A change in federal regulations is making it easier for people in New Hampshire and Vermont to hunt “Canada geese” and destroy their nests and eggs without permits.
Before August, it took a long time to get a federal permit to control the birds, which often don’t migrate south in winter and may congregate in large flocks, fouling ponds, golf courses and lawns with their droppings.
Now landowners can destroy nests and coat goose eggs with oil to inhibit hatching. No permit is needed as long as people report their actions via a Web site.
John McConnell is the director of Wildlife in New Hampshire and Vermont for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He says it’s now easier to get permits to kill adult birds.