

    If the geese are a nuisance (pooping) or become territorial, maybe think about adopting a largish sporting dog from a shelter. Our US Fish and Wildlife guy uses retrievers to chase geese and other birds off our airfield.... however the deer are not bothered at all by the dogs (or the geese)!
     

    Archeryrob

    Undecided on a great many things
    Mar 7, 2013
    3,064
    Washington Co. - Fairplay
    Geese will not scare the deer off, but they will eat all the corn that is attracting the deer and make the deer change their routes. We have this problem with turkeys which is going to be fixed soon.
     

    Built2Grind

    Member
    Dec 9, 2017
    20
    Eastern Shore
    If you don’t want to see the geese anymore just put an owl decoy out there on a post or something, it won’t bother the deer any. Or get an old 3D target of a fox or coyote..
     

    mward

    Ultimate Member
    Dec 4, 2009
    1,198
    Annapolis
    The geese are not going to scare off the deer. Kind of like saying turkeys will scare off deer. If you can make it to your deer hunting spot without scaring the geese off, then they will actually act as a reassurance to the deer that the place is safe. I seriously doubt that swan decoys are going to scare off geese. I have seen geese and swans land in the same field. Granted, the swans stayed in their own group and the geese in their own group, but that was about it.

    Also, the limit on them is 2 per day. Going to be tough to cut down their population by just killing a couple a day.

    If you ever decide you want to hunt/kill them, I'd be willing to help. Might be able to get my dad and son to help too, and then we could take 8 a day out of them. After shooting them a couple of days though, they probably will not come back.

    Crazy thing is, I have been scouting the birds for the past week or so and I cannot figure out which ones are landing by you. I've found some landing at route 97 and Burntwoods Road, but geese are almost always using those ponds. Found another pond with about 1,000 birds on it. Have not seen any birds on Daisy Road like I usually do. Personally, wish I had your problem. If the neighbors were over 150 yards from where those geese are, I would be inviting friends over for a goose hunt or two. Any idea where they are going to feed, or are they just feeding from the feeder?

    Just finishing up my batch of jerky from the birds we killed on Friday. Man, it is some good stuff.

    If you end up helping, let me know. Also, what's your jerky recipe?
     

    Melnic

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Dec 27, 2012
    15,278
    HoCo
    No geese in the past 2 days. I checked my trail cams on my bait and they also never came to take the corn either. I had my feeder set to 3:00 and just moved it down to 2:00 cause the deer are only coming out right now after 8:00.
     

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