City approves second goose hunt

SANDPOINT — It all depends on how you define success in terms of the city's first goose hunt at City Beach, Sandpoint Police Chief Corey Coon told Sandpoint City Council members last week.

In life, and in running the police department, Coon said he has four goals: show up, learn, have fun and win. He told the council he applied those same goals to the hunt to determine if it was a success.

"The most important part, at the end of the day, was that 'was the event planned and executed successfully?' And I think, yeah, it was. So I think, at the end of the day, we won. We knew there wasn't gonna be a big harvest, it wasn't gonna be a big number taken from that aspect. But, to be able to go out and achieve those things that we did. I think, at the end of the day, it was successful."

The recap on the inaugural hunt preceded a request by Coon for the council to again hold the hunt at City Beach. While the hunt wouldn't be held until fall, Coon said he wanted to come to the council well before then — one to update them on how the initial hunt went, but to set the groundwork early and allow the city to better plan for the event.

In a 4-1 vote, the council voted to approve a permit to hold a second goose hunt. Voting yes were Deb Ruele, Joel Aispuro, Andy Groat and Justin Welker; Councilman Justin Dick voted no. Councilwoman Kate McAlister was absent.

Geese — and their poop — have been an ongoing problem at the beach for years. On average, between 250 and 300 Canada geese make the park their home, carpeting the grass and beach with fecal matter. Because of the large amount of goose poop, city officials said high levels of E. coli bacteria can concentrate in the waters near the park.

City officials said they've tried everything possible to keep the birds away from the beach, from harassment tools like dogs and decoys to relocation.

Nothing has worked. That made a degradation hunt the next logical step, one that was made after consultation with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, Sandpoint officials said previously.

The city allowed the hunt twice a week for a three-week period toward the end of Idaho's waterfowl season in December. With temperatures ranging anywhere from a high of 23 degrees to a low of minus 23 with the windchill factor, Coon told the council that hunters realistically had only the first day to hunt.

In reviewing the hunt, Coon told the council the hunt was enough of a success to keep moving forward with the program.

While only one goose was harvested, an unbanded bird indicating it had not been caught at City Beach, Coon said everyone in the blinds had a chance to shoot at a goose, mainly on the first day. However, he said the hunt was a success in other ways.

The lack of geese shot during the hunt is likely due to the cold weather and time of year that the hunt was held, Coon said many of the geese were already "hiding up in the deltas."

The hunt was a success in terms of interest, with more than 100 people applying for a permit to the hunt. And despite the weather, Coon said at least one hunter turned out for each available slot.

"But every event, every day, we had people show up and a lot of them were telling us just to honor the draft in what the city had done," Coon told the council.

Hunters told Coon the blinds set up by the city were done well and offered a safe zone to shoot for hunters at each of the locations. Several later told police the prolonged cold seen in the region and the lateness of the hunt were key factors in the lack of waterfowl seen during the hunt.

They recommended the hunt be moved up a month — before the bitter cold sets in and snows cover the grass.

Due to the numbers and the weather, Coon said in response to a question from Mayor Shelby Rognstad that it would be hard to say that the hunter's presence proved an effective deterrence to the geese.

With blinds set facing the lake and away from the beach, Councilman Jason Welker said most of the geese were on the grass behind the hunters. After joking a friend had suggested the city unleash "6-year-old karate kids" to send the geese into flight he asked the police chief what options the hunters had given IDFG regulations.

While he didn't elaborate, Coon said they had a plan "to get them to take flight," albeit one that did not involve young karate students — or allowing hunters to shoot away from the lake.

Only one resident near the beach reported hearing gunshots but told police the sound was muffled and faint. While a few people turned out to walk at the beach when it was closed for the hunt, Coon said there were no protestors.

While most on the council indicated support for the hunt, Councilman Justin Dick said while he appreciated the work officers and city crews put into making and keeping the hunt safe, he still did not think he could support it.

"I wasn't for it the first time. I probably am not going to be coming through on the second time around," he said. "I wish there was more science involved that proved to us that there was more E. Coli in that fecal matter than the lakes around us."

The City Beach hunt has drawn diverse views on social media, with some praising the hunt as the city's only option and others condemning the move as a "massacre." Critics said that like past efforts, the hunt is unlikely to prove successful and was a barbaric slaughter of the geese in their natural habitat.

However, supporters said the action is one of the few remaining to the city, other than outright euthanization of the geese.

With each goose capable of producing up to 3 pounds of feces per day, they have taken over the beach, former Parks and Recreation Commission member Amelia Boyd said. The geese were a problem when she served on the council five years ago and continue to be a problem.

Boyd encouraged the council to approve the hunt and keep the program going.

"Whether or not the science is there, it's disgusting," said Boyd, who was the only person to testify in regard to the hunt. "I don't think our children should be walking through the feces at City Beach."