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white front geese


big bad lindz
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How easy is it to identify the differences between a white front goose and grays & pinks on a cold dark dusky morning or evening. I know there is a distinct call difference between grays & pinks but what about the white front. Looking at pictures you can notice a difference but how easy when your in a ditch suffering from goose fever.

I will be having an outing next month over decoys up in Caithness and will be going out with a guide who I hope will be able to tell us whither we can shoot or not but I would like to find out before I go. There has been a been a couple of comments in the local press and the shooting times for fowlers to be on the look out for white fronts and of course not shoot them. I have previously been in a group of guns on a very cold wintery morning when a Brent goose was shot when it was in among a group of grays coming into the decoys.

 

Cheers,

BBL

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Thanks Andrew, a good link.

Lots of similarities between all the geese species although the white front cackle sounds a bit of a higher pitch. It would appear that these recordings were taken mostly of geese on the ground or roost area and in large numbers but I think it still would be difficult for an exact sound identification between the greys and white fronts if you have not much experience in identifying them. Still I am sure I will find out in a couple of weeks time.

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Exactly, had 4 geese, a single and a party of three over me on the Wash recently; something didn't ring right. I'm sure that they were Beans.

 

I always think that if your not sure you wont regret getting it wrong and not shooting, but you will regret it for a long time if you arent sure and do shoot !

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How easy is it to identify the differences between a white front goose and grays & pinks on a cold dark dusky morning or evening. I know there is a distinct call difference between grays & pinks but what about the white front. Looking at pictures you can notice a difference but how easy when your in a ditch suffering from goose fever.

I will be having an outing next month over decoys up in Caithness and will be going out with a guide who I hope will be able to tell us whither we can shoot or not but I would like to find out before I go. There has been a been a couple of comments in the local press and the shooting times for fowlers to be on the look out for white fronts and of course not shoot them. I have previously been in a group of guns on a very cold wintery morning when a Brent goose was shot when it was in among a group of grays coming into the decoys.

 

Cheers,

BBL

I'm sure Anser2 will back me up here.

In my younger days i along with Robert could easily pick a Whitefront out from several thousand Pink's even in bad light

(1) There call is totally different to Pink's and Greylag

(2) There wing's are sickle shape and come to a point at the end.

Could i do it now probably not as mid October i tripled a Party of five Pink's in broad daylight when my Lab's retrieved them it was Two Pink's One Juvenile European Whitefront.

Also I've been very very lucky and shot a lot of European and Greenland Whitefront.

Now Bean Geese are totally different ball game in fact I'll have a bet with ANYONE they can't identify a Bean even in very good light from a Pink unless it's Dead in there hand even then I've seen people carrying what they thought was a Whitefront .

Look and listen to some videos on the web and those Bean Geese call fly and call just like there subspecies the Pinkfeet.

 

Just like to add where you are going they will be Greenland Whitefront Adult birds have very dark barred chests so much they look black also the Bill is Orange not Pink and they are a Very Very vocal Goose even on there own.

You would be extremely unlucky to shoot Greenland Whitefront from the Greylag and Pink's. Good luck

Edited by 6.5x55SE
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As Boyd says years ago we were both used to IDing whitefronts and pinks as we often got them together in mixed flocks on the Coast. Not much I can add to what others have said pointed sickle shaped wings, small size and most important a high pitched call. As for beans so often their give away is that they are often silent or only make low pitched ugggg chatter calls. But when in full cry these is little difference between their calls and pink calls. Indeed if you listen to a large flock of pinks you will hear the full range of grey goose calls, but when you scan the flock all you will see are pinks, all very confusing. I have often seen pinks called in by fowlers by calls that sound nothing like pinks , but could only be described as a goose call , but like no species in particular. Your best bet will be to ask the advice of your guide as the white fronts may be coming from a different area than the pinks\greys. Ie whitefronts coming off a hill loch while the pinks coming in off the sea. Be warned though some guides will know little more than you do. Good luck.

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I was up there 3weeks ago and saw quite a few skiens G.W, and as Boyd and Robert say you will notice the diference in call ,colour and size ! also there were bean geese and barnicle geese in numbers that Iv'e not seen as high in the 35 yrs that Iv'e been going up there, if your going with a guide I would assume you will be decoying geese on the feeding grounds on the morning flight so you will be able to see the geese fairly well to identify them, if your roost shooting in the dark you will be relying on thier call so be carefull and all the best and have a good time :good: D.D.

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I was up there 3weeks ago and saw quite a few skiens G.W, and as Boyd and Robert say you will notice the diference in call ,colour and size ! also there were bean geese and barnicle geese in numbers that Iv'e not seen as high in the 35 yrs that Iv'e been going up there, if your going with a guide I would assume you will be decoying geese on the feeding grounds on the morning flight so you will be able to see the geese fairly well to identify them, if your roost shooting in the dark you will be relying on thier call so be carefull and all the best and have a good time :good: D.D.

It had skipped my mind Tony that you was a regular of many years to Caithness.

Hope you are well mate and had a Successful trip 👍👍

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Hi Boyd I'm not to bad mate old age is getting to be a bit of a pain in the haris lol ,I decided that this was my last trip to Caithness so I said farewell to my old friends and called it a day ,the trip was ok but things have changed so much up there with the so called guides trying to run the shooting ! there's better places to shoot geese in Scotland without the conmen trying to take your hard earned !

how you been doing Boyd with this super moon have ya nutted many LOL gives us bell we can catch up . D.D.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi guys,

 

Well had my couple of days away up in Caithness and not a white front to be seen thank goodness, although our guide did say that there were a couple of groups about but none near to where we were shooting. Over the 2 mornings we had a total bag of 26 grays and 1 pink and on one evening duck fighting 15 mallard.

When Speaking our guide (who has been up there for 30 years) he mentioned that a couple of estates were hammering the geese which were on the lochs in the estates area but that there were not many other guides in the area. He did mention that he has a large areas through out Caithness and a little bit in NW Sutherland that he either owns the shooting rights or lets it or just gets permission form the farmers. He also has a good number of pigeon shooting areas and does guided stalking. As expected he was very informative and knows his stuff well although he did blow his own trumpet a bit but I think we will be planning another trip up again next year.

 

Anyway thanks for the comments and advice glad I did not need it. Got to get plucking this week.

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