Landowners

[davie6]

After banding ducks at Montezuma on Saturday, my friend and I were ready to shoot some geese on Sunday. We had permission to hunt a loafing pond where we had seen 40-50 birds the day before, but we couldn't be there before 9 am(landowner likes to sleep in). So my friend and i get there right at 9 and jump shoot the 2 geese that were already there. We proceed to set up our decoy spread. Then a guy drives up and asks who we are and what we think we are doing there. We introduce ourselves and explain we are goose hunting. He doesn't like that at all! He says we are too close to his house(which we weren't) and that his wife and dogs are going nuts because of the gunshots. And besides, the geese and ducks are cute and they like watching them walk around the pond. He proceeds to tell us he is calling the owner's son because the owner is an older man who won't understand. The whole time we were very polite and professional. He leaves and about 15 mins later the owner comes out and tells us that we are going to have to pack up and leave because he doesn't want the neighbor mad at him. While doing this he says how much he wants the geese dead cuz they are pooping all over his property. We appologize for the headache we have caused him and he says the guy always gives him a hard time anyone hunts on his property. Nonetheless, we pack up and as we walk to the truck, 70-80 geese show up in waves of 6-9(the perfect size for killing numbers) and circle the pond. That ruined our weekend, at least for 15 mins. We stopped to ask for permission on a farm that just cut their corn, we helped them cover a feed bunk and now we are the only people with permission to hunt that farm. Sorry for the rant but I thought I would share why I didn't have any good kill pictures from the weekend.

[steinea286]

I understand respecting others, but its not the complainers property to complain about. There are plenty of geese to watch all over the country. It's not like there just on that pond. The goose population is astronomical and a few dead ones aren't going to hurt at all. Geese tend to produce up to a pound of s**t a day per goose. It's the landowners property to do whatever he wants with it and for someone to go out and shoot for an hour or so at the geese shouldnt bother anyone. If it was the complainers property then permission simply wouldnt have been granted. People like that upset me.......but its part of hunting!!! Better luck next time.

[Woj]

You handled the situation very well Eric. You should be proud of yourself. Nice work representing the sportsman of NYS.

[davie6]

Thanks Nick. That guy had his mind made up and there was no point to try to persuade him to change his mind. Better off just being polite and walking away. Stopped by the farm we helped again yesterday and got permission to K-9 trap there after I found 3 piles of coyote scat while I was checking fields not viewable from the road for geese.