Canada Goose Prevention - How to keep Canada Geese away from yard or pond

Need goose removal in your hometown? We service over 500 USA locations! Click here to hire us in your town and check prices - updated for year 2020.

There are many options when it comes to Canada goose prevention, ranging from repellents to trapping, using other animals, fencing, lethal control, and more. Before we go any further, you should be aware that killing Canada geese is only permitted during hunting season and with specific methods. These birds are protected by federal and state laws, and killing them out of the hunting season without a permit, or unlawfully, will result in some rather hot water. You could be prosecuted for the offense if there is enough evidence to suggest you did it.



Lethal control methods should only be looked at as a last resort, and those lethal control methods are limited. Poison doesn’t work and is illegal. You can shoot the birds during hunting season, but then you will need to make sure you’re sticking to local gun laws. That season is only brief too, and out of that season, you will need to go to the appropriate authorities to get yourself a permit to lawfully destroy the creature. Those permits are generally only approved under quite serious circumstances.

Geese don’t really like being harassed, so you could actually get rid of these birds quite easily and on your own, with a bit of time, dedication, and persistence. For example, if you notice that the birds are regularly coming onto your land, try and get yourself a scarecrow. You will want something eye-catching, that moves with the wind. That’s what encourages these birds to leave. You could hang silver foil stripes or holographic tape from the trees, or even old CDs and DVDs if you happen to be throwing a bunch out. You could even just hang some laundry on the line. If it moves with the wind, the geese won’t like it.

In some places, dogs are used to encourage the geese to move away, although you will need to make sure you are being careful if you take this approach. Canada geese can pack a powerful punch behind that strong neck of theirs, and you certainly don’t want your domesticated animal to come out of it worse off. If the dogs manage to chase the geese away, however, it will only take a few more turns before the geese leave and stay gone.

You could use taste-aversion therapy. This means placing something badly-tasting down on the areas the geese tend to be hanging out the most. If something tastes bad, you’re not going to want to eat it. You’re not even going to want to be around it. Again, with some regular applications to start with, it won’t be long before you could encourage these geese to permanently go away. You could even try using liquid repellents that affect the mucous membranes of the animal. It’s similar to a bad smell for humans. Just like repellents for most wild animals, these can come with pretty varied results.

Laser lights are another useful tool, easily pointed out the window at passing geese. You will want to make sure you're not shining powerful laser lights into the eyes of the animal, however, and you will also need to be quite careful where you’re pointing the beam of light. The light is very strong. It can easily affect low-flying planes, and this is even more so the case if you live close to an airport.

Devices that make noise can sometimes have an effect, but a radio in the back yard probably won’t. The geese will soon realize that the radio is just that — something that makes a noise and doesn’t really do anything else. Unless you combine a radio with something else, such as a scarecrow or those hanging old CDs, it’s probably not going to have very much effect. These birds are quite at-home next to humans now, so a bit of human noise isn’t going to make their life that much tougher.

Flags, balloons, and plenty more items have all been used to scare off geese, and that’s the trick — you need to scare them off. You just need to encourage one or two of them to leave too, because a flock or gaggle will generally follow itself. A few times caring the birds off and they won’t come back at all. You can help your cause even further by making sure you install barriers around plants that the geese were eating, and also fencing around the property where possible. This gives you added protection, not just against the birds, but also against a wide range of wild animals.

Read my How to get rid of Canada Geese guide.
For more information, you may want to click on one of these guides that I wrote:
How much does bird removal cost? - get the lowdown on prices.
How to get rid of birds - my main bird removal info guide.
Example bird removal photographs - get do-it-yourself ideas.
Bird job blog - learn from great examples of bird jobs I've done.