Goose ID

[AWS]

I'm an avid duck hunter but don't target geese at all.  A couple of days ago I was hunting with 4 pintail decoys out on the north coast and had 8 smaller geese come into the spread.  They had the breast color that looked like a hershey bar, medium brown in fact the whole goose looke dark compared to a regular canada.

 I let them pass thinking they might be rare.

Thanks
AWS

[101521]

Good call. Probably Dusky's and you don't want to take those.  Any red neck collars?

[AWS]

No, no collars

AWS

[Whitenuckles]

Duskies are still a pretty big goose. Im more inclined to say they were Cacklers. They have dark breast feathers and are small.

 Did they have white rings around there neck?

[Hyde]

http://www.dfw.state.or.us/resources/hunting/waterfowl/goose-permits/docs/Goosefieldguide_ch3_dusky.pdf

I haven't hunted geese in Wa, but have plenty of experience with them in Oregon.  They are big geese, and decoy easily.  We call them sky pigs.  They are protected in Oregon. 

[WCTaxidermy]

Sounds like a Cackler to me.  Some will have the white ring around their neck, some won't.  They also would have had a high pitched honk which you can't mistake for another goose except maybe a Speck.  Most Cacklers will be slightly bigger than a big Mallard......John

[101521]

I was going to go with a Cackler too but when he said the whole body was choc. brown I went with Dusky.  Either way you showed great restraint where most wouldn't and just start blasting.  Just google both and look at images then you can decide what they were.

[pjb3]

Cacklers
GOOD CALL on not taking something you can't identify!!

[br8kitoff]

If your in the right area, i think 2a/b your allowed to shoot 1.....just saying....look at your regs.

[CP]

If your in the right area, i think 2a/b your allowed to shoot 1.....just saying....look at your regs.

That’s an interesting way to look at it.  If you are in area 2a or 2b you may shoot one, then you are done hunting for the year and your dusky counts toward closing everyone’s season.

If you aren’t in area 2a or 2b the limit is 4 per day, but chances are you won’t see any duskies.

[h2ofowlr]

If they are small, like everyone said they are probably cacklers.  They are plentiful.  When you are in the field and it is a larger goose and you can identify that the culmen is between 40-50mm with a breast color at the 5 scale on the dirt chart, then it was definately a dusky.     Good luck on that one as the check stations still have a hard time figuring it out.  If it has a dark breast and the culmen falls anywhere in the 40-50mm they call it a dusky.  Not all bills are the same.

If your not sure what of what you have in front of you, good call on not shooting.  There is a large percentage of new hunters that seem to shoot first and ask questions later.  They have a high oh s**t factor.   

[CP]

Probably cacks, maybe Taverner’s

[duck stamp]

The Feds dont want you to shoot duskys, In fact if you are hunting in Goose area 2A or 2B you must pass a class on Duskys and after you pass your test you must have this goose card along with your Lic and if you by chance shoot a dusky that will be the end of your goose season in goose area 2A or 2B.