Canada Goose ID: How to Find, Hunt, and Eat Waterfowl's Big Game

What Is A Canada Goose?

First of all: don’t call it “Canadian”. The “Canada” title was added by Carl Linnaeus in 1758 to identify what he considered the bird’s region of origin (literally, “black duck from Canada” in Latin), not it’s nationality. As a matter of fact, this North American wonder can be found from Manitoba to Mexico, Portland, OR to Portland, ME and every city park in between. But don’t let that ubiquity fool you. Mature Canada Geese present one of the most difficult hunting challenges in the waterfowling world. Below is everything you’ll need to know to identify, scout, hunt, and eat waterfowl’s big game.

How Do You Identify a Canada Goose?

This may seem like a stupid question as we head into the second quarter of the 21st Century. After all, Canada Geese are everywhere, right? Your nephew’s second-grade soccer team can’t start practice without first challenging a flock of 32 aggressive black-and-white birds for use of the pitch. But this was not always the case. Talk to old timers and they’ll tell you that spotting a flock of Canada’s was a rare occurrence during hunting season – and to harvest one was an accomplishment could make the local paper. Conservation statistics bear this out. From the brink of extinction in the early Twentieth Century, the continental population of Canada Geese has increased roughly 7% per year since the 1960’s. Today, with somewhere between five and seven million of these birds filling the skies today, you’re more likely to read a headline bemoaning resident goose depredation than celebrating their autumnal arrival.

Canada Goose Identification Hack: Despite their proliferation, the variety of subspecies can make distinguishing the good ol’ Canada honker somewhat challenging – especially since less-common species of geese share a similar neck, wingspan, coloration, and flight behavior as the Canada. The solution? Use your ears. The vocalizations of snow geese, white-fronted geese, cackling geese, and others are distinctly squeaky or chirpy compared to the Canada’s resonant ka-RONK. If the bird you’re eyeballing is big, and grey, with a slender black neck and classy white chin strap – and it sounds like a GOOSE, darn it – you’re almost certainly looking at Branta Canadensis.

How Do You Hunt Canada Geese?

Time to invite goose guru Phil Pruneda into the chat. A full-time guide in his seventh season with Washington’s famed Eagle Lakes Ranch, this Gen-Z goose fanatic shot his first Canada at the age of six. Phil now spends eight months of the year putting clients on honkers both north and south of the border – and has more leg iron rattling on his lanyard than most hunters will earn in a lifetime. When Phil talks geese, it’s best to listen.

How Do You Scout For Canada Geese?

Two words: gasoline and binoculars. “I’m on the road right now, actually,” Phil remarked when I called him three days before the Washington State general goose opener. “Just cruising fields and looking for birds.” Phil explains that geese are creatures of habit – until they aren’t. “They’ll return to the same field day after day to feed unless weather or pressure disrupts them.” Hence the importance of securing real-time intel on current goose behavior  – with as much specificity as possible. “I like to find the biggest roost I can. Usually on a reservoir or big lake or something. Then I get there right at first light so I can watch which direction the first three or four flocks fly.” Find where those birds are heading, and the rest will almost certainly follow.

Canada Goose Scouting Hack: Mark the X. It’s not enough simply to know that geese are using a specific field. HOW are they using the field? When? Which part? The veteran guides of Bob’s Dog ‘N Duck Guide service in Alberta will watch a flock feed in a pea field until dark. Then when the birds have flown to roost, they’ll hike out and stab a reflective stake (the kind commonly used in road construction) to mark the exact “x” where the birds were feeding. As is often said among goose hunters: “If you’re not setting up in goose poop, you’re wasting your time.” Find the precise X, mark it, and return with your dekes the next morning.

How Do I Decoy Canada Geese?

Start with purchasing the most realistic decoys you can find. “We use stuffers a lot in the Columbia Basin, because these birds have seen everything,” Phil explained, referring to taxidermized goose decoys. “But it’s also important to get motion in the spread.” In states where battery powered decoys are legal, Phil loves a flapper-style decoy like the Higdon clone. On windy days, the seductive wiggle of a few dozen socks will work wonders. But regardless of the scenario, a good old fashioned goose flag can be a hunter’s best friend. “I use a flag for long-range attraction, but even when birds are in close I’ll pop ‘em with the flag if they start to skirt. Seems to keep them intrigued.”

