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Ross Goose Harvest Study: What the Numbers Say

| by Topics: Hunting, Waterfowl Harvest

ross-goose-harvest-study

Do you love hunting Ross Geese in Texas? We’ve got some good news for you….

At WaterfowlChoke we love everything about hunting geese, whether it’s making the perfect shot, learning to call effectively, or buying the best choke tube, we want to help people in every aspect of goose hunting – so we know as well as anyone how important harvesting Ross Geese is.

Harvesting a Ross Goose is the most iconic achievement in duck hunting, especially when it’s a memorable hunt or you get a banded bird. However, there are a few people who have made harvesting Ross Geese their specialty, and you’d be surprised just how many Ross Geese have been harvested in America since the turn of the millennium.

So, to look deeper into the Ross Goose harvest, we decided to do some research into just how many Ross Geese are harvested each year and what areas shoot the most – here’s what we found.

For this research, we looked at the adaptive harvest reports for each state in 2021 in the United States, to reveal which American states are best for harvesting Ross Geese.

Where are the Most Ross Geese Being Shot?

We discovered that hunters who hunt Ross Geese in Texas are the most likely to harvest the most amount of Ross Geese per hunt, followed by in California and Washington. Since 2021, those in Texas have harvested 18,244 Ross Geese, whilst in California and Washington, hunters have harvested 17,979 and 5,360, respectively.

The ten states that harvested the most Ross Geese, and the number each state has recorded for 2021, are as follows:

  1. Texas – 18,244
  2. California – 17,979
  3. Washington – 5,360
  4. Kansas – 3,763
  5. North Dakota – 2,968
  6. Arkansas – 2,359
  7. South Dakota – 2,724
  8. Mississippi – 1,330
  9. Oregon – 1,155
  10. Oklahoma – 1,026

(Sources: USFWS Harvest Survey)

The data showed that the Ross Goose hunters sticking to the rice fields of Texas are most likely to harvest a Ross Goose. Shockingly, Arkansas Ross goose hunters have fallen drastically on the harvest list and you have to wonder if they will even see a Ross Goose on the average goose hunt.

More Waterfowl Harvest Studies
Harvest studies are conducted by the USFWS each year in the U.S. to gauge the number of ducks and geese that are taken by hunters. This aids in setting bag limits and managing migratory bird populations from year to year. Below are the most common migratory species with available harvest data. Please click the links below to see how many birds were harvested and where.

The Most Common Shotgun Used for Harvesting Ross Geese

When looking at which shotgun people had used to harvest a Ross Goose, the 12-gauge was revealed as the most commonly used shotgun, with over 80% of hunters choosing it. A 20 gauge and a 10 gauge shotgun rounded off the top three, with 20 gauge being the second most popular.

The 28 gauge came in fourth place with 12% usage, while the 410 bore came fifth, with 5%.

We also delved into which month people had been harvesting the most Ross Geese, and discovered that November was the most common, with 43% of Ross Geese harvested. The months of December (33%) and January (24%) came in second and third. This is likely due to goose season timing by state and hunter participation levels peaking at certain months.

states-that-shoot-the-most-ross-geese

Waterfowlchoke editors, after reviewing the data, said:

“As any goose hunter will know, harvesting a Ross Goose is a big achievement – unless you’re a well-known hunting guide, an amateur hunter with multiple limit hunts on Ross Geese is quite the accomplishment.

“It’s interesting to see those in Texas harvesting so many Ross Geese – especially when you consider the recent decline in the goose population there– you have to wonder what tactics they’re using out there on the Central Flyway! We’re planning to make this research a recurring thing, so that we can track how Ross Goose harvests in the US are changing – who knows, maybe California will surpass Texas this time next year.”

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