The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1953-11-13
WILD GOOSE TIME ON ~
LAKE MATTAMUSKEET
BY CARLTON MORRIS
editor Gates County Index

Will Tile lISC CO1Q weather Oh
the falling of the year the wild
geese begin to come south.
Yesterday I saw a high flying
wedge and knew that winter
could not be far away for many
of the geese arrive early and a
few hundred always remain here.
But when the Canadian wild
geese begin to drop out of the
flyways by the thousands, soon
it will be time to get out the
old red flannels. 4
The arrival of the wild geese
at Lake Mattamuskeet in Hyde
County is a phenomena of ma
ture that has been going on for
many years and is still facinating
to strangers and natives alike. A
trip across the lake in late sum-
mer will show smooth expanse
of water some Is miles long and
seven miles across, but the only
geese will be a few hundred,
many of which were wounded
during the previous hunting sea-
son and were unable to make the
long trip to the far north when
the spring migratory flight be-
gan.
Another trip across or around
the lake just a few days later
will show tens of thousands of
the big Canadas and their con-
slant clatter will fill the air while
almost always there will be
several flocks into the air in most
any direction.
AS anyone can see, rs to 100
thousand wild geese weighing
from seven to Is pounds will re-
quire a great deal of feed. There
is no feed in the lake and so the
surrounding countryside must
furnish these geese with means
of survival. This it is well adapt
ed to do, as the leading crop of
the section is grain and more
grain. Once the farmers hated the
wild geese for they were as bad
as locust plague, but with the
coming of good roads, nearly
everyone has managed to turn
the geese into a source of in
come, as they hire out as guides
and rent blinds in their fields to
hopeful hunters. The wildlife
commission repeatedly hauls
great quantities of grain and
dumps it into the lake each win
ter, to help out with this biggest
of all feeding problems.
To an outsider, it would appear
that with so many geese concen-
trated in this small area, the
Slaughter would be terrific, but
such is not the case, as any
hunter will testify. The smart
ness of the wild goose has be-
come legendary. For instance in
just few days he will learn the
hunting hours and days and can
time them within a few minutes.
Shooting will cease at designated
minute each day, and just before
that time wild geese will appear
in the skies by the thousands, but
seldom will they come within
range of an anxious hunter, but
is minutes after the shooting is
over, they will swarm over the
field like ants. They are con-
stantly on the alert, and an up
turned face in a hedge is en-
ough to send them searching for
altitude. Yet on a cold, windy
day they will lay discretion aside
and come swarming into the
fields regardless of the hunters.
Many geese are wounded each
season and never found by the
hunters. Many of these wounded
birds recover and live to ripe
old age, while others fall prey to
predatory animals and birds.
Eagles hunt the lakeside and are
adept at spotting cripples. They
will also spot young lambs, or
pigs and do not hesitate to at
tack them also. Many farmers
keep a high powered rifle handy
in the lambing season and while
the eagle is national bird and
Is protected on a national basis,
the farmers say that 5000 slug
will kill him just as dead as it
will his unprotected brothers and
sisters of the feathered family.
Year after year this writer
along with hunters from every
state in the Union go chasing the
big Canadian wild geese at Lake
Mattamuskeet, and year after
year we return sadder and wiser,
swearing we will never go again.
l believe 1 will try them just one
more season. This might be the
year.