As per the Oregon waterfowl hunting regulations, Emperor geese are prohibited
take. I would venture to guess that the individual in question would more
likely be taken by an “un-informed” hunter on an accidental basis than by a
trophy hunter on an illegal basis. Either way tho, Lars is correct. The bird is
pretty safe where it currently resides.
Another possibly though, is that the bird is mistaken for a blue goose. Snows
and blues are legal take on the wildlife area during authorized goose season.
Just some thoughts.-Jon
Sent from my iPhone
On Nov 8, 2019, at 7:36 PM, larspernorgren <larspernorgren@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I have now seen Emperor Geese in three Oregon Counties that behaved liked
pigeons in a park: one at Reed College canyon Jan 1984 , one at Washi gton Co
main library when there were lots of Cacklers using the place Oct 2012 maybe?
And one near the Astoria airport, equally long ago. I'm not saying the Sauvie
bird is healthy. But l don't expect Emperors to show flock fidelity to any of
the host of honkers it's exposed to here in the southland.
The southern half of Sauvie Island is private and hunting may occur
any day of the week from half an hour before sunrise until half an hour after
sunset. Typically waterfowl season begins the middle Saturday of October and
includes a variety of goose species in the roster of fair game. The presence
of Dusky Canada Geese means anyone wishing to hunt geese in the special
management area(much of nw Oregon far beyond Sauvie as well) must take a
class in white-cheeked goose ID. From here down to Eugene is the world's
largest cohort of people capable of distinguishing subspecies on the wing. I
believe the publicly owned part of the island, Sauvie Island WMU, allows
waterfowl hunting from opening hours til noon about three days a week. Some
areas are by reservation well in advance, others first come first serve. If
this Emperor behaves as the three mentioned above, it may avoid the trophy
hunters.
There was an Emperor flying hither and yon at Alsea Bay with Western
Canada Geese in 2006/7? The same winter there was a Gyrfalcon at Basket. It
was eventually harvested by a highly motivated webfooted nimrod. Lpn
Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone
