Goose ID

[Five Oh]

I thought both of these were cacklers, just based off the body size, till I looked at the bills. I know there's lots of subspecies of geese, but what are the traits to look for ?Screenshot_20190115-164336.jpg

[Five Oh]

Screenshot_20190115-164321.jpg

[JABIII]

Shot in SC?

[nitro5x6's]

Cackler cover the 4 small subspecies . Including Taverner's, Richardson's , Aleutian and Small Cackler of course. The differences between them are probably minimal and I am not expert enough to discern them .. I have killed a few Taverner's in California and WA and Richardson's in N TX.. without someone in the know with me, I could not have told them apart.

[Rabbitman09]

Shot in SC?

Hell no....all we got are the jumbo XL's.

[Five Oh]

Shot in SC?

No sir

[JABIII]

10-4. Carry on...

[scdiver]

Central Flyway?

[quackaddict]

The one on the right is cute.

[nitro5x6's]

My friend in TX can ID most of them from the air. Of course he hunts 60+ days a year for the last 25 years.. I will send him the photo

[Gander]

I'm betting its a cackler.

[scdiver]

Hutchins is uneducated guess.

[Rubberhead*]

The "big" one is a cackler. The little one is stunted - must not have had enough yolk in his egg...

Seriously, I do think it's basically a "midget" cackler. Other pictures would be helpful.

[nitro5x6's]

Hutchins is uneducated guess.

Richardson's and Hutchin's are the same ( also known as Baffin Island subspecies) The Cackling geese are so difficult to truly identify due to the similarities in plumage and markings. Many " experts" use geography as the defining measure. I.E., found or killed West of the Rockies - Taverner's , East of the Rockies- Richardson's Cackling Goose.. Banding and collar studies seem to be making the case.

[BEAR]

7BB88CDB-77E7-402A-B108-771759CC8EF5.jpg

DFFB1906-E7E4-41AE-9838-32AE7C33F20E.jpeg

I’ve started getting into the Canada Goose subspecies complex. Shot a Lesser, Central/Todd’s, and an Atlantic last season on a trip to Maryland’s eastern shore. Good pictures of the whole bird from the back, belly, close ups of the head, side profile and underneath, plus measurements of the whole bird, neck length, and bill length. Plus if you have a food scale, weigh them. I don’t recall them off hand, but there are several websites with more information on discerning goose subspecies. Geographical location helps a lot too.

[nitro5x6's]

What, no Quill Lake yet ????

I have killed a bunch of geese in my day. Never really set me on fire, because I don't enjoy eating them. The only exception to that comment is Whitefronts (Specklebellys to all you HeyBos) . They are truly delicious.

My only Goose hunting goal I have left is a Blue Phase Ross which will be purely luck... I have a dream.

[coonsqualler01]

I smoked an Aleutian in Oregon a few years back, it looked bill wise like a normal Canadian and had the ring and was the size of a fatass mallard. Like a mini goose but didn't have that snub bill as the one pictured.

[BEAR]

My only Goose hunting goal I have left is a Blue Phase Ross which will be purely luck... I have a dream.

My Florida panhandle duck hunting buddy, goes to South Dakota every spring for two weeks. Usually him and one or two buddies hunt the whole time together. Spring 2018, their hunts ranged from 80-205 geese between them per day. He’s shot three BPR’s in the last four years. Said he talked to a biologist one year when he called in a banded Ross, and the guy was telling him that the Ross Goose nesting grounds are moving, and hybridizing with Snows/Blues is becoming more common.