In the 1990s, they decided there were too many snow geese. The state had just put money into improvements at Dead Creek for people to view the birds when they were there in the thousands. A truly magnificent and mesmerizing sight.
Then for some reason, the state thought if they stopped the feed, it would help reduce the population. I guess this was their thinking: Birds fly and animals walk so they are going to go to food no matter where it is. The geese did; they left a preserve where they could do no damage to the farmers’ fields in New York state, where they could do damage.
I am sure they do some damage to crops, but considering they are around when crops are harvested already or close to it, just how much do they do? They are mostly eating the scraps left to rot.
The local Audubon said they are doing good because wetlands are preserved for hunters. What? Wetlands started getting preserved in the early 1970s with the Clean Water Act, a federal law. They actually started getting preserved long before.
Snow geese do use water but not to the extent of other waterfowl. Snow geese tend to use large bodies of water, like the ocean, Lake Champlain and other large lakes and ponds.
The hunt also includes Ross and blue geese, along with the common snow geese, if I’m not wrong. Ross and blue heese numbers are far, far fewer than the common snow geese, yet they are just lumped in there for the hunt.
Jeff Beaupre
Essex