Goose boost: A Canada goose resurgence?

NEAR APPLETON, MINN. — Three Canada geese, flying low over a frozen landscape, came straight at us, convinced our 100 decoys scattered in the chiseled corn field were the real deal.

We watched eagerly from our coffin-like layout blinds as the birds glided closer, wings cupped. When they were about 40 yards out, we flipped open the blinds and fired our 12 gauges, dropping two of the big birds.

No one confessed to missing the third.

The rest of the afternoon the three of us watched flock after flock of geese pass overhead, well out of shotgun range. We didn't fire another shot, but the number of geese was impressive.

"Well, the geese are here," said Win Mitchell, 67, of Castle Rock, Minn., as we picked up decoys.

"It's nothing compared to what we saw yesterday," said his brother, Phil, 59, of Eden Prairie.

Welcome to western Minnesota, where the largest concentration of Canada geese in the state gathers late each year at the Lac qui Parle and Big Stone refuges before migrating south for the winter. Last week, about 93,000 geese were in the area, offering goose hunters some prime late-season waterfowling -- and some stunning scenes.

"A lot of our hunters are excited," said Dave Trauba, Department of Natural Resources area manager at the Lac qui Parle wildlife area, long a goose hunting mecca. "We could become a big destination for December goose hunting. But we'll have to learn how to hunt geese in December."

As of Friday, there were 81,000 geese on the Lac qui Parle refuge, and 12,000 on nearby Big Stone refuge.

"The hunting continues to be real good," Trauba said.

Times have changed

The changes this fall are huge. The former West Central Goose Zone, an area from roughly Montevideo to Ortonville, had the most restricted goose season in the state. Last year, the season was only 41 days, with a two-bird daily limit. This year, that zone was abolished, giving hunters 85 days and a three-bird bag. And the former West Goose Zone, which covered a much larger area from Moorhead to Worthington (which had a nearly 60-day season last year) also was abolished, giving hunters there a longer season and a three-bird daily bag.

What happened?

"Things have changed," Trauba said.

For decades, hunting restrictions were imposed because of concern over the Eastern Prairie Population (EPP) of Canada geese, a smaller subspecies that nest along the west shores of Hudson Bay. Wildlife officials long feared that population was declining, and those birds migrate into western Minnesota, especially around the Lac qui Parle area.

So the DNR has used special regulations, including goose zones, quotas, smaller bag limits and shorter seasons, to minimize harvest of those geese.

"In the heydays, we stopped hunting [geese] in mid-October, when we reached our quotas," Trauba said.

"We're just not shooting as many EPP geese as we used to," Trauba said.

Thus the relaxed regulations.

"We couldn't have made these changes 10 or 15 years ago," Trauba said.

"I don't see us getting away from liberal seasons as long as the giant Canada goose population remains strong."

Goose revival?

Many lined up to hunt in some of the 100 or so public hunting blinds at the Lac qui Parle wildlife management area that rimmed the parameter of the goose refuge.

But that all changed as the goose population expanded all over the state. There was less reason for hunters to drive to the Lac qui Parle area, especially because bag limits and seasons there were limited. Hunter numbers fell dramatically.

"We may see a second coming now with this December hunting," Trauba said. "We'll see. We're in uncharted territory."

Hunting geese when most water is frozen is a different than hunting them earlier. The geese tend to stay on their overnight roosting areas longer and often don't fly out to feed until afternoon.

That's why the Mitchell brothers decided to set up for our hunt in the afternoon. But many of the geese that flew overhead were heading back to the Big Stone refuge, meaning we missed them flying out to feed.

The birds descended and we fired, dropping three. Two more fell a short while later. But the sky soon was empty and we called it a morning, pleased with our late-season hunt.

"Well, that was worth the effort," Mitchell said as we picked up decoys.

Most definitely.