Help Please! Goose taken in broad daylight while....

[tatum123]

Please help me figure out what may have possibly happened to my goose.
I had five Chinese geese, they were about 15 lb each and around 7 years old.
A couple of days ago, just about one hour before sunset, while we were all at home (meaning we heard nothing) and my husband was on the tractor just around a couple of hundred yards from our lake, one of our geese just vanished.
I went and looked all around for any trace of feathers and there was nothing. I walked our acreage and tried to see if there were any feathers around the property, I could not find any.

Last year we lost one from what I am guessing was a coyote or a slim chance it could have been a bobcat, but we did find the feathers up in the woods by the lake for that particular instance.
Any thoughts on what may have taken one of our large geese?
Could an owl or hawk take a goose that large, and in addition, carry it away? I would think that would be a pretty large load for a bird, however since there is not even a trace of what may have happened, I am concerned about replacing the geese that we have lost.
I really don't like leaving our three geese out there alone, it seems to be a pretty small flock, but I don't want to replace them if there is something around that am unaware of that will continue to eat my geese.

Thankful for any thoughts or suggestions.

Thanks.
Rhonda~

 

[sourland]

I would guess that it was either a coyote or bobcat. Any possibility that she might have gone broody on a hidden nest?

 

[tatum123]

Sourland - I really wish that was the case, but all of our other geese are totally freaked out and staying on the bank next to the house.
I would really be surprised if a coyote took it with the hubby cutting the grass on the tractor that close, and same thing with the bobcat, but I suppose it is possible. We just moved to the country a year ago, so we are pretty new at figuring out how to keep the predators away, but we are really trying to find solutions, and somehow seem to fail these poor geese.

I did think we had a snapping turtle on the lake for a bit last summer, (I am guessing snapping turtle) we had a goose that started swimming in circles, and when she got loose (before we could boat out to her) she had torn webbing on her foot. We took her to the vet, got her antibiotics and kept her penned up until she was better. She was a bit slower after that accident, and she is the one that went missing.
I am assuming when they were fleeing, she was just a tad slow and got taken by whatever it was.

We have an Australian Shepherd, and he generally barks at anything that makes the slightest bit of noise, but he heard nothing as well.
I wonder if a snapping turtle could have drug her under. My only reason for thinking this is not the case is that there were no feathers on the lake. I am pretty perplexed as to what could have snatched her with all of us around all day. It is really strange.

 

[GuppyTJ]

That is a strange one. Have you seen snapping turtles of the size that could take under a goose? I ask because we see turtles floating with their heads out of the water often. We can tell about how big they are by the size of the shell which is visible on sunny days just under the surface of the water.

I'm guessing coyote as well. That's about the only thing that could haul off a 15 lb goose. Or bobcat, etc. Were the geese on the water or on the land when your husband was on the tractor, does he recall? Also, don't most ducks and geese escape to the water when a land predator approaches... just thinking about how this would happen.

Guppy

 

[tatum123]

Hi Guppy,

Yeah, it is a strange one. Our geese are never more than a few steps from the water, so it would seem that maybe whatever got the goose either went into the water after it, catching the slowest one or it maybe came from overhead.

As for the snapping turtles, they lurk at the bottom of the lake, coming up rarely for air, however I don't think that is what got the goose since there would surely be feathers that came to the top (or at least I think)

Has anyone heard of a very large owl taking a goose and carrying them away? Just wondering...

 

[sourland]

A domestic goose is far too heavy for even an eagle to fly away with.

 

[ChickenLegs13]

Don't lknow your location but where I live it would be a gator.

 

[tatum123]

Not a gator, I live in North Texas. Maybe it was just a very brave coyote. I would have thought with that much activity around that they would not come and take a goose.
Hubby running the tractor, my two dogs in and out all day, (Aussie and Golden Retriever) my daughter coming in and out between our two connected homes, and me going in and out all day as I generally do, working the garden, watering the yard, etc.
It just seems strange, but it also seems to be the only real plausible scenario for what probably happened to the goose.
I am guessing it is possible for a coyote to just carry it off our 23 acres, never to bee seen again, or possibly there are remains far deeper in the woods than I looked.
I checked where the last goose was found (last November) and there was nothing. I checked the edge of the lake for feathers, blood, trails of where she was drug from the lake, still nothing.
It is just so completely strange. One minute she was there, the next she was missing.

 

[Primo]

Not a gator, I live in North Texas. Maybe it was just a very brave coyote. I would have thought with that much activity around that they would not come and take a goose.
Hubby running the tractor, my two dogs in and out all day, (Aussie and Golden Retriever) my daughter coming in and out between our two connected homes, and me going in and out all day as I generally do, working the garden, watering the yard, etc.
It just seems strange, but it also seems to be the only real plausible scenario for what probably happened to the goose.
I am guessing it is possible for a coyote to just carry it off our 23 acres, never to bee seen again, or possibly there are remains far deeper in the woods than I looked.
I checked where the last goose was found (last November) and there was nothing. I checked the edge of the lake for feathers, blood, trails of where she was drug from the lake, still nothing.
It is just so completely strange. One minute she was there, the next she was missing.

While unlikely, there are gators here in North Texas. I remember the large one they found shot in lake grapevine a couple years ago. I have seen them in the trinity river within a few miles of Dallas and seen a couple small ones while duck hunting in the sloughs in Hutchins. They are around.

 

[tatum123]

I don't think it was a gator. Our lake is a man made lake that is connected to a soil conservation lake via a small spillway. Our lake is pretty small, and I would think I would see a gator if there was one around. Our house is pretty much all glass on one the side of the lake that overlooks the small lake (as you can see here in my pinterest link about my new home - awesome views!)
http://www.pinterest.com/GlimmeringGems/my-new-home/ which is another reason that I am surprised that none of us saw what happened. I am still shocked, and can't for the life of me figure out what may have happened.
One of our neighbors did tell me that he has seen a bobcat or two around the creek over the years. Maybe it was a bobcat instead of a coyote. Not sure, but it sure does have me bothered, and worried about adding any more geese.