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Distance From Roost

7.9K views 11 replies 12 participants last post by  bigbry  
#1 ·
I've been wondering how far geese will fly daily to a feild to feed. I know the average is around 3 to 4 miles, but I think we have some that travel about 10 miles. That's the first lake from the direction they come from. There is one small pond back in the middle of the woods somewhere, but htere is no way to get to it(private) to see if that's where they are coming from.

Do you think they would fly that far every day? Sometimes there is about 250 geese that come all at once and the pond in between is only like 2 or 3 acres so I don't think they would come from there, or would they?
 
#2 ·
Geese do what they are going to. I have hunted them 7-8 miles from teh roost before. Heck snows will fly 30 miles here to feed bypassing 100s of fields in the process.
 
#3 ·
i have seen them fly 20 miles .........i know this becouse i was flowing them ....ha ha it all depends on a lot of stuff ......are they being shot at all ? how close is there food from the rost ........but here is the kicker ...sometimes late in the year the gesfse will go out to feed at sun set and come back in the morning those ones can go a long time before they find the feild they like there is NO normal distanse for them every goose is differnt you just have to get out there are go for a drive and see where they go .....
 
#6 ·
In Saskatchewan you may see a major roost and a whole bunch of intermediate size roosts.
At the start of the season snows will eat the freshly harvested fields closest to the roost..sometimes walking into the fields from the roost and distance of less than 2 miles
Mid season they will go just a bit further as new migrants arrive to travel maybe 2-3 miles..and it was easy scouting and also the spotting scope became really handy from the heights of the grain elevator; spot ,phone book and cut out the competion and conserve gas.
When the weather gets bad and peak migration they could travel 4-6 miles and it would not be uncommon to see migrants from several or more roosts all hit one big field at some considerable distance maybe 6-10 miles in vast eating buffet fields of Sask.

A quarter section freshly combined could host a slug of mirants blanketing the field and keep them feed for only two days..hence they spread out radius for the next unpredicatable gathering.

Last year I saw fields that were prime and of different terrain but more than 10 miles untouched by geese because they were lazy and wanted to conserve energy and travel time and eat time
 
#7 ·
I've seen Canadas just walk out of the roost to feed, but I agree that they tend to keep the distance short. I have seen snows make a 20+ mile trip twice a day to fly from the Quills.
 
#8 ·
Followed a local flock of Honkers before the early season a few years ago, a touch over 22 miles. Funny thing is some on that roost that day simply walked 100yds into a field. Thankfully gas was <$2 back then. Considering how far they can go migrating, 20 miles isn't much more than a walk around the block to them.
 
#9 ·
And I have seen Honkers fly 25 miles to feed. It all depends on available food, time of year, how cold, hunting pressure, etc.. on how far they will fly.