By FRANK CAMPA
Mo. Dept. of Conservation
Wednesday marked the beginning of Missouri's light goose conservation order, and it stays in effect through April 30.
What exactly is this conservation order? It is a special order issued year by year that allows for snow, blue and Ross's geese to be taken in liberal numbers and more liberal ways. The purpose of this order is to the reduce overpopulations of light geese so they do not out-compete with other desired species of waterfowl for habitat in their nesting grounds.
The first point that needs to be reiterated and emphasized is that the light goose conservation order does NOT include all species of geese. All other species of geese, such as Canada, brant, and greater white-fronted are now in closed season. The last hunting season day for all goose species was Tuesday.
Each year, several hunters are cited for taking white-fronted geese, commonly called "specks or speckle-bellies" during the light goose conservation order, even when there are only white-fronted geese present in the area. Extreme caution is encouraged if specks are mixed in with the snow geese. Be careful or just don't shoot.
Know your wildlife laws as they will be enforced. The first and most important item is having the proper hunting permit. There is a specific permit for hunting light geese during the conservation order called the light goose conservation order permit ($5 Residents, $40 for Nonresidents).
Shooting hours during the conservation order are one-half hour before sunrise until one-half hour after sunset. There are no limits on snow, blues, or Ross's geese. Legal firearms are shotguns 10-gauge and smaller with non-toxic shot only, no lead.
Electronic calls and unplugged shotguns are legal during the conservation order. Hunting from a vehicle or shooting from, across or along a public road right-of-way is strictly illegal.
Make sure you have permission from the landowner before entering upon private property.
All these regulations can be found not only in the 2017/2018 Waterfowl Digest, but also in the Mo. Hunting smartphone app.
Last, and most importantly, if you are going to the effort to pursue any game, always use what you harvest or make sure someone else does. Just because there is a liberalization of daily limits on light geese during this order, it does not make it either ethically or legally acceptable to take gross numbers of geese and then dump them in plain sight for everyone to see without even attempting to utilize any of the meat off the birds.
Cleaned carcasses should be disposed of properly by bagging them and using normal trash services.