Your goose is about to be cooked – and that’s no lie
As previously discussed, setting up a season on the Canada geese who frequent Mill Yard Park in Cornell, was back on the table, July 16, at a Public Health & Safety Committee meeting. Since the state’s early goose season runs Sept. 1-15, it was decided something has to be done, as other mitigation efforts have not worked.
It was first discussed whether or not to have the game birds hunted, or to have them harvested, which is what Ladysmith did with their park geese, hiring professionals to net the geese and euthanize them.
“Then, you pay them an extravagant amount of money,” said Cornell mayor Mark Larson.
It was agreed that the city would prefer not to have professionals come in, in a mass collection effort.
“I don’t know if that’s any more humane than just blasting them,” said Cornell City Council president Steve Turany.
City administrator Dave DeJongh felt it is not a question of humane, but a question of how much money the city wants to spend. It is also a question of making sure the hunt is done responsibly and correctly.
John Kosterman, Cornell Police chief, suggested requiring a permit through the city, in addition to the regular goose hunting permit, specifying what day the individual is going to hunt.
“At least we know who’s out there,” he said, adding that it would limit who’s at the park at one time.
Committee chair and council member Deb Semanko pointed out that they can’t have 500 hunters down at the park, all at once.
Therefore, the city would open the park to discharging firearms, with all-day permit, on a first-come, first-serve basis, with the days of Tuesday, Sept. 2, through Friday, Sept. 5; Monday, Sept. 8 through Friday, Sept. 12, and Monday, Sept. 15. Hunters have to follow all DNR regulations and the hunting area would be from the Mill Yard, to the city boat landing, from the riverfront paved trail, out toward the flowage.
It was also decided that if hunters want to station themselves at the small island to the northwest of the Mill Yard, that’s OK.
“You would almost have to allow that,” said council member Bill Kvapil. “They (geese) have a picnic over there, quite a lot.”
The sign-up period for the city permits begins Aug. 17, as long as the plans are alright with the city attorney, the local game warden and Zach Thon, Brunet Island State Park manager.
“We want to make sure our T’s are crossed and our I’s are dotted,” said Kvapil.
If everything works out as they anticipate, with five hunters, per day, filling their five-goose, per day limit, the city could eliminate 250 geese this year, as well as 250 next fall. However, because each family of geese has between 10-15 goslings each spring, Turany is concerned the thinning of the flocks won’t do as much good as they hope.
“We won’t know unless we try,” said Cornell Police Officer Chris Erickson.
