Leg- and neck-banded resident geese have helped wildlife managers to differentiate between local birds and less numerous migratory Canada geese. Photo by Bob Fala.

Winter waterfowling may be one of West Virginia's best-kept secrets. As one of the most heavily forested states in the nation, even the rugged uplands of the aptly nicknamed Mountain State must drain its more than ample proportions of annual precipitation. As a result, our state does boast a decent dose of rivers, bottoms and wetlands. And, in turn, we have good numbers of ducks and geese.

What's more, these better than just average duck populations thereof have scant few hunters chasing them. Though the specific state waterfowl stamp was discontinued a few years back for mostly administrative reasons and dang few takers, those who do hunt essentially have the flocks of fowl all to themselves.

Now throw in the fact that the latter parts of the season, as in right now through most or all of January, can thin out the competition a quantum leap farther. Reason being, a lot of folks out there are simply unaware. The more obscure waterfowl regulations are not part of the general hunting package pamphlet. But that doesn't mean there's a shortage of birds or that you can't take advantage once enlightened to the contrary.

To further accentuate the paucity of hunters, Division of Natural Resources (DNR) waterfowl coordinator Steve Wilson indicates that of the 2,000 or so state stamp buyers, several of them were merely stamp collectors. Of the others who purchased a stamp, some hunted geese but not ducks or vice versa.

For the late season, you can dang well do both at the same time in certain zones and times! To put this minority of waterfowlers in a different perspective, there are some 350,000 participating deer hunters! Many of them are home by the fireplace with their rifles shelved and some holiday time to boot. What's even more, per the levels of nuisance geese, more hunters are needed!

Troublesome geese at private or public parks, lakes, golf courses and yards deposit more than ample proportions of their cigar-shaped droppings along with related sanitation and human health concerns. This is quite a 360-degree turnabout for a species rather recently brought back from the brink of extirpation.

By today's standards, more geese need to be cooked than protected. This might also eliminate some of the culling being done by government agents or even private citizens by federal permit to destroy eggs or nests. Goose reduction by lawful hunting just represents good utilization of the resource.

So let's go hunting. But don't forget that the overall populations of ducks have been decent, too. Although last January's counts of both ducks and geese were down from their 10-year average, biologist Wilson and other DNR staff qualify that news. First off, migratory populations must be considered in total with the adjacent flyway states to get a truer picture of the population.

Furthermore, the lower counts were largely attributed to mild winter weather and not to any particular shortage of birds. Ducks and geese, like a lot of other migratory birds, oft only go as far south as they have to. On the plus side, this could keep some early migrants like teal and wood ducks available when they ordinarily would have headed south.

Conversely, colder weather to the north and at home will drive out the remaining teal, wood ducks and resident geese but should fortunately be replaced by flights of migrant geese, mallards and black ducks from states to the north and Canada.