The author harvested a limit of geese. Photo by Ron Hustvedt Jr

Waterfowling is an addiction that gets into your bones and becomes a part of who you are as a person. It's been a rough time for duck hunters in Minnesota the last few years, but the goose hunting has more than made up for the shortage of ducks.

The skies are full of geese and Minnesota is considered by many to be a world-class goose-hunting destination. Among the many addicted to waterfowling is Rick "Swede" Peterson, who takes full advantage of the terrific goose hunting opportunities throughout Minnesota. A professional fishing and hunting guide specializing in the metro area, Peterson spends plenty of time in fields and marshes in pursuit of geese from opening day of the early season in September to the last day of the late season in December.

"I just love being out there in pursuit of geese," he said. "It's one of the things that makes life worth living."

Last waterfowling season was another fruitful one for Peterson and most other goose hunters across Minnesota who are enjoying a high population of resident geese along with a healthy number of migrators.

"We're looking to be in real good shape for a great Canada goose season this year," said Dave Rave of the DNR's wetland wildlife populations and research group. Rave is primarily responsible for counting and managing Minnesota's goose population -- a great job to have with goose populations being as solid and stable as they are these days.

The 2008 population estimate for Canada geese is 277,000, which is relatively similar to last year's estimate of 262,000. Although there were 15,000 more birds in the survey, given the rate of error and the different conditions, the numbers are within the error rate.

When examined over the last eight years, the population estimates have consistently hovered around the 300,000 mark. That's plenty of geese by anybody's assessments.

"I think what we're starting to see is that while our goose population is still in very good shape, the breeding population is no longer increasing rapidly and may be beginning to stabilize," Rave said.

What does that mean? Minnesota's goose population is stable and offers fantastic waterfowling action.

"Hunting opportunities will be the same as last year if not better," Rave said. Most managers reported fair to good numbers of goose broods over the summer. Even though we had a late spring this year, gosling production looks like it's better than 2007, meaning there should be a lot of young birds flying around.

"Those young birds are great for hunters because they are easier to decoy and less wary of the mistakes that seasoned birds flare at," said Paul Sawyer of Knock'm Down Productions. There were fewer young birds last fall because a spring hard freeze harmed many eggs on the nests, considerably reducing production numbers. Those conditions did not repeat themselves this year and, as a result, goslings did very well and are now filling the skies.