Vulnerability of Lesser Snow Geese to Hunting with Electronic Calling Devices

The Arctic Goose Habitat Working Group recommended several management actions, including use of electronic calling devices, to reduce the mid-continent population of lesser snow geese (Chen caerulescens caerulescens; hereafter snow geese). We compared the vulnerability of snow geese to hunting with electronic calling devices and traditional calling methods (hand-held and voice calls) with cooperative goose hunters (96 commercially guided and 47 non-guided hunters) during the 1997-98 snow-goose-only seasons in Louisiana, Arkansas, and Iowa. We found that snow goose flocks were 5.0 times more likely to fly within gun range (≤50 m) in response to electronic calls than to traditional calls. Mean size of snow goose flocks that flew within gun range during electronic calling periods averaged 1.8 times larger than that during traditional calling periods. Mean number of snow geese killed/hr/hunter averaged 9.1 times greater for electronic calls than that for traditional calls. Ages of harvested snow geese were similar between calling methods (P = 0.12), but differed among states (P < 0.05) and between sexes (P < 0.05). Adult snow geese were 1.7 times more likely to be shot in Louisiana than in Iowa and 1.8 times more likely to be shot in Arkansas than in Iowa. Relative to their juvenile counterparts, adult males were 1.5 times more likely to be shot than were adult females. Body condition (body mass adjusted for size) generally was greater for snow geese killed during electronic calling periods than that during traditional calling periods. Flock response, kill/hr/hunter, and adult body condition of harvested snow geese generally decreased, whereas observed flock size increased from south to north, i.e., from Louisiana to Iowa. Our results indicated that snow geese are more vulnerable to electronic calls than to traditional calls. Finally, our calculations suggested that use of electronic calls during current snow-goose-only season frame-works (i.e., before 10 March) alone will not achieve desired population reduction goals for the mid-continent population of snow geese.