Getting goosed

How does one exactly describe the experience?
It’s kinda like going to the doctor or dentist for an annual checkup. It can be sort of messy and, although not exactly painful, it’s not a real whoop-de-do for anyone involved. It’s just something that’s gotta be done.
“I’ve got about 15 or 20 who have been doing it for 20 years and it’s pretty painless,” explained Joe DeBold, urban wildlife biologist in the Missouri Department of Conservation’s Kansas City Region.
What Joe D. is talking about are the annual Kansas City area goose roundups. He will be directing two next week: Tuesday morning at Smithville Lake and the next morning at Harrisonville Lake. Currently there are about 800 geese at Smithville, about half that many at Harrisonville.
If you have ever had the opportunity to witness such a roundup, then you know how interesting – but potentially messy – it can be.
The thing is, though, that Joe D. likes his job – messy or otherwise. So he’s pumped for this spring’s annual events.
“How many people get to do something like this,” he said, a certain twinkle in his eye at the anticipation of getting up close and personal with the great Canada goose.
Biologists and other Conservation Department employees flock together this time of year to perform the annual banding process.  The geese, basically, become unwilling partners in the roundup because they can’t get away. They can run, but they can’t hide.
In other words, they can’t fly because they’re molting.
That means they’re losing their feathers, which is a natural process that occurs about this time every year, and grounds them. That explains why you are now seeing more of them stopping traffic, crossing busy streets on foot.
The Conservation Department’s annual goose roundups are sort of an aquatic cattle drive – and instead of horses, the “cowpokes” use boats. The workers spot the various groups of geese on a lake, and then the boats slowly push the birds together into one large group in the center of the impoundment.
Boats then form a large semi-circle around the birds and slowly idle, gently pushing the curious geese toward the shore. For the most part, the birds are OK with the persuasion. Some of them have actually been through it before, so they become the role models for the others.
If a goose gets a bit stubborn, or try to make a getaway, a worker will occasionally get them back in line with a simple slap of a paddle on the lake or the side of the boat.
On the shoreline is a temporary wire or plastic mesh. The barrier forms a chute from the water to the pen and the geese eventually funnel up into the area where they can be safely picked up. Now comes the fun part – individually sexing and banding the birds. Of course the young birds are immediately grabbed as not to be trampled by mom and dad, uncle or aunt.
If a goose already has a band on its leg, that data is recorded. If not, a band with new data is placed harmlessly on the goose’s leg and it is recorded as well. First of all, though, the human volunteers determine the gender, which can be a bit touchy for the goose. That’s sometimes when the “messy” part of the whole affair kicks in.
Also as a bit of inside trivia, male geese are generally banded on the right leg and females on the left leg.
Once they’re banded and their info is recorded, they are placed on the ground. They don’t bother to say, “Hey, thanks, that was fun.” They run like banshees into the water, where they promptly group together again and turn loudly vocal.
Goose roundups benefit both animals and humans.
“We do it to understand what the geese are doing, whether they’re local birds who reside here or whether they’re a migrating bird,” Joe D. explained further. “Ultimately, it’s to understand their movements and how we as biologists can best benefit the species by managing the species.”
We, as either hunters or wildlife advocates, benefit by healthier birds as well as healthier numbers. And as has been a long-standing tradition in waterfowl hunting, harvesting either a duck or goose that has previously been banded in considered something of a trophy.
“Waterfowl hunters who get a banded bird take a lot of pride in that,” Joe D. said. “They put the bands on a lanyard and over the course of many years, some hunters have a lanyard that is full of bands. That’s a great tradition among hunters.”
As far as the mess? For anyone who has ever been involved in a goose roundup, it goes with the territory and they have long accepted that part. And for Joe DeBold it’s just second nature.
“It doesn’t bother me in the least. I was raised on a farm with hogs and cattle. When you have to deal with them and they get stressed, well, they’re going to get a little messy.
“That is nothing compared to the opportunity for me and others with the Conservation Department to get a hands-on experience with wildlife … then be able to let them go back into the wild.”
HELPING OUT: If you’re interested in either volunteer or just observing either the Smithville or Harrisonville Lake goose roundups, it will be open to the public. Contact Joe DeBold at the Missouri Department of Conservation by emailing him at: joe.debold@mdc.mo.gov. for further details. Or contact the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Wildlife Services, 1714 Commerce Court, Suite C, Columbia, MO 65202. Phone 573/449-3033.