Published: January 22, 2007 10:59 pm      

OUTDOORS: Snow goose opportunities increase

Snow geese have become more popular with a huge increase in population numbers — but maybe not to the levels they should be. At least, not yet.

Hunting around the Alabama Swamps east of Lockport this past waterfowl season, several times we sighted flocks of snows and even had a snow or two mixed in with Canadas. However, recent hunts in the Finger Lakes for the late season resulted in the sighting of some 10,000 birds or more gracing the skies along the fringe area of Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge.

Back in the early 1960s, the Atlantic Flyway snow goose population was estimated at 25,000 birds. “Those numbers are close to 1 million birds today,” said Bryan Swift, leader of the Game Bird Unit for the state's Department of Environmental Conservation.

“My impression is that snow goose hunting has been a source of frustration for New York waterfowl hunters,” said Swift, the state’s go-to guy for waterfowl. “We generally do not have much, if any, late season opportunity for snow geese. The fall season in the Champlain Valley has been good for the last couple of years, although I suspect it was not well known.”

The word is slowly starting to get out. From 2001 to 2004, the average snow goose harvest was roughly 4,100 birds annually. Last year, those numbers more than doubled with an estimated harvest of 8,800 snow geese in 2005-06.

“The frustration for most is that the largest numbers of snow geese occur during the spring in New York. Sometimes that will occur in early March but for the most part it’s typically from mid-March to mid-April. Unfortunately, current federal law does not allow for any waterfowl hunting after March 10 unless the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service adopts special measures,” Swift said. “We’ve been advocating for such measures because bird numbers are so abundant. Some scientists and biologists are concerned about adverse impacts on their breeding and wintering habitats.

“Canada has authorized a spring harvest and it has really paid off with a much higher take there. We hope that New York can eventually do the same thing. We could have some great shooting opportunities in the Finger Lakes Region, as well as in the eastern part of the state.”

In the scheme of things, snow geese are included in the regular waterfowl hunting season framework (not with Canada geese), which means that they are part of the five zone puzzle that makes up the state. For snow geese, Western Zone and Southeastern Zone waterfowlers could hunt through Jan. 20, as well as during the late Feb. 17 to March 10 season.

In the Northeastern Zone, the late season is also the Feb. 17 to March 10 time frame. The Long Island Zone is open straight through March 8. Only the Lake Champlain Zone does not reopen. However, don’t let that fool you. Look at the map and see that there should still be snow goose options in the neighboring Northeastern Zone.

The daily limit is 15 birds per person and no possession limit.