[Dollar Spot]

HDK - Thanks for the website, I think I'll invest in a couple of coyotes and try them out. The geese are flying today the counts at about 50 that we've seen. Time to break the dogs out.

[Dollar Spot]

I think I saw the geese humping my fake coyotes this morning......oh well!

[4seasons]

That's pretty funny!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I read where one company in Cleveland is using a type of cannon to scare the geese. I think it's Landscapemanagement. Maybe they have it in a back article. Good luck my parents havent gotten rid of the geese that frequent their pond for over 20yrs.

[Dollar Spot]

Originally posted by 4seasons
That's pretty funny!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I read where one company in Cleveland is using a type of cannon to scare the geese. I think it's Landscapemanagement. Maybe they have it in a back article. Good luck my parents havent gotten rid of the geese that frequent their pond for over 20yrs.

Thanks man, your depressing me. I got a plan and I'll let you know how it work so your parents can use it. If it works.

[Nebraska]

Sorry...but i have to say it. Eat them!

This is simply the result of a P.C. world. The most obvious solution would be to eat the damn things.

Smoked goose is real good!

....now let me have it....

[Nebraska]

Maybe they have a special permit available in your area to allow the DNR or hunter / hunters to harvest them. In our area they will harvest them for the local shelter. Out here the people in the homeless shelter eat healthier / natural meat than most people ever do.

Check with the DNR regarding a nusiance wildlife permit.

[PSUscaper]

As some members remember here, I use to work on the grounds crew at a new coorporate airport.

Geese, and in general, any kind of wildlife control was a big issue on our airfield, and for any airport. The airport I worked at was actually nationaly known for having wildlife problems, mainly deer and geese.

Your golf course damage may seem expensive, but you can imagine what sort of damage a deer or goose smacking into the side of a 32 million dollar corporate jet is like. It happens, and happens very frequently.

We had two types of controls. The first was simple. Steady surveilance and patrols. Basically, airport operations would go out on the airfield when there was a sign of wildlife. Their main weapon was a snap gun, which basically is a flare gun that shoots a firecracker down range and explodes. The other method was even more simple. Chase them off the runway with the truck.

When I worked their, we actually we able to shoot them. We had a license to go out and shoot at will. We would come in early, load up, and go. We would get 12, 15, even 20 geese in a good morning.

The overall effect though was not so great. All in all, no matter what we did, it didn't seem to matter. Even if you were shoot them all, another flock would just move in to replace them.

a note on that....you want to talk about some funny looks, we use to pull up long side waiting aircraft, jump out of the truck, and shoot away. I can remember those faces peering out the windows now! We would either get a 'Oh my god' face from the passengers, or a 'thumbs up' from the pilots!

We used the sprays, but really, trying to cover a airfield is a little bit extreme, as would a golf course. During wet times, we wouldn't even be able to drive a truck around the airfield without getting stuck. And even worst, the FAA doesn't like large tire ruts in all the safety zones.

I know a lot of people have good luck with dogs, but the bottom line is they have to be out there ALL the time. I know one company that actually sets up fake dog cutouts and leaves them in the the middle of sports fields after they do there daily dog chase. Its fun to drive by and see a goose sitting right next to the fake dog!

Natural predators work well, but their's a few obvious problems with those. We use to have coyotes on the airport. They worked great at keeping geese away....but.....they also liked to wander out into the middle of the runway when aircraft were taking off. (plus, I never really enjoyed zipping around on our open cabbed toro ground masters and seeing one eyeing me straight in the face!)

Big airports like Newark and JFK have what someone mentioned here, and thats propane cannons. They are basically gas driven cannons that fire a very loud 'boom' every 30 secs or minute or whatever. They work somewhat, but supposely the geese get use to it. Plus, I don't know how happy any neighboring houses would be, as they probably had it with the jet noise already.

I've also seen things like giant balloons, kites, flags, and what not used on fields. One soccer field I drove by had what looked like a giant 'water noodle' tied to the goal post that waved around. They are like 50 ft long. Supposely the motrion and the swing action keeps geese away as they might get hit.

As for something that will work on a active golf course......I don't know if anything will work all that well withoug spending a small fortune. And like I said, the airport had a small fortune to spend and still pretty much lost the battle.

and BTW nebraska. We had a permit like that at the airport. We had hunters come in and take out the deer, and they were then donated to a local food bank. It worked, but the problem was we ended up with way more than they could take. As for the geese, the food banks don't want those as they are likely to be diseased or carry some sort of sickness. As I recall, there's a company that comes in at night and will do a aerial infarad survey of the enitre property and tell you how many deer there are.....the airport had that done, but the problem was that most of the deer were migratory, and hardly any showed up on the camera. Thats' what got us into a fencing project......but that is a WHOLE other story!

and another thing. It is helpful to locate nests and destroy the eggs. As I recall, geese that are born in one location tend to return to that location each year.

I believe, if you do get a permit for egg destruction, you have to do it in a 'humane' way. I believe we had to go, collect eggs, put them in the freezer, and then put them back in the nest. What this does is makes the mother come back and sit on them. If you simply destroy them, they will just lay new ones. I think we also had approval to drill holes in them and drain the inside out, but can't remember. Either way, it was hardly worth it. Finding nests is not all that easy, and we usually had to use a row boat. Basically, it would take a full day to just collect, freeze, and then put back the eggs. NOT a economical, especially on a 200 acre airfield surrounded by wetlands.

[PSUscaper]

ah, what the hek, its fun to talk about the old days!

On that 'whole other story' about the fence.

After the airport had the infared done, they invested in a big deer fence project. What a good story.

Phase one involved something like 2000 ft along one side of the airfield. Somehow, it fell under some sort of government grant, so the airport got approved for this massive fence.

Engineers, of course, had to design it to meet FAA guidlines. In order to meet certain requirments, the fence couldn't be metal because I gues it could mess up the computer guidance systems on the airfield.

so, they designed this monsterous (and rediculously expensive tax dollar funded) fence constructed out of 6x6 TREX (that plastic lumber) posts with 2x6 fencing, also made of trex.

Well, after they got done, it seems the engineers may have made a 'slight' oversight. About 2 days after the fence was up, we drove by and found a deer, a very dead deer at that, stuck right between the middle of two of the fence slats. It reminded me of those winny the pooh stories, where all you see is his but stuck out of rabbit's house!

I guess they didn't get that recommended rail spacing calculated to well. It was just big enough to squeez through, but just small enough to get stuck in.

I rember pulling that deer out....

I just wish I could of seen the faces on the passengers faces as they landed and were welcomed to the airport with a bitg old 'butt's up'!

Anyway, we ended having to go out the next day and stapled that plastic deer fencing/mesh to the entire fence.

[Dollar Spot]

A shooting permit and/or a nest permit will only be issued by the ODNR after all other chasing and harassing attempts have failed. And you have to be able to prove you tried the other techniques. So we have a plan in place.

I was looking for a magic bullet and there just isn't one out there.

I cringe when I think of the time requirements this is going to take.

[Dollar Spot]

Yesterday I spent one and a half hours chasing the geese with my dog and launching bangers and whistlers at them. It was the first time i have ever seen a goose dive completely under the water and swim for 15-20 feet.

We finally got them to go but it took way to long.

[start2finish]

I have heard that moth balls will help. I have no confirmation on this anyone else heard this?

[Dollar Spot]

Update: the bangers and whistlers seem to be effective after the first day. We've been able to keep the geese from nesting at least for now. Someone ended up stealing one of my coyote decoys though. It's amazing what people will take.