Concern about 08 hatch...

Just looked up the forecast for Iqaluit and it's lookin like rain/snow showers the next 5 days or so with highs in the low-mid 30's and low's in the upper 20's to low 30's. But next weekend it's lookin like things will warm up with lows at or above freezing and highs around 40 with some sun.

http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/businesstraveler/tenday/CAXX0202?from=36hr_topnav_business

 

Warm up coming later this week. Full sunshine for 3 days, but that can change at a moments notice.

 

thanks for the weather update.
as for the hatch, wouldn't that depend on how early the first real cold front pushes through this fall?

 

The issue with controling goose populations is their longevity. So, 5 years of had hatch will not actually affect the current population much either way (wont decrease it and it wont grow fast either). It's similar in a way to 'egging'... They both help but they are not the best way to 'reduce' MCP snows. In the absence of hunting these geese will live ..20? years. They will just keep trying year after year until the weather changes and then make hay.

Hunting, with a bad hatch, forces us to shoot a few more adults which not only takes them off the nest for the next several years (cuz they are dead), but it puts a -1 in the population column.

Unfortunately... many hunters will focus on other things without a good hatch as fooling adults is way harder (obviously no one here). We need hunting pressure more than ever when there is a bad hatch.

"kick them when they are down.. sorta."

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I'll try to get some current info from the breeding grounds, last I heard it wasn't good... Blizzard and no geese as of early last week.

 

You are right... as well as other that commented. The snow doesn't melt (very much) under cloud cover. The day the sun comes out nest locations appear everywhere and so do the geese. Also, light geese are primarity 'capital' nesters... meaning they don't require any food on the nesting grounds... they just need a place to put their eggs, NOW. The food isn't needed until July when gozlings need to eat. By then there is often lots! (LaPerouseBay not withstanding... but that's not many geese to consider)

Because all their food reserves are acquired on the Canadian prairies (as well as what they need to make eggs), when they arrive they are making eggs already. If the ground is covered in snow, those eggs fall out and are wasted. Soon after, if no nest sites are revealed (still covered in snow) geese have the ability to shut off their egg production and say "screw it" I'll try next year.

So, a late spring (2004, 2007, 2008?) will:

-greatly reduce clutch sizes, and greatly reduce the 'nesting' population (aka "breeding propensity").

although some young will feel the crunch come August and might freeze up, geese are pretty good at knowing when to bail and save their energy for themselves.

so, in a late year expect 99.9% of the adults that went north to come back no worse for wear, but with few young with them.

 

This update is for the central arctic only (Queen Maud Gulf).

BAD. birds are now arriving but it is so late there will a low nesting effort at best and low clutch sizes.

Get used to killing Adult light geese if you are hunting in SK or AB.

 

Thanks for the update Canuk

 

Thanks for the update. Canuk do you know what the conditions are like now that they are there? Thanks

We'll still be after them again this year.