By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
Last week marked the unofficial great geese roundup for plenty of Kansas
Department of Wildlife and Parks staff members. Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife
Manager Jason Wagner said crews started near Pratt and worked their way north
to the Great Bend area to band Canadian geese.
Wagner said the process to capture the geese to place the bands on their legs is
easier than you think. After geese hatch their goslings, they go through a
roughly two-week period where they cannot fly. The geese molt their flight
feathers to have a brand-new set for migration. For wildlife staff, this period
of time is perfect to capture and band the flightless birds.
"We'll get out to the lakes or ponds and kayak around," said Wagner. "We have a portable corral system for geese that we set up on the banks. Guys go out on the kayaks and work the birds back and forth. The geese go up on land and go through our funnel corral system. We handle them and put the bands on them."
Wagner said wildlife officials glean valuable data from the geese bands
throughout the years. Staff receives a look at the male and female ratios and
the birds’ survivability rate from hunters.
"Hunters will shoot a goose that has a band," said Wagner. "They turn it in and we can get the information back, the day it was banded, how old we think they are and if they're male or female. We get some survivability info too. It helps us with our season setting and our bag limit."
Wagner said the goal is to band 1,000 geese in Kansas each year.
