Dickson takes aim at Cortez's geese

Dickson takes aim at Cortez's geese

May 1, 2001

CANADA GEESE strut their stuff at the pond in Cortez’s Centennial Park. The geese are proliferating and causing problems in the parks and golf course, city officials say.

By Janelle Holden
Journal Staff Writer

For the past 13 years, Dr. John Dickson has made it his mission to harass the geese in Cortez’s parks and golf course.

As a result, Dickson has successfully rid the soccer fields and other populated park areas of geese, but the geese are still making a mess at the golf course.

Now Dickson is asking the Cortez City Council to change the existing geese-harassment ordinance to allow the use of blank shotgun shells to scare the geese away.

He pleaded his case during the council’s workshop Tuesday. The board asked city staff to work together to come up with a proposal for amending the ordinance.

"We’ve got the city park under control, but the golf course is pathetic," said Chris Burkett, Cortez parks and recreation director, who credits Dickson with keeping the park’s geese where they should be — in and around the ponds in Centennial Park.

"It’s just pathetic the way we golfers have to wade around in the goose doo-doo to play golf," complained Dickson to the city council last week.

Council member Larry Kautz agreed. "Between holes 11 and 12 you can’t land your ball out there without it landing in a manure pile," he said.

A retired dentist, Dickson visits the city parks morning, noon, and night to "train" geese to stay away from the area.

"We’ve got the thing pretty under control in the park, and all I have to do is walk out there and they’re gone," he explained.

For the past six years, Dickson has used a radio-controlled airplane to train the geese to stay away from certain areas of the golf course, but Dickson says he needs to use the noise of the shotgun.

"It is clearly just a noisemaker," explained City Manager Hal Shepherd. "It’s just another method of trying to scare them to other areas where people don’t walk in the park."

Many methods are used in the quest to harass geese: Popping paper bags, chasing them with dogs, flying a radio-controlled airplane into their midst, shooting off bottle rockets, or shooting blank shells. The city also has a trained dog at the golf course that chases geese.

"You can shoo geese," Dickson explained, "shoo ’em, shoo ’em, and shoo ’em, but you don’t accomplish anything."

And according to Dickson and Burkett, the geese do thousands of dollars of damage to the golf course each winter.

"The plane is very quiet, and it flies very high and there’s no obnoxious noise to everyone on the ground," Dickson explained.

But, to be effective, any goose-control method has "to make a bang," he said.

"We’re not going to shoot it next to anyone’s house but it will be at early and possibly late hours," said Dickson, who plans to use a golf cart with headlights during his night-time noise-making.

It is a federal and state offense to kill a goose or transport it to another place, but the Division of Wildlife does allow harassment.

"If they’re in a place where they’re causing problems, like a golf course, we do allow folks to try to harass them. It’s difficult to do because it’s perfect goose habitat," said Jim Olterman, senior biologist for western Colorado.

Geese are grazers, and prefer the short grass and ponds, but Olterman said there are plenty of places for geese to nest outside of city parks and golf courses.

"I would say that the goose population is just about maxed out," said Olterman. "The population is just about at the saturation point because of the ponds. You’ll find geese on just about all of them."

The Division of Wildlife reintroduced the geese to the area in the 1970s.

Dickson admits he accidentally killed a goose several years ago. One of his shotgun shells ricocheted off the water and killed a goose on the bank. Someone turned him in to the DOW, and Dickson paid the fine.

William Glen, a high-school student, assists Dickson in his efforts.