Canada Goose Decoy Hack: Keep it relaxed, Phil advises. “Over water, especially, I try to go for the most relaxed-looking spread possible.” Geese are heading to water to rest, so make your spread appear laid back with low-head postures, sleepers, feeders – and light on the sentries. You’ll also want to craft a looser decoy structure to provide plenty of room for approaching flocks to splash down.

How Do You Set Up A Blind For Canada Geese?

“The hide is the most important part of the whole equation,” Phil preaches – and experienced goose hunters will shout, “Amen!” Canada geese possess extraordinary eyesight, with a near 360-degree field of vision and the ability to see colors and movement with acuity far surpassing that of the human eye. And, when you’re dealing with geese, more often than not you’re dealing with DOZENS of sets of these precision-tuned eyeballs looking for even just one of the yahoos in your blind to reach for a Pop Tart. For this reason, Phil likes to use as much local vegetation as possible for concealment. He also prefers field edges. “You can hide 10 guys on along a ditch row in layouts and disappear.” Even if this means moving slightly away from the X, prioritizing concealment will put more honkers in the bag at the end of the day.

Canada Goose Blind Hack: A-Frames and other vertical blinds have come into vogue in recent years, but in something of a throwback statement from this Gen-Z goose fanatic, Phil declares: “I love the layout.” He admits that vertical blinds will kill piles of geese in Canada and early season, but by the time the migration hits the 49th Parallel, a lower profile is needed. Phil’s personal preference is the Final Approach Knockout, which he will take out of the box and immediately spray with a rattle-can of flat brown paint. “The paint gives a flat background for vegetation, and also seems to help with waterproofing the blind for wet and muddy days.” His other pro-tip? “Zip-tie on your own black bungee cords for brush straps.” These more-forgiving stretch cords will allow you to plaster the blind with handfuls of shrubbery with ease in the dark and are easily replaceable if torn or snapped.

How Do I Call Canada Geese?

Phil’s advice: sparingly. “Less is more when it comes to goose-calling.” And that coming from a guy who can operate a goose call like Louis Armstrong operates a trumpet. For those of us who are closer to (ahem) average, we should be even more reluctant to blast clucks at every high flock floating past. “Master the moan. That’s going to be your base for all other goose calling. It’s our bread and butter,” Phil advises a new caller. “And then be patient.” You’ll be surprised how many geese you’ll kill with a good hide, realistic spread, and dead silence coming from the blind.

Canada Goose Calling Hack: The counterpoint to light calling? When geese are landing short or wide. “That’s when I love to get aggressive,” Phil says. “Spit-notes or other advanced calling techniques will allow you to control geese when they aren’t landing where you want.” This played out with a pair of early-season Canada geese last September. The birds were backpedaling eighty yards deep on the far-end of the field, but a series of sharp, anxious clucks brought them right into our laps – where my uncle and I emptied our guns and whiffed.

How Do You Cook A Canada Goose?

If you’re hiking out from a public walk-in area, you will curse the size of the dead Canada goose; if you’re preparing it for the plate, you will rejoice. There’s no better bang-for-your buck in the waterfowl world than to shoot five Canada honkers with five well-placed shells and end up with 15 lbs of tender breast meat. “My favorite goose recipe is easy,” Phil will tell you. “Soak the breast in a saltwater brine overnight and then throw it in the crock pot on low heat. Carrots, potatoes, onions, celery, beef broth – you can put in whatever you want. Then after six hours, you can pull that meat apart and make goose sliders.”

Canada Goose cooking hack: Turn it into pepperoni. If you follow the tips above, you might end up with goose meat. A LOT of goose meat. So when you’re tired of those mouth-watering goose sliders (impossible!), honker pepperoni is a fantastic lunch box option. You can make your own, but the die-hard goose freaks in my area will freeze each week’s take and haul 60 lbs of goose meat to a local meat processor at season’s end for grinding, curing, and packaging. It’s not always cheap, but you’ll be the hit of the break room when you start tossing sticks of goose-a-roni to your coworkers.

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