Photo by P.J. Reilly

There’s a reason why waterfowlers love icy-cold, cloudy, windy and snowy forecasts. Not because they’d rather suffer -- it’s that “association” thing: When the weather is rotten, the geese fly more.

When the geese fly more, of course, hunters associate that with better gunning. And that brings us to the bonus season in southern New England.

When waterfowl biologists predict lots of birds in our area, it’s no longer big news. We’ve been hearing about record-high goose densities for years. In fact, you’ve probably seen resident flocks on corporate lawns, golf courses, beaches, parks, ball fields, lakes or farmlands. I’ve spotted them along highways and even on paved parking lots.

It’s not the numbers of geese we have to worry about, it’s the weather. You can blame global warming, or some natural cycle of warmer-than-average winters. Whatever the cause, the climate has been keeping bag numbers down during last few late winters, according to biologists.

“Last season’s late goose hunting was similar to the previous year’s,” said Min Huang, Connecticut’s primary waterfowl biologist. “Unfortunately, that wasn’t very good. Warm weather was a major factor, as is the fact that few good spots exist in the current late-season zone to effectively target resident geese.”

For hunters, the big message is that there are still many thousands of non-migratory or resident geese in southern New England. It also means that many of the places where large flocks gather are off-limits to hunting. But during the late season, each state has a few coastal marshes where hunters can expect to bag a limit of geese on any given day.

The remaining question mark is the weather. When conditions are mild, the inland water and forage sources are free of ice and snow. Geese can feed, drink and rest comfortably in protected areas. But once freshwater sources freeze over and food sources become covered, wintering birds are forced to move to the open salt marshes. January and February are obvious times for this to happen.

That said, I’ve also had fine days gunning the coastal marshes in January in 40-degree weather when nothing was frozen or snow-covered. There’s always a chance that a flock of birds will light among your decoys. You have no chance, however, if you’re sitting at home watching hunting shows on TV!

Maine and New Hampshire don’t normally offer late goose seasons; while Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut have plenty of Canada geese and late bonus seasons to hunt them in.

Here’s a look at some of the best public-access goose-hunting spots near you this season:

CONNECTICUT
Connecticut’s goose population is still hovering near all-time highs. But recent numbers aren’t quite as good as they have been.

“The resident goose population in Connecticut,” said biologist Huang, “was estimated last spring at approximately 10,600 breeding pairs. While that is still a lot of geese, it’s a slight decline from last year, and the second year in a row that the estimate has been lower. When hunting has been good, we’ve averaged about 3,800 birds in the late season. But the bag hasn’t been that high lately.”