Preseason...

[h2ofwlr]

Huh.... that seems early...

The other night I had a flock of Canada's go flying by me. But it was July 14th, usually they are still molting. I wonder with the early spring if the molting was early too?

Are any of you seeing the geese fly yet? Or what I saw was it just an oddball flock?

[greatwhitehunter3!]

Been seeing quite a few flocks flying around in the last few weeks.

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[lanyard]

Only thing I:m seeing are baby geese ain't no babies no more. Isn't the Canada Goose conservation order effective Aug 1?

[maplelakeduckslayer]

Don't believe there is an August season this year again?

I did see a flock flying last night in North metro

[h2ofwlr]

No more Mn Aug Canada season. You'll need to go to ND for that.

Anyway, back to original post, but is it not a bit early compared to other years?

[lanyard]

Well aren't we all a bit wiggy through the weekend........

Point: Whether MN has an Aug season or NOT- in 2015 the season started Aug 8

Extrapolation: If the DNR is setting an Aug 8 season it is likely based on that year class being fully fledged and flying. Tie in varying environmental factors, hatch times, brood health, experienced mated pairs, and I imagine that flight for a year class follows a bell curve, with some flying significantly before others.

So, your LOCAL experience may be that you haven't seen or noticed it before, but I'm guessing with 4 weeks to go until the first season COULD start it is not rare or out of statistical experience to have Canada Geese flying by July 14.

Google gave me this gem which states via paraphrase: Geese swim, eat, etc within 24 hrs of hatching, fly in about 10 weeks http://wdfw.wa.gov/living/canada_geese.html

By quick deduction, geese born the first week in May would be flying the week of July 14.

And, for proof I offer the thread "General Spring Waterfowl Updates" which has MLDS identifying a gosling boom on May 03: http://mnfowl.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=2477&start=10

so YES, early hatching means early flying. NO, it's not odd other than environmental factors may increase the likelihood Canada Geese may be hatching earlier due to primo/earlier nesting. Rather than early flight, the question is "....is the trend on earlier nesting/hatch...."

Armchairing this, but if this whole Climate Change thing is happening, I would anticipate hatches happening earlier to some certain point the geese won't be ready any earlier.

[h2ofwlr]

^^^ speaking of being wiggy... or using a 15 pound sledge hammer to pound in a 3" nail....

And yes, normally Aug 1st is when I normally start to see geese start flying around. Like I said, it seemed early.


Next thing to ponder, Oats, Barley or Wheat field for Sept season. Obviously sweet corn is best, but many do not have them in their area of Mn.

[Mallard_maniac]

I generally expect all our local geese to be flying by 8/1, meaning the last or latest to hatch are still in the air by then almost without exception so I would imagine it's not terribly rare to be seeing some move by mid July. I know most of ours can be flying in the July 20's.....

[Nershi]

I'll miss the August season. I always got a kick out of the noobs with their hero shots of flightless goslings. I'll never forget the detailed report I once read from a guy who chased around a family through flooded cattails picking off one at a time at close range.

I've seen this years duck hatch flying for a couple weeks now. No geese yet.

[lanyard]

Ducks before geese, interesting.