The Cotton State has an early special goose season for resident Canada geese -- which can become real nuisances. Photo by Polly Dean.

Wingshooters’ anticipation of the opening first of dove season and then of duck season is a standard situation for late summer and early fall in Alabama. But a number of other birds out there are in fact fair game at this time of year. Some of these species are popular; others go virtually unexploited. Let’s take a look at these shooting opportunities.

EARLY GEESE
“A friend and I were hunting on Lay Lake in September,” my friend Mike told me. “We’d put out our decoys and built a blind, and we’d already taken two geese. We needed four more Canadas to fill our limit of five per day.”

In early September, with the water extremely warm, plenty of fishermen, water-skiers and folks on personal watercraft were enjoying their sports on that central Alabama reservoir. However, my friend was hunting off the main river channel, so the waves from the boats and PWCs hadn’t created a problem for that early-season goose hunt.

Then, at about 8:00 a.m., one of the riders on a PWC spotted the goose decoys and started riding through the spread. “He pulled up about 20 yards from our blind,” Mike recalled, “and started screaming at us: ‘I can’t believe you guys are trying to kill these geese! They haven’t bothered you, so you have no reason to shoot them! This is illegal! Y’all stay right here -- I’m going to get the game warden!’”

Before the hunters could say a word, the man had throttled up his watercraft, made a big circle and raced down the lake to find a conservation officer. In a few minutes, the young man on the PWC returned to the hunters’ blind with a Department of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries boat following him. The conservation officer carefully eased his boat over to the two goose hunters and asked to see their hunting licenses; he also checked the PWC guy’s driver’s license.

Next, the officer listened to both versions of the incident. The hunters described the PWC being driven through their decoys, and the accusation of illegal activity being hurled their way.

“Yes, sir,” the young man on the PWC agreed. “I hoped to spook the geese away from their blind until I could find you, bring you up here to arrest them and stop them from shooting these geese.”

The conversation officer pulled out his ticket book and began writing a citation.

Meanwhile the accuser continued to be vocal. “I told you two that you’d be in trouble,” he growled. “You have no business out here hunting.”

When the conservation officer completed the paperwork, the joyrider was astonished that it was handed to him, not the hunters “Why am I getting a citation?” he protested.

“These two fellows are legally hunting early-season geese,” the officer told him. “The season runs from Sept. 1 through Sept. 15. From what I understand, you’ve been harassing them and interfering with the legal taking of game -- so you get the citation.”

That whole scene actually took place several years ago during one of Alabama’s first resident goose seasons.

Resident geese in Alabama are often referred to by some folks simply as “mistakes.” Through trades with wildlife agencies in more northerly areas, many Southern states ended up obtaining and releasing Canada geese. Obviously, Bama was among those states.

The birds found our Southern clime to their liking -- to the point that they saw no reason to migrate. Thus, they now live full-time in Alabama and reproduce here. Without the rigors of the migration season and few predators, their numbers have expanded. Unfortunately, the geese don’t just stay in areas convenient for us.